It should come as no surprise that Olympia was the site of Gaia and other female goddess worship prior to being designated by the Greeks for what was basically goodwill war games. Everyone would get notice of the planned games so they could cease their actual fighting and send their best athletes. They would come for a couple months to train and get educated. Then they had 5 days of competition and then everyone was sent home. The only ones who stay are the priests. Other details: they competed in the nude. Something about greasing up with olive oil. And they also did some of the running competitions in full body armor. In July. When it’s 90-100F.
Only men were allowed except the priestess. Because there was a female presence there even earlier right? The first temple built was the Temple of Hera (Zeus' wife). My guess it was a way to co opt the older religion. The temples took 10-15 years to build and the pillars of the Temple of Zeus were seriously massive. We are talking tons for each section.the whole temple was massive and tall as the statue of Zeus himself was something on the order of 40x higher than the average man.
Oh and there were women who competed AFTER the main games, and they had to be virgins. And had to wear a tunic with their right breast revealed. So they could prove they were female. No idea about the olive oil.
Oh and the accolades? An olive wreath and name recognition and maybe a staute. Oh and if you happened to be Spartan you also got to be front and center during the next battle (s) as a sign of honor.
The whole shebang was then buried under a ton of mud from flooding rivers and storms and was lost for a long time. I think the 1850's. You can see the whole site but it is only partially intact.
Still it gives you a sense of it all.
Only men were allowed except the priestess. Because there was a female presence there even earlier right? The first temple built was the Temple of Hera (Zeus' wife). My guess it was a way to co opt the older religion. The temples took 10-15 years to build and the pillars of the Temple of Zeus were seriously massive. We are talking tons for each section.the whole temple was massive and tall as the statue of Zeus himself was something on the order of 40x higher than the average man.
Oh and there were women who competed AFTER the main games, and they had to be virgins. And had to wear a tunic with their right breast revealed. So they could prove they were female. No idea about the olive oil.
Oh and the accolades? An olive wreath and name recognition and maybe a staute. Oh and if you happened to be Spartan you also got to be front and center during the next battle (s) as a sign of honor.
The whole shebang was then buried under a ton of mud from flooding rivers and storms and was lost for a long time. I think the 1850's. You can see the whole site but it is only partially intact.
Still it gives you a sense of it all.
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