4.9.1 The ancient Olympics For modern athletes, the Olympic Games are the biggest competition, bringing together top athletes from around the world in sports like running, high jump, swimming, soccer and discus throwing. It is a great honour to represent a country at the Olympics, and winning a medal is a huge achievement. The modern games were inspired by ancient Greece, but they were quite different. In ancient Greece, the most important festival was held every four years at Olympia to honour the god Zeus, and was called the Olympiad . The ýrst Olympic Games were in 776 BCE. By the sixth century BCE, athletes from all over Greece came to compete. A truce was declared between city-states during the games, helping to unite the Greeks. The festival continued until 393 CE when the Christian Roman emperor Theodosius I ended it.
SkillBuilder discussion Using historical sources 1. Who is the author of History of the Peloponnesian War ? 2. What is the subject of Thucydides’ work? 3. In what time period did Thucydides live?
SOURCE2 From History of the Peloponnesian War , by the contemporary historian, Thucydides
This summer were celebrated the Olympic Games . . . The Spartans were refused access to the temple by the Eleans and so prevented from sacriýcing and competing in the games. This was because the Spartans had not paid the ýne which had been imposed upon them by the Eleans according to the Olympic law. The Elean case was that the Spartans had made an attack . . . and had sent hoplites of theirs into Lepreum during the period of the Olympic truce.
4.9.2 The events The main events in the ancient Olympics were running races, like the stade (sprint) and the dolichos (long race). Other events included boxing, wrestling, the pankration (see SOURCE3 ), and the pentathlon, which had discus, long jump, javelin, running and wrestling. Chariot racing, with up to 40 chariots, became the most exciting event. Winners received crowns of olive leaves.
SkillBuilder discussion Using historical sources 1. Look at SOURCE3 . Describe what is shown on the Athenian vase. 2. From which century does the vase originate and how do we write this in numbers? 3. Are there similar events in modern Olympic games? What differences might exist?
SOURCE3 A ýfth century BCE Athenian vase shows the pankration, a wrestling sport with few rules.
Jacaranda Humanities Alive 7 Victorian Curriculum Third Edition
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