What do you know about The Ancient Olympic games?

What do you know about The Ancient Olympic games?

Just some interesting facts:

1. The ancient Olympic sporting events were:

Boxing
Discus (part of Pentathlon)
Equestrian Events
Javelin (part of Pentathlon)
Jumping
Pankration
Pentathlon
Running

Wrestling 

2. Who are Hellanodikai?

Hellanodikai were Greek judges at the ancient Olympics. There were nine of them. The Hellanodikai awarded palm branches and crowns to the winners. Hellanodikai came from Elis, where the Olympics were held. There they were specially trained for the one Olympiad that they judged. The Hellanodikai were renowned for their fairness. 

3. Women weren't allowed active participation in the Olympics. Why not?

Women were second-class people, like slaves and foreigners. Only free-born Greek (male) citizens were allowed.

Women had their own games (Hera games) starting in the 6th century where they competed dressed.
The poleis (city-states) were honored by an Olympic victory. It is possible that a victory by a woman would not be considered an honor.
Being defeated by a woman would probably have been a disgrace.

4. What are Heraean Games?

The ancient Heraean Games, dedicated to the goddess Hera (also spelled Heraia) were the first sanctioned (and recorded) women's athletic competition to be held in the stadium at Olympia,possibly in the Olympic year, prior to the men's events. It is dated as early as the 6th century BC.

Like the men's competition, Heraea originally consisted of foot races only. The Heraea champions won olive crowns, cow or ox meat from the animal sacrificed to Hera and the right to dedicate statues inscribed with their names or painted portraits of themselves on the columns of Hera's temple.

Though the men competed nude and women dressed, chitons were clothing worn by men doing heavy physical work. Thus, the women competitors were dressed like men. Whether this and the existence of the Heraea Games tell us something about social climate for women of that period is uncertain. We do know women were forbidden from competing in or even viewing the Ancient Olympics, under penalty of being thrown from the cliffs of Mount Typaion. Girls were not encouraged to be athletes. Those raised in Sparta were the exception, where they were trained in the same athletic events as boys, because Spartans believed that strong women would produce strong future warriors.

5. What is the origin of the Ancient Olympic Games?

Conventionally, the ancient Olympic games began in 776 B.C., based on records of stade-length races. The victor of this first Olympic game was Koroibos of Elis, in Southern Greece [see Bb on the map]. However, the origins of the ancient Olympics go back to a time that is not well-documented, and so the actual date of the first Olympics is disputed.

The origins of the ancient Olympics interested the ancient Greeks, who told conflicting, history-laced, mythological aitia (origin stories).

One Olympic origins story is connected with one of the early members of the tragedy-ridden House of Atreus. Pelops won the hand of his bride, Hippodamia, by competing in a chariot race against her father, King Oinomaos (Oenomaus) of Pisa, in Elis. Oinomaos was the son of Ares and the Pleiad Sterope.

Pelops, whose shoulder Demeter had once had to replace when she accidentally ate it, conspired to win the race by replacing the king's chariot's lynch-pins with ones made of wax. These melted on the course, throwing the king from his chariot and killing him. After Pelops married Hippodamia, he commemorated his victory over Oinomaos by holding the first Olympic Games. These games either expiated his killing or thanked the gods for the victory.

When Did the Games Stop?

The games lasted for about 10 centuries. In A.D. 391 the Emperor Theodosius I ended the games.

Earthquakes in 522 and 526 and natural disasters, Theodosius II, Slav invaders, Venetians, and Turks all contributed to destroy the monuments at the site.

6. When did the Games start and stop?

The Greeks dated events from the first Olympiad (the four-year period between games) in 776 B.C. -- two decades before the legendary founding of Rome. 

The games lasted for about 10 centuries. In A.D. 391 the Emperor Theodosius I ended the games.

Earthquakes in 522 and 526 and natural disasters, Theodosius II, Slav invaders, Venetians, and Turks all contributed to destroy the monuments at the site.

7. What is the story of the olympic torch?

The ancient Olympics did not have a torch relay. The lighting event began in 1936 for the Berlin Olympics. There may have been torch events at other ancient panhellenic events and there was an Olympic flame, but not an Olympic torch relay.

There was also a religious procession from Elis to Olympia that began two days early and was led by the Olympic officials with their staff, followed by the athletes and trainers.

8. What sports did pentathlon and biathlon include initially?

Definition: Pentathlon was the name for the five events in Greek gymnastics: running, jumping, wrestling, discus throwing, and javelin throwing.
By the 18th Olympiad, in 708 B.C., the Pentathlon (broad jump, discus, javelin, running, and wrestling) had been added. Originally, the only event was the race. Jason, of Argonaut fame, is credited with inventing the contest. According to legend, when Jason instituted the event, he awarded the prize to his friend Peleus.

9. From what material was the ancient discus made?

  Originally made of stone, later discuses were made of bronze, iron, or lead. The ancient discus looked a lot like the ones used today. It weighed between 1.3 and 6.6 kilograms and was anywhere from 17 to 32 centimeters in diameter. Boys threw a different, smaller discus than the men.

10. According to mythology, who invented the sport of boxing?

  The Iliad's author, known as Homer, describes a boxing event held to honor Patroklos (Patroclus), the slain companion of Achilles. Boxing was added to the ancient Olympic games in 688 B.C. According to myth, Apollo invented it to kill Phorbas, a man who had been forcing travelers to Delphi through Phocis to fight him to the death.

  Originally, boxers wrapped self-protecting thongs around their hands and arms. Later they wore less time-consuming, pre-wrapped, ox-hide thongs known as himantes wrapped to the forearm with leather straps. By the 4th century, there were gloves. The preferred target was the opponent's face.

11. What did equestrian events include?

Chariot racing

There were both 2-horse chariot and 4-horse chariot races, with separate races for chariots drawn by foals. Another race was between carts drawn by a team of 2 mules. The course was 12 laps around the stadium track (9 miles).

Riding

The course was 6 laps around the track (4.5 miles), and there were separate races for full-grown horses and foals. Jockeys rode without stirrups.
Only wealthy people could afford to pay for the training, equipment, and feed of both the driver (or jockey) and the horses. As a result, the owner received the olive wreath of victory instead of the driver or jockey.