OLYMPIAD

For over a thousand years Greeks went to compete at Mount Olympus, until grumpy Roman Emperor Theodosius decided that the 393 games should be cancelled at the last minute. The Roman Empire fell apart shortly afterwards!

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Notes:

* The modern word stadium derives from this event. The length of the stadion measurement is only an approximation by historians.

** Including helmet and shield, weighing as much as an infant school child.

*** Introduced by Emperor Nero - who amazingly won them all! Only ever held once, though - he didn't last quite as long as the Games!

Myths and Realities

Myth: Athletes had to be naked.

Reality: True. This was because a female athlete had once sneaked in and beaten the men. Fortunately she came from a famous family, and so escaped the usual punishment for this heinous crime - being thrown off the nearest cliff!.

Myth: Women were not allowed to take part.

Reality: Half-true. Women could not compete directly, but could win events like chariot-racing, where the prize went to the owner rather than the driver or rider.

Myth: All wars stopped during the Games.

Reality: Untrue. The city of Elis near Olympia was the only place to which this rule applied. Any wars with Elis were suspended for their duration. A truce also operated to allow all athletes safe passage to the Games, and this was usually (though not always) honoured.

Myth: A dead man once won an event.

Reality: Amazingly true. The event was the pankration, where a certain Arrachion scored a winning hit on his opponent in the pankration, only for his annoyed opponent to strangle him!

Myth: There was a separate Games for women.

Reality: True, but not much of one. A stadion for women was run in honour of Hera, wife of Zeus. The winner got a portion of a sacrificed cow and an olive crown - and because you were dying to ask, no - all the runners kept their clothes on!

Myth: Medals were awarded.

Reality: Untrue. The winner got a steqanos (stephanos, meaning a crown of laurel leaves, from which the modern name Stephen derives). However, it was custom for their home city to give them some large award when they got home, such as free food for life or paying no taxes. They were also, of course, very popular with the women of their hometown.....

Myth: False starts led to instant disqualification.

Reality: Untrue. False starts led to flogging!

Myth: The Ancient Greeks had an Olympic flame.

Reality: Untrue. The first flame appeared in the modern Olympics at Amsterdam (1928), not as is often misquoted the infamous Berlin Games of 1936.

Myth: The marathon was an Ancient Greek Olympic event.

Reality: Untrue. The marathon is a modern invention, based loosely on the legend of one Pheidippides racing from Marathon to Athens either to get help for or to report news of a battle. The distance is 150 miles. The modern marathon (25 miles) first appeared in the first modern Olympics (Athens, 1896), and had no fixed distance. In 1908 the London Olympics, this was to be the distance from Windsor Castle to White City Stadium (26 miles exactly). Queen Alexandra, wife of King Edward VII, asked for the start to be extended to the lawns of the castle itself so she could watch it, hence today's odd distance of 26 miles 385 yards.

Myth: There was no cheating.

Reality: Are you mad?! Drug-taking and other forms of cheating were rife. Athletes caught cheating had to pay for a statue to Zeus to be built at Olympia - and there are nearly 200 such statues!

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