from the Olympic Games.
11/10/2011
The Olympic games first started as a tribute to the gods, primarily Zeus, the runners sacrificed animals before the event in order for them to honor the gods and to help him win the race. At first only speed walking was a part of the Olympics and then other sports were added. I found it strange how in ancient Greece women were not allowed to participate or even spectate the Olympic events. This rule was taken so seriously that if it was broken the woman would be killed. I personally believe that that is wrong because today some of the best Olympic athletes are women. By the 129th Olympics women could compete.
I found that the chariot races were started when a king named Enamaus raced a price called Pelops for his daughter named Hippodamia. The king promised his daughter that she would marry the first person that could find her and escape the him in a chariot. 13 young men tried but were put to death by the king, finally Pelops sabotaged the king and won. He gave thanks to Zeus and announced that that day would be a sports festival, and a time to honor Zeus. The original Olympics lasted from 776 BC to 393 AD.
As the years passed more and more events were added, even though we have no written record, but we know that footraces, chariot races, boxing and other brutal sports were also part of the Olympics.The most brutal event was called Pancratium, it was basically a brawl. Men would get seriously injured or even killed during events like this. There was also the Penathlon which combined 5 events, they threw spears, ran, wrestled, threw discusses and comped in the long jump.
The Greek Olympics came to an end when the nation was Invaded by the Romans,their beliefs did not go along those of the Greeks so the Olympics ceased to exist. Because for the Romans war trade were the most important, religion came after. Therefor there was no reason to hold the Olympics. The Olympics were revived later but lost their point. Contestants would bribe the judges, they didn't compete for honor and glory as they did in Greece. Their final decline was when Emperor Theodosius II ordered the walls protecting the stadium to be brought down, the Olympic grounds were flooded and destroyed. There would be no Olympic games for more than fifteen hundred years. From then the games have a form as we know them today.
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