Greece - Korina Miller [169]
Originally only Greek-born males were allowed to participate, but later Romans were permitted. Slaves and women were not allowed to enter the sanctuary as participants or spectators. Women trying to sneak in were thrown from a nearby rock.
The event served purposes besides athletic competition. Writers, poets and historians read their works to large audiences, and the citizens of various city-states got together. Traders clinched business deals and city-state leaders talked in an atmosphere of festivity that was conducive to resolving differences through discussion, rather than battle.
The games continued during the first years of Roman rule. By this time, however, their importance had declined and, thanks to Nero, they had become less sporting. In AD 67 Nero entered the chariot race with 10 horses, ordering that other competitors could have no more than four. Despite this advantage he fell and abandoned the race, yet was still declared the winner by the judges.
The games were held for the last time in AD 394, before they were banned by Emperor Theodosius I as part of a purge of pagan festivals. In AD 426 Theodosius II decreed that the temples of Olympia be destroyed.
The modern Olympic Games were instituted in 1896 and, other than during WWI and WWII, have been held every four years in different cities around the world ever since, including (to much celebration in Greece) the 2004 Athens Olympics. The Olympic flame is lit at the ancient site and carried by runners to the city where the games are held.
Exploring the Site
Ancient Olympia is signposted from the modern village. The entrance is beyond the bridge over the Kladeos River. Thanks to Theodosius II and various earthquakes, little remains of the magnificent buildings of Ancient Olympia, but enough exists to sustain an absorbing visit in an idyllic, leafy setting; allow a minimum of half a day. A visit to the archaeological museum Click here beforehand will help with visualising the ancient buildings. The first ruin encountered is the gymnasium, which dates from the 2nd century BC. South of here is the partly restored palaestra (wrestling school), where contestants practised and trained. The next building was the theokoleon (priests’ house). Behind it is Pheidias’ workshop, where the gargantuan ivory-and-gold Statue of Zeus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, was sculpted. The workshop was identified by archaeologists after the discovery of tools and moulds. Beyond the theokoleon is the leonidaion, an elaborate structure that accommodated dignitaries.
The altis, or Sacred Precinct of Zeus, lies east of the path. Its most important building was the immense 5th-century Doric Temple of Zeus, which enshrined Pheidias’ statue, later removed to Constantinople by Theodosius II (where it was destroyed by fire in AD 475). One column has been restored and re-erected, and helps you put into perspective its sheer size.
South of the Temple of Zeus is the bouleuterion (council house), containing the altar of oaths, where competitors swore to obey the rules decreed by the Olympic Senate.
The stadium lies to the east of the altis and is entered through an archway. The start and finish lines of the 120m sprint track and the judges’ seats still survive. The stadium could seat at least 45,000 spectators. Slaves and women spectators had to be content to watch from the Hill of Cronos.
To the north of the Temple of Zeus was the pelopion, a small, wooded hillock with an altar to Pelops. It was surrounded by a wall containing the remains of its Doric portico. Many artefacts, now displayed in the museum, were found on the hillock.
Further north is the 6th-century Doric Temple of Hera, the site’s most intact structure. Hera was worshipped along with Rea until the two were superseded by Zeus.
To the east of this temple is the nymphaeum, erected by the wealthy Roman banker Herodes Atticus in AD 156–60. Typical of buildings financed by Roman benefactors, it was grandiose, consisting of a semicircular