At least 40,000 spectators would have packed the stadium each day at the height of the Games’ popularity, in the second century AD, with many more selling their wares outside. The Games lasted a full five days by the fifth century BC and saw running, jumping and throwing events plus boxing, wrestling, pankration and chariot racing. Pock-marked by olive trees, from which the victory wreaths were cut, and featuring an altar to Zeus, it was a hugely scared spot. On the middle day of the festival a vast number of cows were slaughtered in honour of Zeus, King of the Greek Gods – once he had been given a small taste, the rest was for the people.įor the first 250-plus years all the action took place in the sanctuary of Olympia, situated in the north-western Peloponnese. The AH Trainers are volunteers who help players learn and improve by answering questions in the Training Arena, providing one-on-one training to those who request it, writing articles on the game and by conducting clinics. Kyniska, daughter of a Spartan king, took advantage of this, claiming victory wreaths in 396BC and 392BC.Īt their heart, the Games were a religious festival and a good excuse for Greeks from all over the Mediterranean basin to gather for a riotous barbeque. Welcome to Training Welcome to the home of the Aces High Training Corps. There was, however, a loophole to this misogynistic rule – chariot owners, not riders, were declared Olympic champions and anyone could own a chariot. All free Greek males were allowed to take part, from farmhands to royal heirs, although the majority of Olympians were soldiers. The threat of invasion or not, the Games took place every four years from 776BC to at least 393AD. So, they actually had to delay putting the army together to defend the country against the Persians.” “The classic example is that when the Persians invaded Greece in the summer of 480 (BC) a lot of the Greek city states agreed that they would put together an allied army but they had a very hard time getting one together because so many people wanted to go to the Olympics. “It is hard for us to exaggerate how important the Olympics were for the Greeks,” Paul Christesen, Professor of Ancient Greek History at Dartmouth College, USA, said. Here, we give you the essential lowdown, highlight our favourite facts.įull of blood, passion and extraordinary feats of athletic endeavour, the Olympic Games were the sporting, social and cultural highlight of the Ancient Greek calendar for almost 12 centuries. From boxing contests with no weight classifications or point scoring to chariot racing where danger lurked on every corner, it is easy to see why the Ancient Games enthralled the Greeks for so long.

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