The Ancient Olympics, how did they start?

Do your children know that the Olympics date back to an Ancient Greek festival, which was part of a five day festival held every four years in honour of Zeus, the King of the Gods.

It is believed there were similar festivals as far back as the 13^th century BC, yes, that long ago! However, the first recorded details we have are from 776 BC.

Nobody really knows their origins, though there are several legends, for example:

• In this one Hercules had just won a race at Olympia, a valley near the city of Elis, then as winner he proclaimed that the race should be re-run every four years.
• Another asserts that Zeus, the King of the Gods, founded the games after defeating his father, Cronus, in a battle over who controlled the world.
• A further declares that the guardians of an infant Zeus held the first event.

In fact, the most likely one is that the King of Elis decided in 884 BC to open up a local religious festival to the whole of Greece.

The Olympics were first and foremost a religious event to celebrate the Ancient Greek gods, in particular Zeus. In Greece at this time there were several such festivals but by 572 BC the Olympics had become the most important. The reason they were around athletics was that athletics were  always a major part Greek festivals.

Finally, the reason they were, and are still, held every four years (until Covid-19 changed it!) was because Greeks wanted them to start at the beginning of a four year period known as an Olympiad, originally the festival was organised to coincide with the start of this cycle, interestingly 776 BC is considered as the first four year Olympiad.

Our satallite site Educational Musicals has published a musical The Ancient Olympics – The Legend of Callipateira which is a story around them, which if you go to https://educationalmusicals.co.uk/?product=the-ancient-olympics you can listen to two of the songs, read two pages of script, then download it and start rehearsing immediately.

Isn’t History

10 Questions to ask:

1. 1. 1. When did the Olympics originate according to the first recorded details?
      2. Who was the Ancient Greek festival held in honour of during the Olympics?
      3. What is one legend about how the Olympics originated involving Hercules?
      4. Which battle’s outcome, according to a legend, led Zeus to found the Olympic Games?
      5. What was the role of the King of Elis in the history of the Olympics?
      6. Why were athletics a significant part of the Ancient Greek Olympics?
      7. How often were the original Olympic Games held in Ancient Greece?
      8. What significant change did Covid-19 bring to the Olympic Games’ schedule?
      9. In which valley and near which city did Hercules allegedly win a race, leading to the tradition of the Olympics?
      10. What is an Olympiad, and how is it connected to the scheduling of the Olympics?

To learn more, go to: