The First Olympic Games

The Greeks celebrated courage and strength by telling stories about brave, strong people like Odysseus. They also celebrated courage and strength with a big festival, called the Olympic Games.

The Olympics started when two cities in ancient Greece made peace, after fighting with each other for years and years. To celebrate the peace, they decided to have a festival—a big celebration—in honor of the god Zeus, the chief god of the Greeks. The festival was named after Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece. The Greeks thought that Zeus and the other gods lived on Mount Olympus.

At the festival, the Greeks feasted and made sacrifices to Zeus. And they also ran races. The winners of the races were given wreaths made out of olive branches to wear on their heads. The olive leaves represented peace.

The Greeks decided that they would get together every four years to have the Olympics, and to run races in honor of Zeus. As time went on, more and more Greeks from different Greek cities came to the Olympic Games. And the Greeks added more kinds of events to their games. Instead of just running races on foot, they started racing horses as well. They held boxing and wrestling matches. They even invented a competition called the pentathlon, where the athletes had to do five different events. The winner had to throw a discus (a metal Frisbee) and a javelin (a Greek spear) farther than anyone else. He also had to win a long-jump competition, a wrestling match, and a foot race.

But only men were allowed to compete in the Greek Olympics. Girls could watch, but they weren’t allowed to race or to do any of the other events. And married women couldn’t even watch. They weren’t allowed anywhere near the Olympics, on pain of death. That’s because the Greeks thought that only men could be truly brave and strong.

The Olympics were held every four years for almost a thousand years. People came from all over Greece to compete in the Games and to watch the other athletes. They all camped out at the Games and spent their evenings feasting and listening to music. Poets would recite poems and stories out loud to entertain the crowds. These poems and stories were like movies to the ancient Greeks. Some of the poets probably told the story of the Odyssey. Others told the story of the attack on Troy. And others performed new stories and poems that they had written themselves.

The winners of the races and other competitions were treated like heroes. They were given banquets to honor them. And when they went back home, their own cities rewarded them with money and with free food for the rest of their lives.

Today, the Olympic Games are still held every four years. Hundreds of events take place—wrestling, running, and boxing, just like in ancient times, but also gymnastics, ice skating, soccer, basketball, swimming, and much more. Today, women can compete in the Olympics as well as men. Athletes come from all over the world, not just from Greece. But the Games are still called the Olympics, after Mount Olympus. And they still celebrate strength, grace, and courage—just like they did in the times of the ancient Greeks.

Note to Parent: Homer lived around 800 BC/BCE.