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The ancient Olympic Games were a series of athletic competetions held between various Greek city-states. The first recorded Game took place in 776 B.C. in Olympia, Greece, and the last Game was celebrated in 393 A.D. They were held in Olympia, a santuary site for the Greek gods near the towns of Elis and Pisa on the peninsula of Peloponnesos. Like the modern Olympics, the Games took place every four years, and the athletes had to arrive a month ahead of time. Unlike the modern Olympics, only free, Greek-speaking men were allowed to participate. The prizes included olive wreaths, palm branches, and woollen ribbons. Winners were honored throughout Greece, especially in their hometowns. They were often awarded large sums of money (500 drachmas in Athens). Sculptors would carve statues of Olympic victors and poets would write odes praising them.

The Games were originally a collection of foot races, but other events were gradually added. The first Olympic event was a race called the stadion, a sprint between 180 and 240 meters down the length of the stadium-- and the word "stadium" is derived from this race. In 724 B.C., the diaulos was added. In this race, competitors ran a single length around the stadium, a distance of roughly 400 meters. In 720 B.C., the dolichos was added. This was a long-distance running event
in which runners would begin and end in the stadium, but run most of the race through the Olympic grounds, passing important shrines and statues along the way, including the Nike statue by the temple of Zeus. The last running event to be added was the hoplitodromos or "Hoplite race," which was first run in 520 B.C. and was traditionally the last race
of the day. In this event, the runners had to wear armor and carry a shield while running. As the distance was somewhere between 400 meters and 800 meters, this race was a test of stamina as well as speed.

Other events included boxing, wrestling, pankration (a kind of martial art), riding, chariot racing, and a pentathlon. This last consisted of wrestling, stadion, long jump, javelin throw, and discus throw. The last three were not separate events. In chariot racing, it was the owner of the chariot and team who was considered to be the competitor-- not the man actually driving the chariot. Chariot racing was thus the only Olympic event in which women were allowed to compete. (Women did compete in all of the Heraea Games, which were dedicated to the goddess Hera.) Chariot racing had two-mule teams, two-horse teams, or four-horse teams, that had to run 12 laps around the stadium, a distance of roughly nine miles. The gradual addition of events meant that the festival grew from one to five days, but only three of these days
were devoted to the competitions. The other two days were dedicated to religious rites. On the last day of the Olympics, there would be a banquet for all of the participants, consisting of 100 oxen that had been sacrificed to Zeus on the first day.

The Olympic Games were one of the four Panhellenic Games, which were four separate sports festivals held in honor of different Greek gods. The Olympic Games were the oldest and most prestigious of the Panhellenic Games and were dedicated to Zeus. The other three Games were established in the 6th Century B.C. They were the Pythian Games, the Nemean Games, and the Isthmian Games. The Pythian Games were held near Delphi in honor of Apollo, the Nemean Games were held near Nemea in honor of Zeus, and the Isthmian games were held near Corinth in honor of Poseidon. The Games took place over a four-year cycle called an Olympiad, which was one of the ways the Greeks measured time. The Olympics took place during the first year of the cycle.

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