It was also a place where remarkable works of art and culture were created and shared to worship the Greek god Zeus. It is this melding of history and the molding of modernity that makes this site so special. The Olympic Games in the times of ancient Greece were about more than sport. They represented peace and the nobility of competition.
These ideals, and elements of the events, have continued to this day. The Stadium of Olympia staged all the athletic competitions of the ancient Olympic Games. Only the chariot and horse races were hosted in the adjacent Hippodrome. From the marathon to the olive wreath and the regularity of the event, there are still clear influences today from the ancient Greek times. Stepping into the stadium, you imagine the roar of the crowd. This is the same track where athletes raced for glory millennia ago.
The remains of dozens of buildings and temples sit among the shade of trees on the archaeological site. Some were specifically built for sporting events, and some for the worship of Zeus.
A museum holds a collection of priceless artefacts that once decorated the sanctuary. See Olympia come alive with music and culture at its major events—the Ancient Olympia International Festival and the Olympia International Film Festival for children and young people. Olympia, located in the Ilia Elis region in the north-west of the Peloponnese Peninsula, dates back to the end of the final Neolithic period 4th millennium BC , and is considered one of the most important places to trace the roots of Western society due to its religious, political, and sports tradition.
Marble lion heads acted as waterspouts at the impressive Temple of Zeus. They appear to have been built by Greek colonies to hold offerings for Zeus. The Roman general Mummius, who oversaw the Roman troops, even made an offering of 21 gilded Greek shields, which were hung at the Temple of Zeus. Roman citizens, including the emperor himself, were allowed to compete in the games Nero is said to have won six contests, albeit fraudulently.
New construction took place at Olympia, including inns, shops and a new, badly needed, water system. What ultimately finished the ancient Olympics was the rise of Christianity. When it grew and became the official religion of Rome, its leaders did not take kindly to the, in their view, pagan games.
As for the statue of Zeus, it appears to have been taken to Constantinople now Istanbul at some point and lost in a fire in A. At the site of Olympia, a Christian village would be built, overtaking the sanctuary, which was falling into ruin. Live Science. A multitude of votive offerings statues, tripods, etc. More construction followed in the following centuries, and the Romans added a host of new buildings and structures during their administration.
The sanctuary gradually began losing its luster in late Hellenistic times, and suffered early in the Roman era. In 86 BCE Sulla plundered the sanctuary, but once Roman rule was secured in Greece Olympia enjoyed a revival through imperial sponsorship and even direct patronage. The threat of barbarians prompted the construction of a defensive wall around the temple of Zeus and the Bouleuterion.
After the d Olympiad years after their official inauguration , in CE, emperor Theodosius I banned the games and ordered the sanctuary be torched because they were connected with Pagan deities in an era when Christian religion was becoming dominant throughout the Roman empire. Shortly thereafter, the ancient workshop of Pheidias was converted into a Christian basilica. A strong earthquake leveled much of the site in CE, and the entire site was subsequently buried by silt from the rivers Alpheios and Kladeos in the 7th century CE.
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