Ancient Greece

The Olympics of Ancient Greece

It’s easy to find out about the Olympics today. You can look in a newspaper or watch the events on television.

But, what would you find if you visited the ancient Olympics?

In Ancient Greece the Olympic games were held to honor Zeus, who was King of the Gods.

It was a religious festival that lasted 5 days and happened every four years.

The festival was held at Olympia, near Elis.

Map of Ancient Greece

All of the cities all over the Greek world would come together for the games.

In Ancient Greece, each of the cities had its own government. They often fought and had wars with each other. But when it was time for the Olympics, a truce was declared!

A month before the games were to start, messengers were sent out to announce the truce so that people from everywhere could travel safely to Olympia. The reason a truce was declared was because the Olympics were a religious festival, and that was considered more important than war.

At first, running was the only event. But other events were gradually added.

Only the athletes and important guests were given special places to stay during the Olympics. All other people had to pitch tents or sleep under the skies. It was hot, crowded and water was scarce. But the people didn’t seem to mind.

Only men and boys were allowed to enter the Olympics Games. If women snuck in, they were punished. Women had their own festival every four years where they had mostly running events. The women’s festival was held in honor of Zeus’s wife, Hera.

Wrestling, boxing, and chariot racing were important Olympic events. Other events were discus, javelin, and long jump.

The Olympic games kept athletes fit and ready for battle. We know a lot about the Olympics by studying ancient pottery. Many vases (called urns) have pictures illustrating Greek life, including athletic contests. Since athletes were important in the culture of ancient Greece there also were stories written about them by Greek authors of the time.

Look at some examples of athletic events on these urns:


Chariot Races	Discus

Boxing	The prize for victorious athletes was an olive leaf wreath.

The athletes who were successful in the Olympics got special treatment for the rest of their lives when they returned home to their own cities. They got free meals and invitations to special events.

Are you ready for your own Olympic Challenge?

We need two teams:

One team from the ancient city of Athens. You will be the Athenians.

Can you find Athens on the map of Greece?

One team from the ancient city of Sparta. You will be the Spartans.

Can you find Sparta on the map of Greece?

YOUR event for today: Tongue Twisters!

Each team member will choose a tongue twister from the box. You will have 10 seconds to say it as many times as you can. You get a point for each time you say it during the 10-second time period.

The team with the most points gets the gold medal.

Team with the next most points gets the silver medal.

Here are the tongue twisters to practice: