[00:00.00]The ancient Olympic games,
[00:02.94]which began in 776 BC,
[00:05.67]lasted for over 1100 years.
[00:08.84]In 394 AD, the Christian
[00:13.00]Roman Emperor Theodosius abolished
[00:16.50]the games, as pagan festivals.
[00:19.35]At that time the Roman Empire
[00:22.19]was in decline. The modern
[00:24.49]Olympics have been around
[00:27.00]for only a little
[00:28.43]over 100 years, since 1896.
[00:32.26]The Olympics of 776 BC
[00:34.34]was the first,for which
[00:38.17]there is a written record,
[00:40.03]but it is believed that
[00:41.55]these events existed before this.
[00:44.07]There is evidence to show
[00:46.70]that athletic contests took place
[00:48.67]in Ancient Egypt, and
[00:50.86]in the ancient Minoan civilization
[00:53.05]on the island of Crete.
[00:55.45]A plain called Olympia,
[00:57.75]in the small citystate
[00:59.72]of Elis was the site
[01:01.47]of the original Greek games.
[01:03.11]At the beginning of
[01:05.62]every four years, a period
[01:07.70]called an olympiad,
[01:09.35]a major religious festival
[01:11.42]with athletic competition,
[01:12.84]took place at Olympia.
[01:14.70]In ancient Greece, the early
[01:18.43]Olympics did not rotate
[01:20.35]from city to city,
[01:22.48]but were permanently hosted
[01:24.77]at Olympia,the place
[01:26.63]from which the name
[01:27.36]Olympics originated. If wars
[01:29.55]were taking place at the time,
[01:32.18]as there usually were, a truce
[01:34.37]would be made during
[01:36.88]the military conflicts, soldiers
[01:39.07]would drop their swords and
[01:40.60]shields and accompany their opponents
[01:42.57]on a safe passage to Olympia,
[01:45.20]to enthusiastically participate
[01:47.39]in the games. After the games,
[01:51.76]the athletes would return
[01:53.62]to the battlefields with
[01:55.37]their companions, pick up
[01:57.67]their weapons and resume
[01:58.77]military engagements with their enemies,
[02:01.17]often fighting to the death,
[02:03.14]the athletic competitors
[02:05.33]whom they confronted only
[02:06.97]a few days or weeks before.
[02:10.14]In the beginning, only free
[02:13.09]Greekspeaking male athletes
[02:15.61]could participate in the games,
[02:18.12]women, slaves, and foreigners
[02:20.97]were banned from competition.
[02:23.38]Women were even barred
[02:25.90]as spectators, not for
[02:27.87]sexual reasons, but for
[02:29.72]from 720 BC the male athletes
[02:33.34]were usually naked down to
[02:35.41]their bare feet when
[02:37.38]they participated. Olympia was
[02:40.01]a sacred place for men only,
[02:42.41]a place to worship Zeus,
[02:45.04]the principal Greek god.
[02:47.45]However, women were not
[02:49.74]completely excluded from competitive sports,
[02:53.14]as they had their own games,
[02:55.11]every four years as well,
[02:57.40]called the Heraea, after Hera,
[03:00.25]the wife of Zeus |