Olympia is known to be settled around 3000 B.C. In the 5th and 4th century buildings were added to Olympia. Around 85 B.C. Sulla (a roman general) tore down most of Olympia. In 426 A.D. Theodosius the second said that whatever was still standing at Olympia should be burned.

Stadium

Every four years games were held in Olympia in honor of Zeus. The Olympic games started in July 776 B.C. They lasted for over a thousand years.

A first there was only one event called the dromos (which was a 186 yard spring) in which young men dashed across a field and ran back. The first winner of the Dromos was a cook named Combos. For fifty years, the dromos was held. In the fifth century B.C. the games were held for five days.

Fifty years later another event was invented that was called the pancratium where men could spit, kick, wrestle, box or anything else, except bite or poke your contestant's eyes' out. The word pancratium means all powers. Once a strong man called Milo won the pancratium seven times! He claimed that he got his strength from carrying a calf for an hour everyday until it was a fully-grown bull.

A statue was made of the winning athlete and a crown made of olive leaves was put on their head. If a person cheated of broke a rule they had to pay a fine. The money was used to make a copper statue of Zeus. On the base they would carve the name of the person who broke the rule or cheated.

The Olympics took place on a stadium where over 20,000 specters watched the races from the grass that surrounded the stadium.

Grass that surrounded the stadium where people would watch the games

On the stadium there were two marble slab finish lines at tow different ends where the racers would start by placing their toes in the grooves. A trumpet signaled the start of the races. To give the racers traction sand was put on the ground. According to Greek legend the track was six hundred feet long, because it was said that the legendary Heracles could run to the end with one lungful of air.

Marble slabs

The Olympic games were so important that if a war was going on they all came to the games and went back to the fight.

Women couldn't participate in the Olympics, but late on the created their own game called Heruea (in honor of Hera) in which different aged girls could compete in every five years.

In 394 A.D. the Romans had conquered Greece and the Roman emperor cancelled them because he though that it offended Christian religion.

Olympia soon fell into ruins and two earthquakes made it worse. But, in 1875 the ruins were uncovered.

Now, in modern times, every four years a runner takes a torch from Olympia and goes to wherever the Olympics are going to take place. This year the Olympics are going to take place in Athens, Greece. In the year 2000 the runner with torch was on a bicycle and went past my house!

When I visited Olympus I first saw the Roman Baths and the Gymnasium. In the Gymnasium athletes would practice javelin throwing, discus throwing, and racing.

The Palestra was a building where boxing, jumping and wrestling was practiced.

Palestra

Another room was Pheidius' workshop. He was the sculptor of the statue of Zeus, on of the seven wonders. When he finished it he took it apart and put it back together in the temple of Zeus.

The statue was twelve meters high. It had a golden olive branch on its head and in its left hand it held a scepter. In its right hand it held a gold and ivory statue of Nike. The core of the statue was wood. The beard, hair, sandals, and cloak were made of gold. The face, the hands, and the naked body were ivory.

Part of Zeus's' temple

This was a very neat place.