[BACK TO OLYMPIA]

Olympia

Olympia is the ancient birthplace of the Olympic Games. The Olympic flame is traditionally ignited with the rays of the sun in a ceremonial manner. Later, a woman playing the high priestess of the sanctuary, honored the Greek Gods of Zeus and Hera, lit the flame from a clay urn after a heavy cloud that covered Olympia at noon made it impossible to ignite the flame with the rays of the sun.

A series of bronze tripods have been found at Olympia, some of which may date to the 9th century BC, and it has been suggested that these tripods may in fact be prizes for some of the early events at Olympian Additional events.

The cultural achievement most directly tied to the Olympic games was poetry commissioned to honor and immortalize the athletic victors. These poems, called Epinicians, were written by famous poets, including Pindar, Bacchylides and Simonides. The poems and the athletes, live on in people's memories long after the day of victory.

During those days, people who were not Greeks, could not compete in the Games, but Greek athletes traveled hundreds of miles, from colonies of the Greek city-states. These colonies were as far away as modern-day Spain, Italy, Libya, Egypt, the Ukraine, and Turkey. A city-state, called a polis, was a typical Greek settlement, with a fortified city and a defensible citadel at the center of a territory, which might include other villages. The polis of Attica was made up of Athens and its environs, and the Acropolis was its fortress.

<click to go back>