Olympic Games

The Ancient Olympic Games were not the first occurrence of organized sport in the ancient world. There were funeral games, ancient Egyptian sports during the reign of the Pharaohs, and other ancient civilizations (Sumer, Hittite, Chinese etc.) most probably had forms of organized sport. It may be safe to say that the first organized sport originated long ago with whoever could launch a projectile (rock, spear, archery, or sling to name a few) the farthest with the most accuracy. Although, as once was said on ABC’s Wide World of Sports, “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” was a bit more pertinent for the existence of life. Nowadays, despite the maniacal beliefs of the die-hard fans of the Red Sox Nation (aficionados of the Boston Red Sox, a team in the Major League Baseball organization of the US) a victory or defeat in a sporting event is not life threatening. The Iliad and the Odyssey have references to funeral games which were part of ancient Greek culture. It is after the Post-palatial Bronze Age and the Prehistoric Iron Age that the Ancient Olympic games began, perhaps as early as 700 BCE but traditionally dated to 776 BCE (all dates are presumed to be CE unless otherwise noted). [1] They were part of the Panhellenic Games, a series of sports festivals. These sports festivals included the Nemean Games, Isthmian Games, and the Pythian Games, as well as the Olympic Games.

The Modern Olympic games are twofold; Summer and Winter (first held in 1924) and each is held in a four year cycle in alternating even numbered years. In this blog we are more concerned with the Summer Olympic Games for the simple reason that the Ancient Greeks did not hold them.

The International Olympic Committee was founded in 1894 by Charles Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin. Baron de Coubertin had a romantic view of Ancient Greece. [2] This influenced the choice for the inaugural Modern Olympic Games that were held in 1896 in Athens, Greece. These games spawned the modern Olympic movement which has captivated a worldwide audience and which has spawned a rather romantic view of the Ancient Olympics. The Ancient Olympic Games were an important part of the culture of the ancient Greeks and they were part of the Panhellenic Games.

The other Panhellenic Games consisted of the following sports festivals: Pythian Games (began 582 BCE) held in Delphi, Nemean Games (began 573 BCE) held in Nemea, and the Isthmian Games (began 582 BCE) held at Corinth. The Panhellenic Games were an exclusively male endeavour. However, there was a footrace associated with the Heraea, a festival for unmarried young women, παρθένοι [parthenoi], which began circa 600 BCE. The Description of Greece [Ἑλλάδος Περιήγησις] by Pausanias [Παυσᾰνῐ́ᾱς] is the only known source of the above. Each of the sports festivals has its own origin myth. In this blogpost we are more concerned with the ancient Olympic Games than the other three games. Note that the other games each have their own interesting stories. The ancient Olympic games are the oldest of the Panhellenic Games with the traditional start date of 776 BCE according to our friend Aristotle [Ἀριστοτέλης]. [3] There is archaeological evidence that the Ancient Olympics may have started around 700 BCE. [4] The games continued until 393 BCE when the last known Ancient Olympic Games were held under the Roman Emperor Theodosius I (Θεοδόσιος). There is some archaeological evidence that the games continued for a while after 393 CE. [5] However, for all intents and purposes the Ancient Olympic Games ceased in 393 CE.

Much of what we know about the Ancient Olympic Games comes from the literature, histories, and art created by the Ancient Greeks. Both Herodotus and Pindar wrote about the ancient games. Pindar was very prolific. Ancient Greek pottery has myriads of pieces with paintings depicting the ancient games. It is quite obvious even to the casual observer that the Ancient Olympic games as well as the other Panhellenic games were a central part of Ancient Greek society and culture. The Kosmos Society plans to publish other blog posts that will address the cultural aspects of the Ancient Olympics as well as delving into more of the details of the ancient games including such things as the legendary Olympic truce.

The Modern Olympic Games that began in 1896 were not the first games in the modern era (after 1600 CE) to have been named Olympic games. The first known occurrence was the Cotswold Olimpick Games first held in 1612 at Chipping Campden that were organized by Robert Dover. M Dover, an attorney, an author, a wit, and a recusant, has his own interesting back story which will not be addressed at the moment. The next forerunner is the L’Olympiade de la République, an annual national festival held during Revolutionary France from 1796 to 1798 it is notable for the introduction of the metric system into sport. Continuing into the 1800’s there was an 1834 handbill, written in phonetic vernacular (why is not known), advertising “Ho-limpyc Gaymes” in Oswestry, Shropshire, England. Furthermore, in 1834 and 1836, Olympic games were held in Ramlösa, Sweden, then in 1843 the games were held in Stockholm, Sweden. The Swedish games were organized by Gustaf Johan Schartau and others. By 1850, an Olympian Class was initiated by a William Penny Brookes at Much Wenlock, in Shropshire, England. In 1859, M Brookes changed the name to the Wenlock Olympian Games. This annual sports festival which continues to this day along with the Modern Olympic games are the only ones that have been in continuous operation from their respective founding. [6] The Wenlock Olympian Society was founded by Brookes on the 15th of November in 1860. From 1862 to 1867, Liverpool held an annual Grand Olympic Festival organized by John Hulley and Charles Pierre Melly. These games were the first to be strictly amateur in nature and international in outlook, although only ‘gentlemen amateurs’ could compete. It is worth noting that the program of the first modern Olympiad in Athens in 1896 was virtually identical to that of the Liverpool Olympics. In the year 1865 M Hulley, M Brookes and E.G. Ravenstein founded the National Olympian Association in Liverpool, the forerunner of the British Olympic Association. The articles of foundation of the National Olympian Association provided the framework for the International Olympic Charter. A national Olympic Games in Great Britain was organized at London’s Crystal Palace in 1866.

The above with the events and people described below formed the impetus for the Modern Olympic Games. Western Civilization’s fascination with Ancient Greek literature and culture was present in the Middle Ages as part of the curriculum of mediæval education. [7] Although, knowledge of Ancient Greek dialects was not common. [8] Moreover, many of the Ancient Greek authors, for example Hesiod, [9] were known but their works were unavailable in Christian Europe. It was during the Renaissance that the study of the Ancient Greek language was revived. [10] The rise of Renaissance Humanism is best exemplified by the reintroduction of Homeric poetry initiated by Petrarch [Francesco di Petracco (1304–1374)] and Boccaccio [Giovanni Boccaccio a.k.a “The Certaldese” (1313–1375)] [11] and the humanist educational reform adopted by the Jesuits. [12] Neoclassicalism appeared in the late 17th century and in the 18th century. In the beginning of the 18th century the study of Ancient Greek began to have more importance. By the late 18th century the study of Ancient Greek compleat with the composition by schoolboys at the Rugby School with the poet Walter Savage Landor claiming to be the first student at the school to write in Ancient Greek. [13] The role of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, born Charles Pierre de Frédy (1863 – 1937) cannot be overstated for he was the product of a Jesuit education [14] and was heavily influenced by educational reforms of Thomas Arnold (1795 – 1842) who was headmaster (1828 -1841) at the Rugby School. [15] Baron de Coubertin’s aforementioned romanticized view of Ancient Greek and his theory of education which combined the physical education and the intellectual development of the mind [16] formed his inspiration for reviving the Olympic Games.

It is with the Greek War of Independence (1821-1829) which was when the Greeks revolted against the Ottoman Empire (1299 to 1922), officially The Sublime Ottoman State(دولت عليه عثمانیه). The Ottoman Empire had occupied the vast majority of modern day Greece since 1453, the Fall of Constantinople. The ensuing Greek victory combined with both the Modern Greek Enlightenment, the Philhellenic movement, and the ideas of Baron de Coubertin were the original spark for the Modern Olympic Games. After the establishment of the Kingdom of Greece, there was a very strong interest amongst the Greeks for a revival of the ancient Olympic games as well as other aspects of Ancient Greek heritage. [17] Evangelos Zappas [Ευάγγελος Ζάππας], communicated (in 1856) with King Otto of Greece a desire to fund the revival and to offer cash prizes for the victors. Zappas was inspired by the poet Panagiotis Soutsos [Παναγιώτης Σοῦτσος] who admired ancient Greek culture and by certain accounts could be found wandering in the ancient ruins. Soutsos’s poem, “Dialogue of the Dead” (1833), in which the ghost of Plato looks over the tattered landscape of Greece and wonders in dismay if it is actually Greece that he is gazing upon and says:

“Where are all your theatres and marble statues?
Where are your Olympic Games?”

Finally in 1859 the Zappas Olympics [Ζάππειες Ολυμπιάδες] was first held. The ensuing games of 1870, 1885, and 1888-1889 were Greek affairs with ethnic Greeks from the Kingdom of Greece, and the Greek diaspora in the Ottoman Empire and the island of Crete. The Panathenaic Stadium (Παναθηναϊκόν Στάδιον) was reconstructed for the above games and has been used for Olympic-related events as well as both the 1896 and 2004 modern Athens Olympic Games. The Panathenaic Stadium was originally constructed for the Panathenaic Games which were associated with the festival of Panathenaea (Πᾰνᾰθήναιᾰ) which began 566 BCE and ended around 410 CE. [18]

All this leads up to the fateful year of 1890 when Baron Pierre de Coubertin after attending the Wenlock Olympian Games was motivated to found the International Olympic Committee (French: Comité international olympique, CIO) along with Greek writer Demetrius Bikelas [Δημήτριος Βικέλας] (the first president of the IOC). During the first Olympic held in Paris from 16th – 23rd of June 1894 at the University of Paris (Université de Paris), metonymically known as the Sorbonne, the Modern Olympic Games were born with an internationally rotating Olympic Games that would occur every four years. It is during this First Olympic Congress that Athens was chosen to be the first host city.

The Modern Olympic Games as well as the Youth Olympic Games (part of the IOC) and the related Paralympic Games (organized and governed by the International Paralympic Committee [Internationales Paralympisches Komitee]) all owe their existence to those first Olympic Games held long ago and to the ideas and inspirations of Baron Pierre de Coubertin.

Notes

Image Credits

Image 1. Unknown artist, Pierre de Coubertin. Dutch National Archives, The Hague, Fotocollectie Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau (ANEFO), 1945-1989. Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain.

Image 2. Anonymous, 1834 handbill, written in phonetic vernacular. Source unknown.

Image 3. Unknown artist, Ζάππειο Μέγαρο [Zappeion Megaron, co-founder of the International Olympic Committee]. Public domain.

Image 4. Ernst Ziller, The stadium 1870. Public Domain.

Image 5. Mister No, Untitled. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported.

Ϙ is a member of the Kosmos Society.