Dear visitor to the Athens 2004 Olympics,
The Pan-Macedonian Association, Inc. (USA)
proudly welcomes all of you to the birthplace of the Olympic Games, Hellas (Greece).

We commissioned this booklet to present you with a short, easy to read, historical perspective of the birth of the Olympic Games in antiquity. It includes the rules of participating in the Games, the Olympic Spirit of noble competition that expects all athletes to reach the edge and possibly even go beyond the edge of their physical abilities, and last, the Olympic Truce, the observance of which was mandatory for all Greek City-States whose athletes were the only ones allowed to compete in the Games.

Finally, we have compiled characteristic yet incomplete tables that show the names of some Olympic winners of the Ancient Games, listed by event and by place of origin.

We sincerely hope that the Olympic Spirit and the Olympic Truce will once again embrace all participating nations before, during and after Athens 2004. To be sure, this will make us all winners! We are most appreciative for your presence here in Greece as we are appreciative of the many individuals and organizations that helped us offer this commemorative booklet to you. Let it be a lasting reminder for what should be our ultimate goal, to bring universal peace to the family of man through noble competition.

The Supreme Executive Council and members, Pan-Macedonian Association, Inc. (USA)
 

Introduction: Origin of the Ancient Olympics

In the valley of Olympia, the very first recorded Ancient Olympic contests were held in 776 B.C. Olympia lay within the city-state of Elis, in a region of Ancient Greece Known as Peloponnesus.

Although the actual beginning of the Olympic Games is not precisely Is not known, it was certainly connected with contests between gods and heroes. According to ancient tradition, the gods and heroes were the first to compete at Olympia, and they served as models for human beings, who later continued these athletic games. For this reason, athletics were an important part of Greek life and a way for Greeks to preserve and celebrate their rich cultural history and mythology.

Legend has it that in 776 B.C. King Iphitos of Elis was told by the oracle at Delphi that he could save Greece from the plague of warring city-states if he started the Ancient Olympic Games. In ancient times, Greece was not a single country but a collection of city-states that were often fierce rivals. Some of the regions of the Ancient Greek world, as we know them today, included Peloponnesus, Thessaly, Ionia (Asia Minor), Macedonia, the Black Sea, Crete, and Cyprus. In 776 B.C. King Iphitos established a temporary Olympic Truce and invited all of the city-states to come together to compete in peace at Olympia.

When the Olympic Games began, they only lasted for one day and consisted of one contest - the stade or stadium - a running race. New competitions, celebrations and ceremonies were gradually added in the following years and eventually the Olympics took place over a period of five days.

   The ancient games lasted until 394 A.D when Byzantine Emperor Theodosius discontinued them because he  consider them a pagan tradition.
The modern Olympic Games as we know today were started in 1896. They still include some of the original athletic competitions, celebrations and ceremonies. More importantly, they still include the basic ideals of noble competition and peace.

Olympia was a sacred, religious site even before King Iphitos started the Olympic Games in 776 B.C. There are several different tales in Greek mythology, which suggest why Olympia eventually became the official site of the Games.
According to ancient mythology, Mount Olympus was a place where the gods gathered to engage in sporting events.
According to one legend recorded in ancient Greek poetry, the Greek hero Hercules was responsible for the foundation of the Games. It is said that upon completion of one of his twelve tasks (known as the “Twelve labors of Hercules"), he celebrated by making a clearing in the sacred olive grove at Olympia and setting up the Games there to honor his father, Zeus.

Another popular story from Greek mythology describes how Zeus and his father Kronos, the mightiest of gods, had a fight. They battled on the mountains above the Altis in order to determine who would rule the world. Zeus won and became the king of the gods. Olympia's religious celebrations and Games honor Zeus' triumph.

From these stories we see why Olympia was such an important site for the Ancient Greeks. The Olympic Games became a means to celebrate and remember the Greek gods and also to maintain a strong sense of cultural ride in future generations.
 

A Brief History

Held every four years for almost 1,200 years, the Games

became the greatest festival of Ancient Greece. The event was so important that time was measured by the four-year interval between the Games, a period called an "Olympiad".

These religious-athletic festivals were originally celebrated in the belief that the spirits of the dead were gratified by such spectacles, and they were held in honor of the gods. The Olympian Festival was sacred to the mighty god Zeus.

During the first 13 Ancient Olympic Games, competition consisted of a single foot race, approximately the length of a stadium. Subsequently, other major events were added as follows:

776 B.C.          Single foot race (running)
724 B.C           Second foot race
720 B.C           Endurance race of 4.5 kilometers
708 B.C.          Pentathlon
699 B.C.          Boxing
680 B.C           Four-horse chariot race
648 B.C.          Pankration
580 B.C.          Race in armor

Winners of the Games were honored in poems and recognized as heroes for life. The earliest prize for the winners was a crown made of olive branches, a symbol of peace. In the fifth century B.C. cities began to accept money from opponents in exchange for conceding victory, and the Games moved away from their historic and religious origin.

In 146 B.C. Rome conquered Greece and took control of the Olympic Games. In 394 A.D. Roman Emperor Theodosius ended the Ancient Olympic Games.

Overview of the First Ancient Olympics

Overview of the Last Ancient Games
 

The Pan-Hellenic Spirit of the Olympic Games Expressed by Ancient Authors
"The title 'Hellenes' is applied rather to those who share our culture than to those who share a
common blood." -Isokrates, Ancient Greek philosopher.

In ancient times, Greece was not a nation but a collection of city-states. The people in these city-states spoke the same language and shared a common culture and religion. They understood that they had these connections. This common understanding is the Pan-Hellenic Spirit.

The Ancient Olympic Games reflected the Pan-Hellenic Spirit. In ancient times, the Greek people demonstrated that peace and unity among all peoples could be accomplished through friendly, athletic competition.
 

Who Could Participate in the Ancient  Olympics?

Not everyone in Ancient Greece was eligible to compete in the Olympics. Only Greek men and boys that were free citizens, not criminals, and their city-states  agreed to participate in the Olympic Truce of the Games were allowed to compete.

The Truce was written on a bronze discus kept in the Temple of Hera. It stated that all states taking part in the Games were forbidden to go to war, carryon a dispute in the court
of law or execute criminals. Truce bearers from the state of Elis traveled to all participating Greek City-­States taking part in the Games in order to announce the terms of the Truce.

    Each athlete had to take an oath that he had trained for ten months prior to the Games. Thirty days prior to the Olympic Games, athletes were required to gather at Elis for preliminary training and trials. This was to make sure that all athletes were fit and received equal treatment. It was also to determine which athletes would participate in the official Games.

Women could not participate in the Olympic Games. With the exception of married women, anyone, even slaves, was allowed to be a spectator at the Games.


Role of Women in the Ancient Olympic Games

Women were not technically allowed to compete in the Olympic Games. However, women could be declared winners in equestrian events as owners of  the horses or the chariots. Kyniska, a daughter of the King of Sparta, won great fame as the first woman to train horses that won at the Games.

Married women were not allowed access to the stadium during the games at all, with the exception of the priestess of Demeter, who was permitted to watch the Games seated by the altar in the stadium.

Women had their own special competition known as the Heraia. The competition honored the goddess Hera and took place in the non- Olympiad years. The officials, organizers and athletes were unmarried women. The Heraia was made up of three sprint races along the stadium track, specially reduced in length by one-sixth.
The competitors were divided into age groups, beginning with the youngest women.
The winners were crowned with garlands of olive leaves and given a share of a cow sacrificed to Hera.

Famous Olympians and Their Stories
Theagenes of Thasos,  480 B.C.

    Theagenes, the son of Hercules, may well be the most glorified ancient athlete of all time.
He is remembered for his athleticism, as well as for the great number of wreaths he won in competition.
       Theagenes was said to have won twenty-two times in boxing, and two times in the Pankration and countless victories in other Games.
       Theagenes was also the first athlete to win wreaths in two different events at the same time. In both the 77^th and 78th Olympic Games, he won one wreath in wrestling and one wreath in Pankration.

"There is no festival more glorious than Olympia!" -Pindar, Greek poet

Diagoras of Rhodes, 460 B.C.

Diagoras was a very famous boxer who won victories in the Olympic Games. Ancient historians have called him the most outstanding of all ancient boxers. Pindar, the Ancient Greek poet, wrote for Diagoras one of the most splendid pieces of known Greek lyric poetry.

Diagoras belonged to the noble ruling family of Rhodes, and some believed the boxer to be the son of the god Hermes.

Greeks saw athletics, in particular the Olympic Games, as closely connected to mythology and religion. In the case of Diagoras, his descendence from the great god Hermes provided an explanation of how mortal men were able to perform such amazing athletic feats.             

The boxer is also glorified for having won competitions throughout the Pan-Hellenic world - at the Isthmian Games, Nemea as well as Rhodes and Athens. Diagoras' sons also won competitions at later Olympic Games. In total, three generations of the Diagoras family were crowned victors at Olympia, which added to the boxer's fame in his own right as well as legends of his immortal ancestry.

Diagoras is remembered not only for the athleticism he displayed at the Ancient Olympic Games, but even more so for his virtuous character and nobility. These qualities were important and respected in Ancient Greek culture.

King Philip II of Macedonia 356 B.C.

King Philip II of Macedonia, the father of Alexander (III) the Great, scored victories in three successive Olympics (356, 352 & 348 B.C.). First, King Philip II won in the horse race, then in the four-horse chariot race, and finally in the two-horse chariotrace.
He claimed lineage from Hercules and was able to unite all Greek City-States under his command.

Historians know about King Philip's involvement in both the Olympic Games as well as Greek politics, partly by studying ancient coins. Large numbers of coins commemorating King Philip's victories at the Olympic Games have survived from ancient times.

On one such coin, one side of the coin shows Zeus and the other side shows a Victorious King Philip II on his horse.



Athletic Events of the Ancient Olympics

The following is a partial list of the athletic competitions included in the Ancient Olympic Games:

Running
* Stade: one length of the stadium
* Diaulos: over two lengths of the stadium
* Dolichos:  the long distance race
 
Race In Armor -Runners wore helmets, leg armor, and carried shields.

Pentathlon - Running, wrestling, long jump, discus and javelin

Boxing - Fights ended when one man surrendered, or passed out or died!

Wrestling - Wrestlers covered their bodies with oil to make it difficult for an opponent to get a hold.

Pentathlon - Combination of boxing and wrestling: the roughest sport of all!

Horse Race - There were three types of horse race: straight race for stallions, one for colts and another for mares.

Chariot Races - Featured four different types of race: two- or four-horse chariots, pulled by either colts or older horses.


Some Ancient Olympic Winners

 By Event

By Region