Many sports competitions were held in ancient Hellas. The Greeks attached great importance to physical perfection, and all kinds of games and competitions aroused everyone's interest. The most popular and significant were the Olympic Games, held every four years in the town of Olympia, in the northwest of the Peloponnese peninsula. They were dedicated to the supreme god Zeus, so the victory at these games was considered the most honorable.
Long before the start of the games, messengers traveled all over Hellas, announcing the upcoming competitions. And from all over, people began to flock to Olympia. In order to save them from unnecessary dangers, a general truce was declared. It was valid for some time before the start of the games, for the period of their holding and for some time later - to enable athletes and spectators to freely get from Olympia to their homes. Violation of this truce was considered a terrible sacrilege, which would entail severe punishment from the gods.
In theory, every free and full citizen could take part in the competition. In practice, in order to achieve high results, to claim victory, it was necessary to train constantly and for a long time. Consequently, people living by their own labor - poor traders, artisans, peasants, fishermen - simply could not compete at the Olympics. They were there only as spectators. Well, foreigners or slaves could not do that either. Women were generally not allowed to compete under threat of death. The most plausible version of such a harsh ban is so as not to embarrass athletes who have been competing naked for a long time.
The games began with the ceremony of lighting the fire in the temple of Olympian Zeus. Thus, the Greeks honored the memory of the titan Prometheus, who, according to legend, stole fire from the gods and gave it to people. The lighted torch was delivered to the place of the competition, where it was supposed to sanctify the upcoming games, as it were.
For a long time, athletes competed only in 1-stage distance running (about 192 meters). It is from this term that the word "stadium" comes from. Then the program included other types of competitions - running at different distances, fistfights, wrestling, chariot races. The winner was honored as a hero who made his hometown famous.
The Olympic Games have been held for over a thousand years and were banned in 394. They were revived only at the end of the 19th century.
