Ancient Greek Olympics

The ancient Greek Olympics
By Gabriel Merrill So many people know what the Olympic Games are but how many know how or why they were started. The Olympics were started in 776 BC in Olympia and thus were called the Olympics. The games were held once every four years, which is an Olympiad. To the Greeks the games were more than just a source of entertainment the games were part of their worship. They put the games on in honor of Zeus and to appease the gods. During the celebration of the games there was a truce so the competitors could travel from their countries to the games safely. The prizes for the victors were olive wreaths or laurels. There were many participants in the Greek Olympics that hailed from all over the Balkan Peninsula.
But they adequately served both purposes. Part of the reason that the Olympics were held was so that the Greeks could gain the gods favor. The games were held mostly in honor of the Greek god Zeus god of the sky. They were so obsessed with trying to please him that on the middle day of the games they would sacrifice one hundred oxen to his name. They also erected a temple in honor of Zeus on the mountain top and made a great statue of Zeus that was over 43 feet tall. This statue was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The games also became a source of artistic inspiration sculptors and artists’ came from all over to try to capture the magic of the games on paper. Also poets came to write songs and poems for the winners of the games. These poems were known as Epinicians and many of them were passed down from generation to generation and have survived for hundreds of
One of these myths stars a Hero named Pelops, who according to Greek myths was the founder of the Olympics. The story starts with a king named Oinomaos (king of Persia). The king had a beautiful daughter named Hippodamia. The King had declared that anyone who wanted to marry his daughter would have to compete with him in a chariot race. The winner would earn his daughter’s hand in marriage, however losing the race would result in a public beheading of the looser. The hero Pelops took up the King's challenge. Pelops knowing the kings horses were a gift from Poseidon, he knew he would have to cheat to win. So on the eve before the race, he replaced the mettle axles on the chariot with wax ones. When the race starts, the wax melted and the King was violently hurled to his death. Pelops was declared the winner and then married Hippodamia. And thus the Olympic Games were