Greece Travel Destinations:
Olympia Birthplace of the Olympic Games

The Olympian site: Open May - Oct daily 8am - 7pm; Nov - April Mon - Fri 8am - 5pm, Sat and Sun 8:30am - 3pm;
6 euros, or 9 euros for combined site and museum).

The Olympia Site museum (open Mon noon - 7pm, Tues - Sun 8am - 7pm; winter Mon 10:30am - 5pm,Tues - Sun 8:30 - 5; 6 euros admission).

The Myth behind the Olympic Games

The mythology of Olympia has roots in the story of Pelops, whose father Tantalus served him up in a stew to the gods, who didn't know what delicacy they were being served, but soon found out when Demeter took a bite. Zeus had the pieces of meat put back in the cauldron and resurrected Pelops, punishing Tantalus for eternity by forcing him to stand in water up to his chin which receded whenever he stooped to drink. The theme of the resurrected Pelops resonates with the celebration of youth and its regeneration in new victors, as well as the fecuncity of earth in this fertile area where the games were held, once the province of Gaea/Gaia, the Earth Mother.

The setting for the Games

The Alpheios is joined by a second river in the beautiful setting of ancient Olymbia, the Kladeos (from the Greek word for 'branch'). It is a lush, pastoral setting, with canopied oaks, Aleppo pines, plane trees (sycamores), poplars and olive trees. The enclosed sanctuary of Zeus is known as the Altis, to whom the Games were dedicated.

Situated in the beautiful valley of the Alpheios River in the nomos (prefecture) of Elia, Olympia (Olymbia in Greek) was never a city but a bucolic sanctuary. The modern town was created only in the 20th century to serve visitors to this ancient center of Panhellenic sporting events (Olympic games) that were held every four years for over a millennium (776BC-394AD). The original people of this area, and of the Peloponnese in general, have been named Pelasgians (Sea People, from the Greek word for 'open sea' (pelagos). These original settlers were here from 3000 BC and were forced during the subsequent millennium into the central mountains by the Mycenaeans, who were in turn conquered by the Achaeans around 1250BC, bringing with them the Olympian sky gods, which they imposed on the native population. The earlier peoples had worshipped the Earth Mother as the nurturing power of nature and of the underworld as well. The renaming of the rounded hill that symbolized the Earth Mother as Mt. Kronos in honor of the father of Zeus, summarized the supercession of masculine sky gods upon the earlier feminine Mother goddess. Interestingly, Gaia (the Earth Mother) was wife of Ouranos/Uranus and mother of Kronos, who had overthrown his father and was in turn supplanted by his son. The games that began in 776BC (known as the Festival of Zeus) manifested a compromise between the two religious systems and between their calendars, which were respectively lunar (feminine) and solar (masculine). The four-year cycles between games (known as Olympiads) derive from the alternation of these two calendars of 49 and 50 months.

Origins of the Olympic Games

The Games may have originated (and some say that this is probable) in an annual race of young girls which honored the goddess Hera Parthenos (Ira the Virgin). Interestingly, according to the ancient Goddess tradition, the Earth Mother's virginity was perpetually renewed after her marriage to the sky god (in this case, Zeus, and the later institution of the men's games in fact represented just such a marriage). In the race, girls ran in order of age, with the young girls first, the winners crowned with olive leaves in honor of Hera. These girls' races had to be taken into consideration by the priests of the Temple of Zeus when the men's games began in 776BC, hence the alternation of calendars. These first men's games were played in a sacred context, with the competitors from the various Greek city-states taking pride in their common identity as Greeks, and as a celebration of the ideal in human achievement, with speed, strenth, agility and control the important features, though many of the sports related to skills necessary in war. The change from local festivals held at the site around the 11th century BC to the quadrennial festival that included states from the entire Greek world of the time, seems to have come from the Oracle of Delphi, with the codification of rules drawn up by the ruler of ancient Elis (Elia), Iphitos, and Lycurgus (the Spartan ruler). It was they who introduced the sacred truce, the Ekeheiria, which were announced by heralds prior to the festival and enforced for their duration, being broken only once (by Sparta, whose leader had drawn up the code, and was fined accordingly).

The Original Olympian Events

Included were wrestling and boxing, which often resulting in serious injury to the combatants, swimming, bareback horse riding (with the rider dodging spears thrown at him), ball games, and the five grouped sports known as the pentathleon (obligatory for all ), the victor obliged to win three of the five. The latter included the broad jump, with weights in the hands; the discus throw, with a stone or metal disc weighting about 12 pounds;the javelin, thrown with the aid of a leather thong; the sprint, of about 200 yards; and wrestling. The chariot races (for tyrants and nobles who hired professional charioteers) which ended the Games, were contests with two and four horse chariots, with many horrible accidents (fairly predictable with forty chariots careening down a narrow course simultaneously. Horse races were also the province of the nobility, who hired professional jockeys. One of the most brutal contests was the prestigious pancratium, in which two combatants fought naked and unarmed, the only prohibitions those against biting and eye-gouging. One victor died just as his opponent surrendered and had to be awarded his olive wreath posthumously.

In addition to the athletic competitons, the spectators heard the works of historians, orators and sophists, who read their works aloud, including Herodotus, who read from his history to those assembled there. The festival served as an opportunity for poets and sculptors as well as for nobles and ambassadors gathered so fortuitously in one place where treaties could be negotiated, and merchants found opportunities there for pursuing foreign markets. Themistocles attended the 76th Olymiad in celebration of the Persian defeat. The Games of 69AD, in which Nero competed (in the chariot race and in musical contests) had waited two years so that he could partipate, with the records later expunged. Athens took the prize for the first time in 696, and in 688 a man from Smyrna (on the coast of Asia Minor) won the inaugural boxing contest, being the first victor from an 'overseas' city, and Southern Italy (replete with Greek colonies) had its first victory in 672. The Spartans were frequent winners. In 632BC , events for boys began. The victor's name was announced by a herald after each event and he was handed a palm, and on the last day of the Games, all victors given a garland of wild olive and entertained in the Prytaneion. A victor could erect a statue in the Altis, and if he had won three events, the statue could have his own features.

During its more than millennial history, the Games were directed by Eleans (as in the name of the modern province, Elia, which means 'olive'). Only men and boys whose mother tongue was Greek were allowed to compete; barbarians were allowed in as spectators, but no slaves. Married women were also barred, and even forbidden to cross the river while the games were going on, at threat of being hurled from a rock. In later years Romans were admitted. A sacred oath was sworn by the contestants on the Altar of Zeus Orkeios (the latter word meaning 'oath') to observe all the rules of the Games, with any subsequent infractions redounding not only on themselves but upon their families and native towns as well.)

The Games Banned  393 AD

The Games were terminated by an official decree of Roman Emperor Theodosios the Great, in 393AD after having become decadently commercial and overly professional, with bribery common, though his reason for closing the Games had more to do with his conversion to Christianity and consequent crackdown on 'pagan' events. His successor ordered the destruction of the temples, and later barbarian invasions, earthquakes and the changing of the course of the Alpheios River completed the destruction, covering it with 7meters/23feet of silt and sand, until its excavation by German archaeologists in the 1870s. The Olympic Games were not revived until 1896, in Athens.

Remains of the Site of Olympia

Known as the 'altis' (a corruption of the Greek word for 'sacred grove'), the site is surrounded by a wall, constructed to delineate the sacred precinct rather than for defensive purposes. There were three entrances, the main one probably the one from the south near eastern side of the Leonidaion, a Hellenistic guest house. Beyond the four columned Propylon pilgrims walked east along the sacred way, lined with offerings and statues of victors of the Olympic Games.

The Doric Temple of Zeus dated to 472BC dominated the Altis, with its spectacular statue of the seated Olympian Zeus, sculpted by Phidias. This statue was one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, decorated with ivory and gold, a technique known as hrysoelephantine ('hryso' being the Greek word for gold). The statue was 13.5meters/44feet high, and the throne on which he sat of ebony and ivory overlaid with gold and precious stones. The pedestal, decorated with gold reliefs of divinities, was of blue black Eleusinian stone, fragments of which have been found. In the left hand of the figure is a scepter, surmounted by an eagle, a Victory, also of hrysoelephantine, is in his right hand, and his head was crowned with an olive wreath. The pillars which supported the enormous weight were hidden by screens with paintings by Panainos, and by the footstool which had golden lions and a relief of Theseus fighting the amazons. This gigantic figure almost reached the ceiling of the temple and wooden galleries were built over the side aisles to enable people to see it more easily. Of the ancient writers, Pausanius alone described it in detail, and stated that the physical measurements alone didn't do justice to the effect the statue had on the viewer.

The care of the statue was in the hands of Pheidias' descendants, who were called 'Burnishers', but by the 2nd century BC the ivory had cracked and had to be repaired, and in the time of Julius Caesar it was struck by lightning. The Emporer Caligula wanted to take it to Rome and to replace the head of Zeus with his own, but every time his agents came near the statue it burst into a loud peal of laughter. Supposedly after the reign of Theodosius II the statue was taken to Constantinople, where it was burned up in a fire in 475AD.

The statue has disappeared, except for a few low reliefs from the throne, depicting the murder of Niobe's children. Though housed in Rome during the 17th century (and copied by Van Dyck), these sculptures are now in the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad.

The temple was as large as the roughly contemporary Parthenon. Its sculptures, now in the museum, rivaled the finest in Athens, one of which depicts Pelops in a chariot race, others of the Labors of Hercules/Heraklis, and others of Lapiths and Entaurs.

Beyond the Temple are the central structures of the Altis: the Pelopion and the Temple of Hera. Once believed to be the grave of Pelops, the Pelopion was revealed by excavation to be a sacred precinct to which entrance was gained through the Propylon. The altar seems to have been a raised rectangle of trees, which symbolize the rebirth of the hero. The Temple of Hera (the Heraion) was built in the Doric style around 600BC and was the first temple built in the Altis. Before that there were only open air altars dedicated to Zeus and to other cult gods. It is the most complete building on the site, with around thirty partly intact columns, and a section of inner wall. Originally a joint temple of Zeus and Hera, it was left to the goddess alone after the Temple of Zeus was built. The Hermes of Praxiteles was found here amid the earthquake ruins in 1877, in the very spot noted by Pausanius in his writings, though he didn't seem to deem it worthy of more than a brief comment. This statue is one of the best preserved Classical statues, thanks to the light building materials used in the upper walls of the temple--- sunbaked brick. It was sculpted of Parian marble, with its original polish barely marked by the centuries. Hermes, messenger of the gods, was given the task by Zeus of taking his infant son Dionysos out of the reach of the jealous Hera, and take him to the nymphs who wore raise and educate him on Mt. Nysa. In the statue, Hermes is depicted resting on his journey, standing in a graceful posture, leaning against a tree trunk with his left arm, the folds of a cloak hanging from the arm on the trunk. No doubt the hand held his caduceus (though missing). On his arm sits the baby Dionysos, reaching up towards something held in Hermes' right hand (perhaps a bunch of grapes) and Hermes' head is turned towards the child, the hair in short locks, with traces of the groove of a metal wreath. The hair, lips, and sandal bear traces of paint. The nude figure of Hermes has been extolled for its ideal combination of strength and grace. The statue is usually dated between 363 and 343BC, though some authorities consider it a Roman copy. It is housed in Gallery 6 of the Museum (see below).

Pausanius wrote of a statue of a seated Hera accompanied by a standing Zeus, who was wearing a helmet. The presence of the two temples suggests the marriage of the masculine and feminine powers.

To the west of the Temple of Hera are remains of the round Philippeion, the first secular monument in the altis. After the Battle of Chaironea gave Philip II (Philip of Macedon) control of the Greek mainland, he began building it, though his son Alexander the Great probably finished it.

East of the Temple of Hera is a fountain house built during the 2nd century AD, and given as a gift to the sanctuary by the wealthy Athenian, Herodes Atticus. The state treasuries are on a terrace at the base of the Hill of Kronos, which were storage chambers for sacrificial items and equipment used in the Games. All but two of them were built outside of Greece, and are built in the form of temples. In front of them are the remains of the Metroon,, a 4th century BC Doric temple dedicated to the Mother of the Gods. It was quite small, measuring only 20.5 meters by 10.5 meters. The remains include most of the foundations. To the west of this temple are traces of six prehistoric houses. which can be spotted in front of the house of Herodes Atticus. This was the end point of a 3km long aqueduct which brought pure drinking water here during the 2nd century AD, the water stored in a large semicircular tank, which poured out of lions'head spouts. The upper tank was paved with marble and a backed with an apse supported by eight buttresses. There were statues inside of the family of Herodes and their imperial patrons. Small round Corinthian temples at either end of the lower tank contained one statue each.

The Bouleutirion (parliament house) is outside of the altis , just through the arch (modelled by Roman emporer Nero, who had his house just inside, built for his stay during the Games) and it was here that the competitors swore before a statue of Zeus to observe the rules.

From here the Vaulted Tunnel leads to the Stadium, through which only athletes and officials passed on the way to the competitons. The present Stadium was constructed during the 4th century BC with a track 212 meters long and the original starting blocks are still embedded in the clay. It accommodated 40 ,000 spectators, though there were actually no permanent seats-just artificial banks. There were also seats on the southern slope overlooking the Hippodrome (near the river) where the horse and chariot races were held. Seats were reserved for the rich folks, however, the ordinary people (including slaves and women) watched the events from the hill of Kronos to the north. Interestingly, the stadium's excavation was first carried out under the orders of Hitler, between 1941 and 1944. The German Institute further explored it from 1958-62 and restored it to its present form.

Outside of the Altis are the Gymnasium, the Palaestra where the athletes rested and prepared themselves, and the workshop of the 5th century BC sculptor Phidias who was in charge of the temple construction, and which later became part of a Roman basilika. The studio was built to the same dimensions as the 'cella' in which the statue of Zeus was to be placed, in order to achieve the exact lighting and final effect that the sculptor intended. The studio is part of a larger colonnaded building which was the Priest's House, the Theokoleion.

The Olympia Site museum (open Mon noon-7pm, Tues-Sun 8am-7pm; winter Mon 10:30am-5pm,Tues-Sun 8:30-5;6 euros admission). Sometimes signposted as the New Museum, it lies north of the sanctuary about 200 meters. Along with the Hermes of Praxiteles, the most famous of the individual sculptures is the Head of Hera, also dating from the 4th century BC and found in the Temple of Hera. The Nike of Paionos is larger--originally 10 meters high. There are some fine bronze items, including the Persian Helmet which the Athenians captured at the Battle of Marathon, and the helmet of Miliadhes who was an Athenian general; finds from the workshop of Pheidias, including the cup with his name inscribed; statuary and sculpture from the Temple of Zeus, the frieze of the Twelve Labors of Hercules ; and much more.

Greece Travelers may take a luxury coach tour, rent a car or empower themselves with a private Oracle tour of their own design. Consider these other popular Greece travel destinations. If its on the Greek mainland Oracle can take you there in air conditioned & non-smoking security!

Athens, Cape Sounion, Ancient Corinth, Delphi & Ossios Lukas, Drama, Florina, Greneva, Chalkidiki, Imathia, Kastoria, Kavala, Kozani, Meteora, Mt. Athos, Mycenaea, Naufplion, Olympia, Pella and Vergina, Phillipi & Kavala, Dion & Mt Olympus, Sparta & Mystras, The Mani and Monemvasia, Thessaloniki,
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