Competition Tag

The Ancient Olympic Games: A Panhellenic Ideal

01.08.2016 in History

The Ancient Olympic Games:  A Panhellenic Ideal    The modern Olympic Games owe their reputation to a small piece of land in the western Peloponnese – the sanctuary of Ancient Olympia – where an athletic competition occurred in honor of Zeus every four years. In this place, and during this sacred time, athletes and judges along with all visitors were under the protection of the sacred truce. No one but the gods could interrupt the most magnificent religious and athletic festival in the Greek world, a tradition that would continue for over a millennium (776 BCE-393 AD).     For the Greeks,…