When were the first Greek Olympic Games?
Marathon
When the modern Olympics began in 1896, the initiators and organizers were looking for a great popularizing event, recalling the glory of ancient Greece. The idea of a marathon race came from Michel Bréal, who wanted the event to feature in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 in Athens. This idea was heavily supported by Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics, as well as by the Greeks. The Greeks staged a selection race for the Olympic marathon on 22 March 1896 (Gregorian) that was won by Charilaos Vasilakos in 3 hours and 18 minutes (with the future winner of the introductory Olympic Games marathon, Spyridon "Spyros" Louis, coming in fifth at a second race two weeks later). The winner of the first Olympic marathon, on 10 April 1896 (a male-only race), was Spyridon Louis, a Greek water-carrier, in 2 hours 58 minutes and 50 seconds. The marathon of the 2004 Summer Olympics was run on the traditional route from Marathon to Athens, ending at Panathinaiko Stadium, the venue for the 1896 Summer Olympics. That men's marathon was won by Italian Stefano Baldini in 2 hours 10 minutes and 55 seconds, a record time for this route until the non-Olympics Athens Classic Marathon of 2014, when Felix Kandie lowered the course record to 2 hours 10 minutes and 37 seconds.
Hippodrome of Olympia
Horse and chariot races were one of the most popular and spectacular sports of the Olympic Games in ancient Greece. The equestrian sports of the time were the tethrippon, the apene, the synoris, the tethrippon for foals, the synoris for foals, the perfect keles race, the kalpe and the pole horse race. According to mythology, the first chariot race took place in Olympia between King Pelops and King Oenomaos of Pisa. In the ancient Olympic Games the jockeys were not the owners of the horses. The owners of the horses were declared winners, they were awarded the wreath and enjoyed all the honors although they did not take part in the race. The jockeys won only a small portion from the glory of the winner, such as a wool band that the owner would tie on their head.
The First Olympics: Athens 1896
The First Olympics: Athens 1896 is a 1984 US TV miniseries produced by Columbia Pictures Television for broadcast by the NBC network. This television miniseries tells the story of the founding of the modern Olympics by focusing on individuals in several countries and their preparations and eventual competition in Athens in 1896. The two-part mini-series originally aired in the United States on 20 May 1984.
International Day of Sport for Development and Peace
This date commemorates the inauguration, in 1896, of the first Olympic games of the modern era, in Athens (Greece).
1896 Summer Olympics
The 1896 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad, was the first international Olympic Games held in modern history. Organised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which had been created by Pierre de Coubertin, it was held in Athens, Greece, from 6 to 15 April 1896.
Ancient Olympic Games
Since these myths were documented by historians like Pausanias, who lived during the reign of Marcus Aurelius in the AD160, it is likely that these stories are more fable than fact. It was often supposed that the origins of many aspects of the Olympics date to funeral games of the Mycenean period and later. Alternatively, the games were thought to derive from some kind of vegetation magic or from initiation ceremonies. The most recent theory traces the origins of the games to large game hunting and related animal ceremonialism.
Greece at the 1920 Summer Olympics
Greece competed in the Olympic water polo tournament for the first time in 1920. The Bergvall System was in use at the time. Greece was shut out by the United States in the quarterfinals. It is unclear why the Greeks received a place in the third-place tournament, as the Americans had not won either gold or silver, but Greece beat Italy in the quarterfinals of the bronze medal tournament before losing again to the United States in the bronze semifinals.Nine athletes represented Greece in 1920. It was the nation's sixth appearance in athletics, having competed in the sport at every Olympics. The Stockholm Games were only the second time that no Greek won a medal in athletics.
Ancient Olympic Games
In AD67, the Roman Emperor Nero competed in the chariot race at Olympia. He was thrown from his chariot and was thus unable to finish the race. Nevertheless, he was declared the winner on the basis that he would have won if he had finished the race.Athletic festivals under the name of "Olympic games", named in imitation of the original festival at Olympia, were established over time in various places all over the Greek world. Some of these are only known to us by inscriptions and coins; but others, as the Olympic festival at Antioch, obtained great celebrity. After these Olympic festivals had been established in several places, the great Olympic festival itself was sometimes designated in inscriptions by the addition of Pisa.
History of Greece
Ancient Greece refers to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Dark Ages to the end of antiquity (circa 600 AD). In common usage it refers to all Greek history before the Roman Empire, but historians use the term more precisely. Some writers include the periods of the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations, while others argue that these civilizations were so different from later Greek cultures that they should be classed separately. Traditionally, the Ancient Greek period was taken to begin with the date of the first Olympic Games in 776 BC, but most historians now extend the term back to about 1000 BC.
Olympic Games
Their creation was inspired by the ancient Olympic Games, which were held in Olympia, Greece, from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD. Baron Pierre de Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894, leading to the first modern Games in Athens in 1896. The IOC is the governing body of the Olympic Movement, with the Olympic Charter defining its structure and authority.
Summer Olympic coins
Although the first Olympic coin can be traced back to 480 BC, the modern Olympics did not see its first commemoratives until 1951. The original concept of Olympic coins was that the Greeks believed that coins brought the general public closer to the Olympic games. The premise was that those who could not attend the games could at least have a tangible souvenir of the event.
Heraean Games
The ancient Heraean Games were a series of athletic events in which only women athletes participated. This event was held to honor the Greek mythological goddess Hera. Just like the ancient Olympic games, Heraean Games were held once every four years, but it isn't clear whether the Heraean Games were part of the Olympiad cycle and if it was, at which point of the four-year cycle it was held on. The stadium that held the Heraean Games was the same stadium where the ancient Olympic Games was held and Pausanias confirmed this along with the fact that the stadium had a different track for women athletics which was 5/6 the length of the original track used by men athletes. The length of the original track is 212.5 meters long which will make the women's track 177 meters long. Because these games were held in ancient times, the Heraean Games only included events such as running sports and combat sports were not played by women athletes. 
The four main running events during the Heraean Games included: 
Unlike the male athletes in the Panhellenic games, Women athletes did not participate in the nude, but wore tunics which reached to their knees. These were the same tunics for men who performed physical labor.
No real date can be proved when these games had started but historians are able to predict from the writings done by a Greek geographer, Pausanias. They predict the approximate start of the Heraean Games to be slightly sometime after the start of the Olympic Games, during 776BC. The end of the Heraean Games also is not proved due to the lack of information available to historians today, but predictions can be made which is found to be in 393 AD after the religious festivals like Panhellenic games being banned by the Roman emperor Theodosius. 
Records and writings of the ancient Heraean Games are very low in numbers which all the information available to us today are from the writings of Pausanias.
Greece
The end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to 776 BC, the year of the first Olympic Games. The "Iliad" and the "Odyssey", the foundational texts of Western literature, are believed to have been composed by Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC. With the end of the Dark Ages, there emerged various kingdoms and city-states across the Greek peninsula, which spread to the shores of the Black Sea, Southern Italy ("Magna Graecia") and Asia Minor. These states and their colonies reached great levels of prosperity that resulted in an unprecedented cultural boom, that of classical Greece, expressed in architecture, drama, science, mathematics and philosophy. In 508 BC, Cleisthenes instituted the world's first democratic system of government in Athens.
Panhellenic Games
The Olympic Games were the oldest of the four, said to have begun in 776 BC. It is more likely though that they were founded sometime in the late 7th century BC. They lasted until the Roman Emperor Theodosius, a Christian, abolished them as heathen in AD 393. The Pythian, Nemean and Isthmian games most likely began sometime in the first or second quarter of the 6th century BC. The Isthmian games were held at the temple to Poseidon on the Isthmus of Corinth.
Greece at the 1900 Summer Olympics
Greece was one of four nations to compete in the first Olympic golf events.
Battle of Marathon
When the idea of a modern Olympics became a reality at the end of the 19th century, the initiators and organizers were looking for a great popularizing event, recalling the ancient glory of Greece. The idea of organizing a "marathon race" came from Michel Bréal, who wanted the event to feature in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 in Athens. This idea was heavily supported by Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics, as well as the Greeks. This would echo the legendary version of events, with the competitors running from Marathon to Athens. So popular was this event that it quickly caught on, becoming a fixture at the Olympic games, with major cities staging their own annual events. The distance eventually became fixed at 26 miles 385 yards, or 42.195 km, though for the first years it was variable, being around —the approximate distance from Marathon to Athens.
Greeks
The ethnogenesis of the Greek nation is linked to the development of Pan-Hellenism in the 8th century BC. According to some scholars, the foundational event was the Olympic Games in 776 BC, when the idea of a common Hellenism among the Greek tribes was first translated into a shared cultural experience and Hellenism was primarily a matter of common culture. The works of Homer (i.e. "Iliad" and "Odyssey") and Hesiod (i.e. "Theogony") were written in the 8th century BC, becoming the basis of the national religion, ethos, history and mythology. The Oracle of Apollo at Delphi was established in this period.
Stadium
The oldest known stadium is the one in Olympia, in the western Peloponnese, Greece, where the Olympic Games of antiquity were held from 776 BC. Initially 'the Games' consisted of a "single event", a sprint along the length of the stadium. The "stadion", a measure of length, may be related to the "Stadium", but the track at the Stadium at Olympia is longer than the conventional "stadion".
Winter Olympic coins
Although the first Olympic coin can be traced back to 480 BC, the modern Olympics did not see its first commemoratives until 1951. The original concept of Olympic coins was that the Greeks believed that coins brought the general public closer to the Olympic games. The premise was that those who could not attend the games could at least have a tangible souvenir of the event.
Ancient Olympic Games
In the first 200 years of the games' existence, they only had regional religious importance. Only Greeks in proximity to the mountain competed in these early games. This is evidenced by the dominance of Peloponnesian athletes in the victors' rolls. The spread of Greek colonies in the 5th and 6th centuries BC is repeatedly linked to successful Olympic athletes. For example, Pausanias recounts that Cyrene was founded c. 630 BC by settlers from Thera with Spartan support. The support Sparta gave was primarily the loan of three-time Olympic champion Chionis. The appeal of settling with an Olympic champion helped to populate the colonies and maintain cultural and political ties with the city-states near Olympia. Thus, Hellenic culture and the games spread while the primacy of Olympia persisted.
Multi-sport event
The Ancient Olympic Games, first held in 776 BC, was the precursor to the Modern Olympic Games, although its first edition only featured a footrace and the number of sporting competitions expanded at later editions.
Summer Olympic Games
In 2004 the Games returned to their birthplace in Athens, Greece. Greece spent at least $7.2 billion on the Games, including $1.5 billion on security. Michael Phelps won his first medals in Olympic Games tallying 6 gold and 2 bronze medals. Pyrros Dimas, winning a bronze medal, became the most decorated weightlifter of all time with 3 golds and 1 bronze in Olympic Games. Although unfounded reports of potential terrorism drove crowds away from the preliminary competitions of the first weekend of the games (14–15 August), attendance picked up as the games progressed. A third of the tickets failed to sell, but ticket sales still topped figures from Seoul and Barcelona Olympics. IOC President Jacques Rogge characterised Greece's organisation as outstanding and its security precautions as flawless. The Athens Games witnessed all 202 NOCs participate with over 11,000 participants.
Pierre de Coubertin
The congress was held on 23 June 1894 at the Sorbonne in Paris. Once there, participants divided the congress into two commissions, one on amateurism and the other on reviving the Olympics. A Greek participant, Demetrius Vikelas, was appointed to head the commission on the Olympics, and would later become the first President of the International Olympic Committee. Along with Coubertin, C. Herbert of Britain's Amateur Athletic Association and W.M. Sloane of the United States helped lead the efforts of the commission. In its report, the commission proposed that Olympic Games be held every four years and that the program for the Games be one of modern rather than ancient sports. They also set the date and location for the first modern Olympic Games, the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, and the second, the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris. Coubertin had originally opposed the choice of Greece, as he had concerns about the ability of a weakened Greek state to host the competition, but was convinced by Vikelas to support the idea. The commission's proposals were accepted unanimously by the congress, and the modern Olympic movement was officially born. The proposals of the other commission, on amateurism, were more contentious, but this commission also set important precedents for the Olympic Games, specifically the use of heats to narrow participants and the banning of prize money in most contests.
Greece at the 1896 Summer Olympics
Greece was the host nation of the 1896 Summer Olympics held in Athens. The number of Greek contestants is commonly cited as 169, but as many as 176 Greeks contested events in all nine sports. The Greeks were by far the most successful nation in terms of total medals with 46, 26 more than the United States of America. Nevertheless, their number of first-place finishes (10) was one fewer than the Americans' 11. The Greeks had 172 entries in 39 events. Only 4 events had no Greek entrants—the 400 metres and the high jump in athletics and the vault and the team horizontal bar in gymnastics.
Paris Olympics
The 1900 Summer Olympics (the Games of the II Olympiad) were the third modern Olympic Games and the first to be hosted outside of Athens, Greece. The International Olympic Committee considers them the second Olympic Games, discounting the intercalated 1906 Summer Olympics. The 1900 Olympic Games are held at the same time as the 1900 World's Fair. The events took place between 14 May 1900 and 28 October 1900, with 28 nations participating in 95 events. The French team easily topped the unofficial medal count, finishing with three times as many medals as the second-place United States.
The 1924 Summer Olympics (the Games of the VIII Olympiad) were the second to be held after World War I. Showing a collective unity after the war, 44 nations competed in 126 different events between 4 May 1924 and 27 July 1924. Germany was not invited to the games due to security reasons. Unlike the previous time France hosted the Olympics, the French athletes did not have a high medal count, finishing 3rd in the unofficial medal count with only 28 medals.
Peloponnese
In 776 BC, the first Olympic Games were held at Olympia, in the western Peloponnese and this date is sometimes used to denote the beginning of the classical period of Greek antiquity. During classical antiquity, the Peloponnese was at the heart of the affairs of ancient Greece, possessed some of its most powerful city-states, and was the location of some of its bloodiest battles.
Pierre de Coubertin
In 1888, Coubertin founded the Comité pour la Propagation des Exercises Physiques more well known as the Comité Jules Simon. Coubertin's earliest reference to the modern notion of Olympic Games criticizes the idea. The idea for reviving the Olympic Games as an international competition came to Coubertin in 1889, apparently independently of Brookes, and he spent the following five years organizing an international meeting of athletes and sports enthusiasts that might make it happen. Dr Brookes had organised a national Olympic Games that was held at Crystal Palace in London in 1866. In response to a newspaper appeal, Brookes wrote to Coubertin in 1890, and the two began an exchange of letters on education and sport. Although he was too old to attend the 1894 Congress, Brookes would continue to support Coubertin's efforts, most importantly by using his connections with the Greek government to seek its support in the endeavour. While Brookes' contribution to the revival of the Olympic Games was recognised in Britain at the time, Coubertin in his later writings largely neglected to mention the role the Englishman played in their development. He did mention the roles of Evangelis Zappas and his cousin Konstantinos Zappas, but drew a distinction between their founding of athletic Olympics and his own role in the creation of an international contest. However, Coubertin together with A. Mercatis, a close friend of Konstantinos, encouraged the Greek government to utilise part of Konstantinos' legacy to fund the 1896 Athens Olympic Games separately and in addition to the legacy of Evangelis Zappas that Konstantinos had been executor of. Moreover, George Averoff was invited by the Greek government to fund the second refurbishment of the Panathinaiko Stadium that had already been fully funded by Evangelis Zappas forty years earlier.
Panathenaic Stadium
The stadium held the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1896 Olympics. On 6 April (25 March according to the Julian calendar then in use in Greece), the games of the First Olympiad were officially opened; it was Easter Monday for both the Western and Eastern Christian Churches and the anniversary of Greece's independence. The stadium was filled with an estimated 80,000 spectators, including King George I of Greece, his wife Olga, and their sons. Most of the competing athletes were aligned on the infield, grouped by nation. After a speech by the president of the organizing committee, Crown Prince Constantine, his father officially opened the games. The stadium also served as the venue for Athletics, Gymnastics, Weightlifting and Wrestling.
Calendar era
Among the ancient Greek historians and scholars, a common method of indicating the passage of years was based on the Olympic Games, first held in 776 BC. The Olympic Games provided the various independent city-states with a mutually recognizable system of dates. Olympiad dating was not used in everyday life. This system was in use from the 3rd century BC. The modern Olympic Games (or Summer Olympic Games beginning 1896) do not continue the four year periods from ancient Greece: the 669th Olympiad would have begun in the summer of 1897, but the modern Olympics were first held in 1896.
Nemean Games
With the Isthmian Games, the Nemean Games were held both the year before and the year after the Ancient Olympic Games and the Pythian Games in the third year of the Olympiad cycle. Like the Olympic Games, they were held in honour of Zeus. They were said to have been founded by Heracles after he defeated the Nemean Lion; another myth said that they originated as the funeral games of a child named Opheltes. However, they are known to have existed only since the 6th century BC (from 573 BC, or earlier). The winners received a wreath of wild celery leaves from the city of Argos.
1896 Summer Olympics
On 18 June 1894, Coubertin organised a congress at the Sorbonne, Paris, to present his plans to representatives of sports societies from 11 countries. Following his proposal's acceptance by the congress, a date for the first modern Olympic Games needed to be chosen. Coubertin suggested that the Games be held concurrently with the 1900 Universal Exposition of Paris. Concerned that a six-year waiting period might lessen public interest, congress members opted instead to hold the inaugural Games in 1896. With a date established, members of the congress turned their attention to the selection of a host city. It remains a mystery how Athens was finally chosen to host the inaugural Games. In the following years both Coubertin and Demetrius Vikelas would offer recollections of the selection process that contradicted the official minutes of the congress. Most accounts hold that several congressmen first proposed London as the location, but Coubertin dissented. After a brief discussion with Vikelas, who represented Greece, Coubertin suggested Athens. Vikelas made the Athens proposal official on 23 June, and since Greece had been the original home of the Olympics, the congress unanimously approved the decision. Vikelas was then elected the first president of the newly established International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Winter Olympic Games
The Winter Olympic Games () is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympics, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held in Chamonix, France. The modern Olympic games were inspired by the ancient Olympic Games, which were held in Olympia, Greece, from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD. Baron Pierre de Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894, leading to the first modern Summer Games in Athens, Greece in 1896. The IOC is the governing body of the Olympic Movement, with the Olympic Charter defining its structure and authority.
Demetrius Vikelas
Because of his reputation and the fact that he lived in Paris, he was chosen to represent Greece in a congress called by Pierre de Coubertin in June 1894, which decided to re-establish the Olympic Games and to organise them in Athens in 1896, designating Vikelas to preside over the organisation committee. After the Games were over, he stepped down, remaining in Athens until his death in 1908.
Greece at the Olympics
Greece has hosted the Summer Olympic Games on two occasions, the inaugural modern Olympics in 1896 and again in 2004. Both were held in Athens, which along with Paris and Los Angeles are the cities that have hosted the Olympic Games twice, with London being the only city to have hosted them three times. The Greek capital also hosted the 1906 Intercalated Games, which at the time were considered to be Olympic Games by the International Olympic Committee.
Western culture
Since classical antiquity, sport has been an important facet of Western cultural expression. A wide range of sports were already established by the time of Ancient Greece and the military culture and the development of sports in Greece influenced one another considerably. Sports became such a prominent part of their culture that the Greeks created the Olympic Games, which in ancient times were held every four years in a small village in the Peloponnesus called Olympia. Baron Pierre de Coubertin, a Frenchman, instigated the modern revival of the Olympic movement. The first modern Olympics were held at 1896 Athens in.
Sport in ancient Greek art
As the site of the Olympic Games, the architecture of Olympia is heavily influenced by the theme of athletics. The temple of Zeus, for example, is decorated with a frieze containing the 12 labors of Heracles, who is believed to be the founder of the Olympic Games, and a pediment depicting the myth of Pelops, another origin tale of the Olympics.
Hellenic Olympic Committee
The history of the Hellenic Olympic Committee is strongly connected to the history of the revival of the Olympic Games. It was founded in Athens on February 3, 1894 with the name Committee of the Olympic Games (, E.O.A.) and became a member of the International Olympic Committee in 1895. E.O.A organized 1896 Summer Olympics, first in modern history, in restored Panathenaic Stadium, who was held from 6 to 15 April.
Sailing at the Summer Olympics
Sailing (also known as yachting until 2000) has been one of the Olympic sports since the Games of the I Olympiad, held in Athens, Greece, in 1896. Despite being scheduled in the first Olympic program, the races were canceled due to severe weather conditions. Apart from the 1904 Summer Olympics, sailing has been present in every edition of the Olympic Games. Over the years the classes used in the Olympic Sailing Program were replaced from time to time. This table shows this development:Pictures will be replaced by more relevant photos.
This list includes Olympic medals in years up to and including 2016.
Marathons at the Olympics
The modern marathon event was created and later refined through the Olympic competition. The idea of holding a marathon race at the first Olympics was suggested to Pierre de Coubertin by Michel Bréal. Based upon a popular myth stemming from the Battle of Marathon, in which Pheidippides ran to Athens from the town of Marathon, Greece to carry the message of a Greek victory, the 1896 course began in the town of Marathon and finished in Athens' Panathenaic Stadium – a distance of around . On April 10, 1896, Greek water-carrier Spyridon Louis won the first Olympic marathon in 2 hours 58 minutes and 50 seconds. The route between Marathon and Panathenaic Stadium was repeated when Athens hosted the 2004 Games.
Athens
1896 brought forth the revival of the modern Olympic Games, by Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin. Thanks to his efforts, Athens was awarded the first modern Olympic Games. In 1896, the city had a population of 123,000 and the event helped boost the city's international profile. Of the venues used for these Olympics, the Kallimarmaro Stadium, and Zappeion were most crucial. The Kallimarmaro is a replica of the ancient Athenian stadiums, and the only major stadium (in its capacity of 60,000) to be made entirely of white marble from Mount Penteli, the same material used for construction of the Parthenon.
Wenlock Olympian Games
The first Games were a mixture of athletics and traditional country sports such as quoits, football and cricket. Events also included running, hurdles, football and cycling on penny farthings. Some of the early Games included "fun events" as the blindfolded wheelbarrow race and, one year an 'Old Women's Race' with the prize of a pound of tea.
In 1859 Wenlock Olympian Class sent £10 to Athens as a prize for the best runner in the Long Foot Race at the Zappas Olympics which was held in November that year – open only to Greek-speaking athletes. The Wenlock Prize, the largest prize on offer was won by Petros Velissarios of Smyrna in the Ottoman Empire, one of the first international Olympians.
Demetrius Vikelas
Originally, it had been De Coubertin's idea to hold the first celebration of the modern Olympics in Paris in 1900, but Vikelas convinced him and the newly created International Olympic Committee that they should be held in Athens, in order to symbolically link them to the original Games. As the constitution of the IOC at that time required the IOC president to be from the country which would host the next Games, Vikelas became the IOC's first president.
Greece
Greece is the birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games, first recorded in 776 BC in Olympia, and hosted the modern Olympic Games twice, the inaugural 1896 Summer Olympics and the 2004 Summer Olympics. During the parade of nations Greece is always called first, as the founding nation of the ancient precursor of modern Olympics. The nation has competed at every Summer Olympic Games, one of only four countries to have done so. Having won a total of 110 medals (30 gold, 42 silver and 38 bronze), Greece is ranked 32nd by gold medals in the all-time Summer Olympic medal count. Their best ever performance was in the 1896 Summer Olympics, when Greece finished second in the medal table with 10 gold medals.
Zappas Olympics
In 1890, a royal decree, signed by Crown Prince Constantine and the foreign minister Stephanos Dragoumis, announced that the Olympiad would be reinstated, at four-year intervals, from 1888. The next Olympics were officially planned for 1892, but did not take place due to the Greek government's claim of lack of funding. In the event, the Panathenaic stadium would be used to stage the Olympic Games in 1896, the first to be held under the auspices of the International Olympic Committee.
Summer Olympic Games
Despite many obstacles and setbacks, the 1896 Olympics were regarded as a great success. The Games had the largest international participation of any sporting event to that date. Panathinaiko Stadium, the first big stadium in the modern world, overflowed with the largest crowd ever to watch a sporting event. The highlight for the Greeks was the marathon victory by their compatriot Spiridon Louis, a water carrier. He won in 2 hours 58 minutes and 50 seconds, setting off wild celebrations at the stadium. The most successful competitor was German wrestler and gymnast Carl Schuhmann, who won four gold medals.
Zappas Olympics
Evangelis Zappas planned to sponsor future Olympic Games and restore the Olympiad, but he died in 1865; however, he left a vast fortune, both for the construction of permanent facilities in the Greek capital, as well as for the continuation of the Olympic Games in four-year intervals. In July 1869, the dates of the 1870 Olympics were announced, followed by organizational plans and proposals about which events to include. The committee paid for participating athletes to undergo three months of training prior to the Games. This training took place in the Panathenaic Stadium, which had been cleaned and leveled.
Greece
Greece is considered the cradle of Western civilisation, being the birthplace of democracy, Western philosophy, Western literature, historiography, political science, major scientific and mathematical principles, Western drama and notably the Olympic Games. From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states, known as "poleis" (singular "polis"), which spanned the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Philip of Macedon united most of the Greek mainland in the fourth century BC, with his son Alexander the Great rapidly conquering much of the ancient world, from the eastern Mediterranean to India. Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century BC, becoming an integral part of the Roman Empire and its successor, the Byzantine Empire, wherein Greek language and culture were dominant. Rooted in the first century A.D., the Greek Orthodox Church helped shape modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox World. Falling under Ottoman dominion in the mid-15th century, the modern nation state of Greece emerged in 1830 following a war of independence. Greece's rich historical legacy is reflected by its 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Greece at the 1924 Summer Olympics
Greece competed at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. 39 competitors, 38 men and 1 woman, took part in 37 events in 9 sports. Greek athletes did not win any medals, but the gold medal was awarded to sculptor Konstantinos Dimitriadis for his work "Discobole Finlandais". Art competitions were part of the Olympic program from 1912 to 1948. A copy of Dimitriadis's sculpture is situated opposite the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens.
Alexander I of Macedon
Alexander claimed descent from Argive Greeks and Heracles. After a court of Elean hellanodikai determined his claim to be true, he was permitted to participate in the Olympic Games possibly in 504 BC, an honour reserved only for Greeks. He modelled his court after Athens and was a patron of the poets Pindar and Bacchylides, both of whom dedicated poems to Alexander. The earliest reference to an Athenian proxenos, who lived during the time of the Persian wars (c. 490 BC), is that of Alexander I. Alexander I was given the title "philhellene" (Greek: "φιλέλλην", "fond of the Greeks", "lover of the Greeks"), a title used for Greek patriots.
Panagiotis Soutsos
Finally, in early 1856, a wealthy merchant of the Greek diaspora in Romania, Evangelis Zappas, inspired by this revival effort was determined to found the Olympics and suggested to the Greek government to sponsor the entire project of the Olympic revival, providing also cash prizes for the victors. In 13 July 1856, Panagiotis Soutsos wrote and published an article titled "Evangelis Zappas" in his own newspaper, making Zappas' proposal widely known to the public and triggering a series of events. On 15 November 1859, 25 years after he conceived the idea, the first modern revival of the athletic Olympic Games took place in Athens. Moreover, on 18 October 1859, when his Olympic dream became reality, he published an account of the Games' events paying tribute to its sponsor, Evangelis Zappas.
1896 Summer Olympics medal table
The 1896 Summer Olympics medal count is a list of National Olympic Committees ranked by the number of medals won during the 1896 Summer Olympics—the first Olympic Games of the Modern era—held in Athens, Greece, from 6 to 15 April 1896. A total of 241 athletes from 14 nations participated in 43 events in nine sports at these games.
Pentathlon
The first documented pentathlon occurred in 708 BC in Ancient Greece at the Ancient Olympic Games, and was also held at the other Panhellenic Games. The name derives from Greek words for "five competitions". The event proved popular and lent itself to illustrations on pottery. It also featured in Greek mythology; the mythical hero Perseus fulfilled an oracle's prophecy by accidentally killing Acrisius with a discus while competing in the pentathlon. In mythology, Jason is credited with inventing the pentathlon, and he declared his friend Peleus the first winner of the event, after his victory in the wrestling. The wide variety of skills needed to compete meant that pentathletes were held in high esteem as physical specimens: in "Rhetoric", Aristotle remarked "a body capable of enduring all efforts, either of the racecourse or of bodily strength...This is why the athletes in the pentathlon are most beautiful". 1912 Olympic gold medal winner Ferdinand Bie referenced that story after completing the events.
History of calendars
The table of Greek Olympiads, following the four-year cycles between the Olympic Games from 1 July 776 BC, continued until the end of the 4th century AD. The Babylonian Era of Nabonassar, beginning on 26 February 747 BC, was used by the Greeks of Alexandria. It was later known in the Middle Ages from the works of Ptolemy.
Kostis Palamas
Palamas wrote the lyrics to the Olympic Hymn, composed by Spyridon Samaras. It was first performed at the 1896 Summer Olympics, the first modern Olympic Games. The Hymn was then shelved as each host city from then until the 1960 Winter Olympics commissioned an original piece for its celebration of the Games, but the version by Samaras and Palamas was declared the official Olympic Anthem in 1958 and has been performed at each celebration of the Games since the 1960 Winter Olympics.
Zappas Olympics
The Zappas Olympics (), simply called Olympics (, "Olympia") at the time, were a series of athletic events held in Athens, Greece, in 1859, 1870, and 1875 sponsored by Greek businessman Evangelis Zappas. These games were one of the first revivals of the ancient Olympic Games in the modern era. Their success provided further inspiration for William Penny Brookes in England, whose games had been running since 1850, and the International Olympic Committee series from 1896.
Egypt at the 1906 Intercalated Games
The 1906 Intercalated Games are no longer recognized as Olympic by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), but they were considered as such by contemporary sources. In 1906, Egypt was "de jure" under the control of the Ottoman Empire, but had been "de facto" run by the British since 1882. At the 1896 Summer Olympics, an athlete by the name of Dionysios Kasdaglis competed in tennis and won silver medals in the singles and doubles tournaments. Kasdaglis is listed as Greek by the IOC for the singles, but in the doubles he and his Greek partner Demetrios Petrokokkinos are listed as a "mixed team". Kasdaglis had British citizenship, but lived in Egypt and was a member of Egyptian clubs, and thus he has been considered by some as an Egyptian Olympian. The Egyptian Olympic Committee, founded in 1910, considers Egypt's first Olympic delegation to have been at the 1912 Summer Olympics, which is supported by that year's official report, but there is uncertainty as to whether the fencer they sent actually competed. Egypt took part in the Olympic Games, with athletes of Egyptian descent, in 1920.
Elis
The first Olympic festival was organized in Elian land - Olympia - by the authorities of Elis in the eighth century BC, with tradition dating the first games to 776 BC. The Hellanodikai, the judges of the Games, were of Elian origin.
The local form of the name was Valis, or Valeia, and its meaning, in all probability was, "the lowland" (compare with the word "valley"). In its physical constitution Elis is similar to Achaea and Arcadia; its mountains are mere offshoots of the Arcadian highlands, and its principal rivers are fed by Arcadian springs.
Zappas Olympics
Sporadic references to the revival of the ancient Olympic Games were made by various personalities during the 19th century, inspired by a certain degree of romanticism. In his 1833 poem "Dialogue of the Dead", the Constantinople-born, Panagiotis Soutsos editor of a Greek newspaper, used the Olympic Games as the symbol of the ancient Greek traditions. Soon after, he explicitly proposed the revival of the games by the newly formed Greek state, even sending a memorandum to that effect to the Greek government in 1835. His proposal was accepted by King Otto of Greece, but in the event, nothing was done, despite Soutsos' persistent campaigning over the next twenty six years.
List of ancient Olympic victors
Up to the 2nd century BC and the beginning of 1st century BC, the athletes were Greek, as per the prerequisite for participating in the Games, however starting from the end of 1st century BC more and more Roman names appear as a consequence of the Roman rule in the Hellenic world. A measure of the level of uncertainty that exists today with regards to who the majority of the ancient Olympic victors were, is the approximation that from a total of more than 3,500 probable victors in different olympic sports during the ancient Olympic Games, only about 800 of them are known today.
Zappeion
In 1869, the Greek Parliament allocated of public land between the Palace Gardens and the ancient Temple of Olympian Zeus, and also passed a law on 30 November 1869, "for the building works of the Olympic Games", as the Zappeion was the first building to be erected specifically for the revival of the Olympic Games in the modern world. The ancient Panathenian stadium was also refurbished as part of the works for the Olympic Games. Following some delay, on 20 January 1874, the cornerstone of the building was laid; this new building would be designed by Danish architect Theophil Hansen. Finally, on 20 October 1888, the Zappeion opened. Unfortunately for its benefactor, Evangelis Zappas, he did not live long enough to see the Zappeion built, and his cousin Konstantinos Zappas was nominated by Evangelos Zappas to complete the building. The Austrian Parliament Building was also designed by Hansen and followed the same theme in the exterior.
Cyprus Olympic Committee
The Cyprus Olympic Committee was founded on June 10, 1974 and became a member of the International Olympic Committee in 1979. Prior to that, Cypriot athletes competed in international events representing Greece. Amongst the most well known Cypriots who have represented Greece are Ioannis Frangoudis (triple shooting medalist in Athens 1896), Aristidis Konstantinidis (cycling gold medalist in Athens 1896), Stavros Tziortzis (7th in the 400m hurdles in Munich 1972) and Lakis Georgiou Psimolofitis (8th in skeet shooting in Munich 1972).
Running in Ancient Greece
In Ancient Greece, the history of running can be traced back to 776 BC. Running was important to members of ancient Greek society, and is consistently highlighted in documents referencing the Olympic Games. The Olympic Games hosted a large variety of running events, each with their own set of rules. The ancient Greeks developed difficult training programs with specialized trainers in preparation for the Games. The training and competitive attitude of Greek athletes gives insight into how scientifically advanced Greece was for the time period.
Intercalated Games
The Intercalated Olympic Games were to be a series of "International Olympic Games" halfway between what is now known as the Games of the Olympiad. This proposed series of games, intercalated in the Olympic Games cycle, was to always be held in Athens, and were to have equal status with the international games. However, the only such games were held in 1906.
Leonidas Pyrgos
Pyrgos was the first Greek Olympic medallist in the history of the modern Olympic Games, winning his fencing event of the 1896 Summer Olympics on 7 April 1896. His competitor in the event, which consisted of a single bout of foil fencing to three touches, was one of the best fencers in the world, the Frenchman Joanni Perronet. After a close contest, Pyrgos won 3-1. The crowd cheered the first Greek Olympic medallist. He was lifted onto their shoulders and carried throughout the streets of Athens.
International Olympic Committee
The IOC organises the modern Olympic Games and Youth Olympic Games, held in summer and winter, every four years. The first Summer Olympics organised by the IOC was held in Athens, Greece, in 1896; the first Winter Olympics was in Chamonix, France, in 1924. Until 1992, both Summer and Winter Olympics were held in the same year. After that year, however, the IOC shifted the Winter Olympics to the even years between Summer Games, to help space the planning of the two events from one another, and improve the financial balance of the IOC, which receives greater income on Olympic years. The first Summer Youth Olympics were in Singapore in 2010 and the first Winter Youth Olympics were held in Innsbruck in 2012.
Sport
A wide range of sports were already established by the time of Ancient Greece and the military culture and the development of sport in Greece influenced one another considerably. Sport became such a prominent part of their culture that the Greeks created the Olympic Games, which in ancient times were held every four years in a small village in the Peloponnesus called Olympia.
Ancient Greek religion
After the huge Roman conquests beyond Greece, new cults from Egypt and Asia became popular in Greece as well as the western empire, and a decline of Greco-Roman polytheism becomes evident from the 2nd century AD, that was as much a cause as a result of the rise of Early Christianity. The edicts of the Christian Emperor Theodosius I from 380 onwards finally outlawed most public religious practices of the old religion, such as sacrifices; the last Olympic Games were held in 393 AD.
Postage stamps and postal history of Greece
Greece's first commemorative stamps were issued in 1896 for the 1896 Summer Olympics, the first Olympic games in modern times. The series consisted of twelve values (1 lepton, 2, 5, 10, 20, 25, 40 and 60 lepta, 1 drachma and 2, 5 and 10 drachmae). There were eight different designs, by Professor I. Svoronos, which included famous sports-related images from ancient Greece, such as a chariot race and Myron's "Discobolus". The stamps were designed by Swiss artist A. Guilleron, the steel dies were created by the French engraver and printing took place at the National Printing Office of France. The name "E. MOUCHON" appears at the bottom side of each stamp. The stamps were delivered in perforated sheets (13½ x 14). They were at first meant to be sold only during the Games, but their circulation period was extended; first to March 1897, then until they were sold out. The 1896 Olympics stamps, of which the 5 and 10 drachmae denominations are relatively rare, remain popular with collectors of topical stamps relating to sports and Olympic games.
In 1900 and 1901, a variety of existing Greek stamps (Large Hermes heads, Small Hermes heads and 1896 Olympics) were surcharged in black or red with new values and also with the letters "A M", standing for the Greek words "Αξία Μεταλλική" ("Axia Metalliki" or "value in (gold) metal"), meaning that the face values were based on the gold standard of the Latin Monetary Union. These stamps were sold at the post offices at a price higher than the face value, due to the depreciation of the drachma. The "A M" stamps were mainly used for international parcel post and postal money orders, although they are sometimes found on normal letter covers. In 1902 these stamps were withdrawn and replaced with the "A M" series.
Argos Theater
The participants of these games were wealthy men, and they competed in the games to test their dexterity and endurance. Greek men were known to be competitive and prideful people and were always up for a challenge to prove who is the strongest and fastest. These events were known to be the influence for the Olympic games. During the c. 3 BC these events transferred from the city of Nemean over to the city of Argos. Eventually these games were held at the Argos Theater as the primary venue. Competitions and gladiator combats were performed as well for men to demonstrate their athletic abilities. A pool was developed into the theater to be able to host aquatic games. Greeks were innovative and created many way to show themselves off.
Isthmian Games
Isthmian Games or Isthmia (Ancient Greek: Ἴσθμια) were one of the Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece, and were named after the Isthmus of Corinth, where they were held. As with the Nemean Games, the Isthmian Games were held both the year before and the year after the Olympic Games (the second and fourth years of an Olympiad), while the Pythian Games were held in the third year of the Olympiad cycle.
Paris in the Belle Époque
Paris played a central role in the organization of international sports and in the professionalization of sports. The first efforts to revive the Olympic Games were led by a French educator and historian, Pierre de Coubertin. The first meeting to organize the games took place at the Sorbonne in 1894, resulting in the creation of the International Olympic Committee and the holding of the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896. The second games, the first Olympics held outside of Greece, were the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, from 14 May until 28 October 1900, organized in conjunction with the Paris Universal Exposition of 1900. There were 19 sports included in the event, and women competed in the Olympics for the first time. The swimming events took place in the Seine. Some of the sports were unusual by modern standards; they included automobile and motorcycle racing, cricket, croquet, underwater swimming, tug-of-war, and shooting live pigeons.
Summer Olympic Games
Greek officials and the public were enthusiastic about the experience of hosting an Olympic Games. This feeling was shared by many of the athletes, who even demanded that Athens be the permanent Olympic host city. The IOC intended for subsequent Games to be rotated to various host cities around the world. The second Olympics was held in Paris.
Archaic Greece
The word "archaic" derives from the Greek word "archaios", which means "old". It refers to the period in ancient Greek history before the Classical. The period is generally considered to have lasted from the beginning of the eighth century BC until the beginning of the fifth century BC, with the foundation of the Olympic Games in 776 BC and the Second Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC forming notional start and end dates. The Archaic period was long considered to have been less important and historically interesting than the Classical period, and was primarily studied as a precursor to it. More recently, however, Archaic Greece has come to be studied for its own achievements. With this reassessment of the significance of the Archaic period, some scholars have objected to the term "archaic", due to its connotations in English of being primitive and outdated. No term which has been suggested to replace it has gained widespread currency, however, and the term is still in use.
Mediterranean Games
The idea was proposed at the 1948 Summer Olympics by Muhammed Taher Pasha, chairman of the Egyptian Olympic Committee and vice-president of the International Olympic Committee (I.O.C.), assisted by the Greek member of the I.O.C. Ioannis Ketseas. In 1949 an unofficial event was held in Istanbul, Turkey but the first official Mediterranean Games were held in Egypt in 1951.
1900 Summer Olympics
At the Sorbonne conference of 1894, Pierre de Coubertin proposed that the Olympic Games should take place in 1900 in Paris. The delegates to the conference were unwilling to wait six years and lobbied to hold the first games in 1896. A decision was made to hold the first Olympic Games in 1896 in Athens and that Paris would host the second celebration.
Evangelos Zappas
Evangelis or Evangelos Zappas (; , 23 August 1800–19 June 1865) was a Greek patriot, philanthropist and businessman who spent most of his life in Romania. He is recognized today as a founder of the modern Olympic Games, who sponsored the Olympic Games of 1859, 1870, 1875, and 1888 and preceded the Olympic Games that came under the auspices of the International Olympic Committee. These Games, known at the time simply as Olympics, came before the founding of the International Olympic Committee. The legacy of Evangelis Zappas, as well as the legacy of his cousin Konstantinos Zappas, was also used to fund the Olympic Games of 1896.
1896 Summer Olympics
"I declare the opening of the first international Olympic Games in Athens. Long live the Nation. Long live the Greek people."
Archery at the 2004 Summer Olympics
The stadium, often called Kallimarmaro, is notable as the site of the first Olympic Games and even earlier, where the Ancient Greeks' Panathenean Games were hosted. At the behest of James Easton, president of the International Archery Federation, archery events were held in the historic stadium, hoping that its history and natural beauty would attract the public to the sport. Laurence Godfrey, the fourth-place finisher in the men's individual event, remarked that the stadium inspired pride, while American Vic Wunderle spoke for most of the archers in saying, "It's a great honor and a privilege to be able to compete inside the 1896 Olympic Stadium."
Improvathon
Set: Ancient Greece, the first Olympic Games
Athletics in epic poetry
Sports competitions are believed to have taken place over 3,000 years ago at Olympia in Greece; hence, the name the "Olympics". The first written account of the Games dates back to 776 BC. The exact origin and reasons behind the multi-day event is believed to be a result of ensuring peace between the city-states in the Hellenic world. These original games at Olympia gave rise to the Panhellenic Games. The Panhellenic games consisted of four individual "Olympic-Style" competitions held throughout the ancient Greek world. The served as a way to bring ancient Greece together.
Olympic Games ceremony
There is evidence of dramatic changes in the format of the Ancient Games over the nearly 12 centuries that they were celebrated. Eventually, by roughly the 77th Olympiad, a standard 18-event program was established. In order to open a Games in ancient Greece the organizers would hold an Inauguration Festival. This was followed by a ceremony in which athletes took an oath of sportsmanship. The first competition, an artistic competition of trumpeters and heralds, concluded the opening festivities.
Intercalated Games
The first Intercalated Games had been scheduled by the IOC in 1901 as part of a new schedule, where every four years, in between the internationally organised games, there would be intermediate games held in Athens. This was a compromise: After the successful games of Athens 1896 the Greeks suggested they could organize the games every four years. Since they had the venues, and had proven to be able to hold well-organised games, they received quite a bit of support. However, Pierre de Coubertin did not like this at all, he had intended the first games to be in Paris in 1900 and had no intention of losing not only the première for Paris but the games as well. Thus the second games became the Paris 1900 games.
Running in Ancient Greece
The earliest Olympic Games involved well trained warriors competing in a variety of events. The warriors did not have any specialized training for the Olympics. Each "poleis" in ancient Greece had its own training program for soldiers, which was the only preparation they had. However, to train for war, the ancient Greeks would exercise the whole body, which is a principle that many later ancient Greek athletes lived by. The first Olympians believed that in order to have a harmonious body, the entire body must be trained, which would result in fierce warriors and strong athletes. Aristotle later said that the training of the whole body infuses it with courage (Stefanović et al. 113).
Olympic medal
The first Olympic medals in 1896 were designed by French sculptor Jules-Clément Chaplain and depicted Zeus holding Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, on the obverse and the Acropolis on the reverse. They were made by the Paris Mint, which also made the medals for the 1900 Olympic Games, hosted by Paris. This started the tradition of giving the responsibility of minting the medals to the host city. For the next few Olympiads the host city also chose the medal design. Until 1912 the gold medals were made of solid gold.
Olympia, Greece
The Olympic Games were held every four years throughout Classical antiquity, from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD.
Olympiad
During the 3rd century AD, records of the games are so scanty that historians are not certain whether after 261 they were still held every four years. During the early years of the Olympiad, any physical benefit deriving from a sport was banned. Some winners were recorded though, until the last Olympiad of 393AD. In 394, Roman Emperor Theodosius I outlawed the games at Olympia as pagan. Though it would have been possible to continue the reckoning by just counting four-year periods, by the middle of the 5th century AD reckoning by Olympiads had become disused.
Stamata Revithi
The 1896 Olympic Games were the first held in the Modern era and the most important international multi-sport event Greece had ever hosted. The rules of the Games generally excluded women from competition. Influenced by both his times—in the Victorian era women were considered to be inferior to men—and his admiration for the ancient Olympic Games, when only men were allowed to participate in the events, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the visionary of the modern Olympic Games, was not in favour of women's participation in the Olympic Games or in sports generally. He believed that a woman's greatest achievement would be to encourage her sons to be distinguished in sports and to applaud a man's effort.
Greece at the Paralympics
Greece, the birthplace of the Ancient Olympic Games that hosted the inaugural 1896 Summer Olympics, did not compete in the Summer Paralympics until 1976 and in the Winter Paralympics until 2002, but since then the Greeks have taken part in every edition of both events. Although the Greek delegation traditionally enters first during the parade of nations at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, this tradition does not apply to the Paralympics, where Greece enters within alphabetical order. The National Paralympic Committee for Greece is the Hellenic Paralympic Committee.
2010 Winter Olympics
The Olympic Torch Relay is the transfer of the Olympic flame from Ancient Olympia, Greece — where the first Olympic Games were held thousands of years ago — to the stadium of the city hosting the current Olympic Games. The flame arrives just in time for the Opening Ceremony.
Olympic Games ceremony
The Ancient Games, held in Greece from ca. 776 BC to ca. 393 AD, provide the first examples of Olympic ceremonies. The victory celebration, elements of which are in evidence in the modern-day medal and closing ceremonies, often involved elaborate feasts, drinking, singing, and the recitation of poetry. The wealthier the victor the more extravagant the celebration. The victors were presented with an olive wreath or crown harvested from a special tree in Olympia by a boy, specially selected for this purpose, using a golden sickle. The festival would conclude with the victors making solemn vows and performing ritual sacrifices to the various gods to which they were beholden.
1896 Summer Olympics
On 6 April (25 March according to the Julian calendar then in use in Greece), the games of the First Olympiad were officially opened; it was Easter Monday for both the Western and Eastern Christian Churches and the anniversary of Greece's independence. The Panathenaic Stadium was filled with an estimated 80,000 spectators, including King George I of Greece, his wife Olga, and their sons. Most of the competing athletes were aligned on the infield, grouped by nation. After a speech by the president of the organising committee, Crown Prince Constantine, his father officially opened the Games with the words (in Greek):
History of Western civilization before AD 500
By the 6th century BC, Greek colonists had spread far and wide — from the Russian Black Sea coast to the Spanish Mediterranean and through modern Italy, North Africa, Crete, Cyprus and Turkey. The Ancient Olympic Games are said to have begun in 776BC and grew to be a major cultural event for the citizens of the Greek diaspora, who met every four years to compete in such sporting events as running, throwing, wrestling and chariot driving. Trade flourished and by 670BC the barter economy was being replaced by a money economy, with Greeks minting coins in such places as the island of Aegina. Poultry arrived from India around 600BC and would grow to be a European staple. The Hippocratic Oath, historically taken by doctors swearing to practice medicine ethically, is said to have been written by the Greek Hippocrates, often regarded as the father of western medicine, in Ionic Greek (late 5th century BC),
Olympiad
The sophist Hippias was the first writer to publish a list of victors of the Olympic Games, and by the time of Eratosthenes, it was generally agreed that the first Olympic games had happened during the summer of 776 BC. The combination of victor lists and calculations from 776 BC onwards enabled Greek historians to use the Olympiads as a way of reckoning time that did not depend on the time reckonings of one of the city-states. ("See Attic calendar".) The first to do so consistently was Timaeus of Tauromenium in the third century BC. Nevertheless, since for events of the early history of the games the reckoning was used in retrospect, some of the dates given by later historian for events before the 5th century BC are very unreliable. In the 2nd century AD, Phlegon of Tralles summarised the events of each Olympiad in a book called "Olympiads", and an extract from this has been preserved by the Byzantine writer Photius. Christian chroniclers continued to use this Greek system of dating as a way of synchronising biblical events with Greek and Roman history. In the 3rd century AD, Sextus Julius Africanus compiled a list of Olympic victors up to 217 BC, and this list has been preserved in the Chronicle of Eusebius.An Olympiad started with the holding of the games, which occurred on the first or second full moon after the summer solstice, in what we call July or August. The games were therefore essentially a new years festival. In 776 BC this occurred on either July 23 or August 21. (After the introduction of the Metonic cycle about 432 BC, the start of the Olympic year was determined slightly differently).
10,000 metres at the Olympics
The 1906 Intercalated Games were held in Athens and at the time were officially recognised as part of the Olympic Games series, with the intention being to hold a games in Greece in two-year intervals between the internationally held Olympics. However, this plan never came to fruition and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) later decided not to recognise these games as part of the official Olympic series. Some sports historians continue to treat the results of these games as part of the Olympic canon.
Pythian Games
The Pythian Games (; also Delphic Games) were one of the four Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece. They were held in honour of Apollo every four years at his sanctuary at Delphi. They were held two years after each Olympic Games, and between each Nemean and Isthmian Games. The Pythian Games were founded sometime in the 6th century BC and featured competitions for art and dance. The art and dance competitions pre-dated the athletic portion of the games, and were said to have been started by Apollo after he killed Python and set up the oracle at Delphi.
Sport in ancient Greek art
Athletics were an important part of the cultural life of Ancient Greeks. Depictions of boxing and bull-leaping can be found back to the Bronze Age. Buildings were created for the sole use of athletics including stadions, palaestra, and gymnasiums. Starting in the Archaic Period, Panhellenic Games, including the Olympic Games, begin taking place each year. These games gave people from all over Greece the chance to gain fame for their athletic prowess. Athletics in Greece became one of the most commonly depicted scenes of everyday life in their art.
Hypenus of Elis
Hypenus of Elis was an ancient Greek athlete from Elis who won the double race (Diaulos) of the 14th Ancient Olympic Games in 724 BC. It was the first time that the double race, i.e. a race with a distance of 2 stadia = 2 x 192 m, was run at the Olympic Games.
1896 Summer Olympics
Athens had been unanimously chosen to stage the inaugural modern Games during a congress organised by Coubertin in Paris on 23 June 1894, during which the IOC was also created, because Greece was the birthplace of the Ancient Olympic Games. The main venue was the Panathenaic Stadium, where athletics and wrestling took place; other venues included the Neo Phaliron Velodrome for cycling, and the Zappeion for fencing. The opening ceremony was held in the Panathenaic Stadium on 6 April, during which most of the competing athletes were aligned on the infield, grouped by nation. After a speech by the president of the organising committee, Crown Prince Constantine, his father officially opened the Games. Afterwards, nine bands and 150 choir singers performed an Olympic Hymn, composed by Spyridon Samaras, with words by poet Kostis Palamas.
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games reached their zenith in the 6th and 5th centuries BC, but then gradually declined in importance as the Romans gained power and influence in Greece. While there is no scholarly consensus as to when the Games officially ended, the most commonly held date is 393 AD, when the emperor Theodosius I decreed that all pagan cults and practices be eliminated. Another date commonly cited is 426 AD, when his successor, Theodosius II, ordered the destruction of all Greek temples.
Ancient Olympic Games
The ancient Olympics were as much a religious festival as an athletic event. The games were held in honor of the Greek god Zeus, and on the middle day of the games, 100 oxen would be sacrificed to him. Over time Olympia, the site of the games, became a central spot for the worship of the head of the Greek pantheon and a temple, built by the Greek architect Libon, was erected on the mountaintop. The temple was one of the largest Doric temples in Greece. The sculptor Pheidias created a statue of the god made of gold and ivory. It stood tall. It was placed on a throne in the temple. The statue became one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. As the historian Strabo put it,
Music at sporting events
The ancient Greeks intently tied the performance of music to sporting events, particularly at their quadrenniel Olympic games.
The revival of the Olympic games in 1896 also incorporated music into the festivities surrounding the competitions. On March 25 of that year, "the Philharmonic Orchestra played the National Anthem and the first Olympic Hymn, written by poet Kostis Palamas and set to music by the well-known Greek composer Spyridon Samaras."