Olympia Stadium

 

The second site I visited was none other than the Olympia stadium, the place that heavily influenced the Olympic Games of today. Similarly to the Olympic Games of today, the Olympia stadium held a set of Olympic events every four years in the honor of Zeus, the supreme god of the Greek religion. Luckily for me, I had come just in time for the Olympic Games. This event was the most important cultural event of Ancient Greece that gathered many spectators from all over Greece and even neighboring cities and countries. The event was so important that it was used as the basis for the calendar. I thought I had gotten there a little early before the official starting time of the games however, the stadium seemed to already be full and people were gathered in groups conversing, drinking, and having fun whilst waiting for the games to start. It was beautiful scenery to see many people from all over the country gather and hang out in the stadium. It was about forty thousand spectators from all over the region filling up the stadium. The site of the Olympia was very crowded with men that awaited the games, as result food vendors, traders and merchandise dealers took full advantage of the situation. As a tourist in the area, I couldn't help but spend a lot of money on the merchandise offered and tried out many of the foods sold in the area. I did spend a lot of money, but definitely don't regret spending any of it. Now that the games had started, I was surprised by the athletes' conditioning and the shape they were in, I came to find out that they were trained by professionals who knew the right exercises and the foods to eat for building muscles. Trainers as well as athletes had to be naked in the games. The first event was a race that ran over 192 meters, the race was divided into group stages and every winner from the groups raced in the final race for the ultimate victory that was rewarded by having their name attached to that stadium. The event was awesome, I had a great time and the vibe was unmatched.

Primary Source

Barringer, Judith M. “The Temple of Zeus at Olympia, Heroes, and Athletes.” Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 74, no. 2 (2005): 211–41. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25067954.

Secondary Source

Cartwright, Mark. "Ancient Olympic Games." World History Encyclopedia. Last modified March 13, 2018. https://www.worldhistory.org/Olympic_Games/.