Today we visited Olympia, the home of the first Olympic games. I couldn't believe I was standing among ruins that have been there since 776 B.C. Andy explained to us that unlike some other sites we have seen this one was very different. While other areas we have seen had a heavy concentration of theatre and religion, the Olympic stadium is much different. It is sectioned off into a square. Inside the square was the Temple of Zeus and the Temple of Hera (Zeus's wife). Outside of the square was a workshop to create statues and pieces of art, a gymnasium, agricultural building, a market, and so on. This site never contained anything religious nor anything to do with the theatre.
The Olympic Games first started in 776 B.C. as mentioned above. Greece always had civil wars among each other; so the Oracle at Delfi (a priestess that would answer questions for consultants through the use of priests) said that in order for the fighting to take a pause for a little while, the different counties or states needed to come up with a way to resolve them peacefully without the use of weapons. Therefore because the ancient Greeks liked athletics, they decided that in order to help ease some fighting they would arrange Olympic Games for every July. The athletes (who were never professionals, unlike today) along with their coaches, parents, and official from their city would arrive a month early to prepare.
An interesting fact I learned today was that if those athletes that cheated (paid off the referees or whomever accepted that money) had to make a statue of Zeus, and below carve their name and the city in which they were from, and place it outside the stadium to be on display for all to see. Another interesting fact I learned was that woman were not allowed to participate in the games.
The whole site was magnificent and I loved seeing all the ruins and the museum afterwards with some statues in it. Now we are in Tolo and I can't wait to see what tomorrow holds!
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