We left Pylos by 8:30 this morning, and drove two hours to Olympia, home of the Olympic Games. “The first Olympic Games were in Olympia in 776 BC. The games were staged in the wooded valley of Olympia in Elis. It was here that the Greeks erected statues and built temples in a grove dedicated to Zeus, supreme among the gods. The greatest shrine was an ivory and gold statue of Zeus, considered one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World. Scholars have speculated that the games in 776 BC were not the first games, but rather the first games held after they were organized into festivals held every four years as a result of a peace agreement between the city-states of Elis and Pisa. The Elena’s traced the founding of the Olympic Games to their King Iphitos, who was told by the Delphi Oracle to plant the olive tree from which the victors’ wreaths were made. According to tradition, the olive tree was planted by Hercules, founder of the games.
The Olympic Games were held without interruptions, every four years from 776 BC to 393 AD, over 1169 years, through various rulers controlling Greece. The Olympic Games were abolished by the Christian Byzantine Emperor Theodosius I in 393 AD, after 293 Olympic Games had been held, in a fanatic campaign against non Christians. In 426 AD, the Emperor Theodosius II ordered the destruction of all Olympic temples and they were set fire. There was a devastating earthquake in 551 AD, that destroyed much of what remained standing in Olympia.
The successful campaign to revive the Olympics was started in France by Baron Pierre de Coubertin in the late 19th century. The first of the modern Summer Games opened in 1896 in Athens, Greece.” We enjoyed several hours of seeing the vast ruins of Olympia: the Stadium, Temple of Zeus, Temple of Hera, numerous baths and their heating and drainage systems, Hera’s Alter where the lighting of the Olympic flame continues every four years, the Bases of Zanes inscribed with the names and infractions of cheaters, the Council House, and more. We also visited the Archaeological Museum of Olympia, and the Museum of the History of the Olympics. We had a delicious late lunch in Olympia at Taverna Orestis. It was a day we won’t forget!
The Olympic Games were held without interruptions, every four years from 776 BC to 393 AD, over 1169 years, through various rulers controlling Greece. The Olympic Games were abolished by the Christian Byzantine Emperor Theodosius I in 393 AD, after 293 Olympic Games had been held, in a fanatic campaign against non Christians. In 426 AD, the Emperor Theodosius II ordered the destruction of all Olympic temples and they were set fire. There was a devastating earthquake in 551 AD, that destroyed much of what remained standing in Olympia.
The successful campaign to revive the Olympics was started in France by Baron Pierre de Coubertin in the late 19th century. The first of the modern Summer Games opened in 1896 in Athens, Greece.” We enjoyed several hours of seeing the vast ruins of Olympia: the Stadium, Temple of Zeus, Temple of Hera, numerous baths and their heating and drainage systems, Hera’s Alter where the lighting of the Olympic flame continues every four years, the Bases of Zanes inscribed with the names and infractions of cheaters, the Council House, and more. We also visited the Archaeological Museum of Olympia, and the Museum of the History of the Olympics. We had a delicious late lunch in Olympia at Taverna Orestis. It was a day we won’t forget!
