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Greek Gods
In my opinion, as long
as intelligent humans have wandered the Earth, many have believed in some power
that is greater than the whole lot of humans. One day a lightning bolt strikes
a tree, starts a fire and burns their hunting grounds to a crisp. I must have
done something that upset a higher power, and now they are retaliating. One day
an Earthquake levels our stone abode to the ground, along with the trees around
it. Same feeling. Crop yields for several years are great, then a drought wipes
us out, same feeling. Lunar or solar eclipse, comet passing by, meteorite
strike, and something is sending us a sign.
So we ask a Greek Elder,
why the earth shook so violently. “Oh, it had to be greedy Theo that caused it.
He plowed up 260 Hectares (1 square mile, 2.6 square km) of multi colored peacock
anemone (a beautiful Greek wildflower), just to plant barley, so he could make
and sell more beer. He upset the Goddess Gaea (goddess of the earth), so she brought
the wrath down on everybody. Damn it, I told him not to mess with mother
nature.”.
Greek families and Gods seem
to fit the epitome of dysfunction. People lying to and tricking Gods. Gods
committing all kinds of atrocities against each other and mankind. Entertaining
characters when looking in from the outside. It seems that their ancient
immortal beliefs may have been modeled after that their own family dynamics.
Ancient Greeks believed
there were separate Gods that had very separate and distinct powers. Twelve in
all. And that they all lived on Mount Olympus (the highest mountain in Greece).
Olympus has multiple peaks each home to one of the Gods, with the summit being
the place they would congregate to discuss political issues. Olympus shares a
shoreline with the Aegean Sea where Poseidon (the Sea God), had a second home,
deep in the sea. The only other God to have a second home away from Olympus was
Hades, the God of the underworld (everything under the earth). I’ll bet that
was the party house where they would all hang out for a good time. The other
gods traveled for business on occasion, but Olympus was their only home.
Many of the Olympian Gods were part of the same clan having received their
powers, after defeating the Titans. Titans were the gods who were worshiped by
the people who were pagans, before the pagans who worshiped the Olympian Gods.
The prior array of gods, whom held uncontested rule of the universe. Cronos was
the leader of the Titan’s after gaining that title by castrating his father
Uranus with a sickle. Cronos in turn, sired several of the Olympian God’s, and
they defeated him to rise to power. Zeus (God of Sky and thunder), was the big dog
on the bottom of the totem pole (the bottom of totem poles is what most people
look at, so the chief carver does his work there). Zeus was considered the king
of the gods, and Hera was the queen. Hera represented the family as a whole. Zeus and
Hera were siblings, but Zeus married and sired children with Hera. Zeus also a
had a bit of a wandering eye, partaking in several extra marital affairs. One of
which, produced his son Apollo. Apollo was the straight “A” student who became
the god of knowledge, art, and the sciences.
In those days, climbing Mt Olympus would not even be considered. By today’s
standard’s, it is a bit difficult. For one it’s all rock, and loose rock at
that. Someone above is bound to knock a rock loose that could come your way. It
rates at Class III on the YDS free climb system. Class III means that the climer
will definitely need both feet and hands, should carry a rope just in case it
might be needed, and while a fall might be survivable, it most likely will not
be survivable. Class III also means it is about a full day to climb, so one is
probably staying overnight on the mountain, and the decent is likely harder
than the climb. Actually, it should probably be a class XII, meaning that you
should get permission from all 12 gods before trespassing.
Some of the names of the
twelve gods have changed over the years, probably due to misinterpretations
from the listener. Kind of like when the CCR (Creedence Clearwater Revival) song,
“Don’t go around tonight, Well, it’s bound to take your life. I see a bad moon
a rising.”, gets repeated by someone just listing, then heartily signing later,
“Don’t go around tonight, Well, it’s bound to take your life. I see a bathroom
on the right.”, With me yelling, “Hell-llll Yeah!!! Sing it Marvin. That sounds
just like CCR.”.
Olympia History
Recorded history does
not state why Olympia was selected as a religious site, for worship of the
Olympian Gods. But there have been many earthquakes there over the years (some
destroying parts of the religious site), so that would be my guess. Build a
nice place to worship the gods and they should be happy about that, and stop
shaking the earth. Especially when the priest is slaughtering a prized lamb in
honor of them, and offering them the best cut of meat (the best cut of meat was
given to the gods, but the rest was ravished by the congregation).
The cow was/is a sacred
animal in many religions, because they were very valuable to ancient and current
humans, so they must have been put here to be honored and cherished. Cows are
docile, only need field grass and water to live, their dung burns well, they
are great haulers, great plow animals, and their milk is vital nourishment to
the young. Cows must have been created to be the perfect supplement to humans.
Greeks must not have gotten that memo, cause they had no problem slaughtering
cows for sacrifice. One of the highlights of the Olympic festival was on the
third day, then the priests slaughtered hundreds of cows and free cooked cow
flesh was given to everyone. Cow’s taste great, so they must have been created
for our consumption.
Artifacts were found in Olympia,
signifying at it had been a religious site, that pre-dated the building of the
stone temples there. There may have been wooden or earlier temples that were
removed for the newer temples. The creation of the Olympic games occurred in 776
B.C., the middle of the 400 years between it becoming a religious site and the
erection of the first temples that survived to date, which was about 100 years
after the first Olympic festival was organized. They know it was 776, because
someone had kept a list of all of the Olympian winner’s. Much later, some
brilliant ancient mathematician, counted the number of winners on that list,
multiplied by 4, then subtracted that from the current year and came up with
776 B.C. as the first one.
In my mind, the creation
of the games might have gone something like this. Chiefs from Tribe X, Tribe Y,
and Tribe Z were all attending the Olympic religious pilgrimage event. Just
after the massive cow flesh eating feast, the king of Tribe X introduces his
best runner to the kings of Tribe Y and Z, and says, “This is Achille’s, our
best runner. He can outrun a tiger!”. Chief Y says, “Then he can’t outrun my
man Cleo. Cleo can outrun the gazelle that is being chased by the tiger!”. Chief
Z chimes in with, “Yea, well, I’ll bet neither of them can outrun my man Dionte.
He can outrun anything and anybody, anywhere and anytime !!!” The Chief
magistrate listening in, says, “For a small fee, I know just how we can settle
this dispute.”.
The first recorded race,
was a single foot race that was won by a cook, named Koroibos.
One belief, is that chariot
races were created in memory of a great Greek mythical figure named Pelops,
king of Greece’s Pisa, which also controlled Olympia for a time. Pelops was a
kind of dark figure that some Greek cults worshiped. The myth is that his
father wanted to see if the Gods could tell the difference between Animal flesh
and Human flesh, so he sacrificed his young son, put the flesh into a stew, and
feed it to the Olympian Gods. But the first God to taste it, figured it out. This
actually upset the other Olympian Gods, who reassembled the son, replacing the
missing piece of his body with Ivory. Poseidon (God of the Sea), feeling bad
about it, took him to Olympus and taught him to drive a divine chariot.
In manhood Pelops fell
in love with Hippodamia, whose father was Oenomaus. But a prophet had told
Oenomaus, that he would be killed by his future son-in-law. Eighteen dudes had already
courted Hippodamia, but in order to gain her father’s acceptance for marriage,
they had to beat him in a chariot race, with death being the penalty for losing
that race. Oenomaus had a palace with
the heads of the eighteen dudes who had failed to win, affixed to the tops of
its columns. And there was only one column, without a head on it. Seeing that
last column, Pelops visited Poseidon to ask for help. Poseidon created two wild
and winged horses to pull the divine chariot. On the way to the epic chariot
race, Pelops driver dies. Pelops is distraught, and makes a temple out of earth,
sacrifices the driver, and mixes the ashes with the temple mound (this becomes
significant in their religion, as the alter of the temple of Pelops, is made of
successive layers of earth, mixed with the ashes of the sacrifices that
occurred there. And it just keeps growing over time, with the priests cutting
steps in it, to get to the top of the alter.). The epic mother of all chariot
races, between Pelops and Oenomaus ensues, with lots of drama during the race. Pelops
squeaks out the win. Pelops, then takes on the role of organizing chariot races,
for the god’s pleasure, as thanksgiving for-ever after. These chariot races
became part of the festivities .
It was once thought that
the ancient athletes were amateurs who had other professions in life. Most
scholars these days seem to think they have evidence that they were
professionals. Makes sense to me. A king is going to do whatever is necessary
to help one of his athlete’s, win the competition over the other’s kings
athlete’s. A king’s athletes are representing his kingdom as a whole, so of
course he has a vested interest in his team winning.
Olympia Site in General
Over the course of 1500
years, the site was controlled by several different kingdom’s who had taken
control of that area, but they all continued to host the Olympic Festival and
Games on this site.
As time moved on, more
and more activities were added to the site, requiring the addition of new
buildings. The religious area was separated from the non-religious areas by a partial
wall and structures that acted as a wall or at least significantly obstructed
the view into and out of the religious area.
There were 4 major
building periods:
The first period (started
around 600 B.C.) was mostly for religious purposes and one building was used as
a meeting place for political councils. A temple dedicated to the Goddess Hera
(goddess of family) was built. Each city state that participated in the
religious ceremonies had a separate small treasury structure that they built to
house their religious artifacts, dedicated to their own heritage (similar to
the relics related to Medieval Catholic Saints). In 560 B.C., the land was leveled,
and a simple track was created . Over the next 60 years, several new events
were added to the games.
The second (started in
500 B.C.) when slopping sides were created for spectators to better see the
track. A workshop, for the top sculptor of the day (Pheidas), was created. Pheidas created all of the massive Greek God
Temple statues in all of Greece. Here, he created the elaborate statue of Zeus
(one of the seven wonders of the ancient world). The grand Temple for Zeus
(king of the gods), a small temple dedicated to the mother of Gods, who at that
time, was probably Demeter (the goddess of earth fertility). A temple dedicated
to Peolps was constructed. Pelops had a huge cult following, and he was the
figure that was celebrated at night when the libations came out. A very popular
night time festivity. The Emperor Philip (father of Hadrian) had won a battle,
that united Greece, and he commissioned a memorial dedicated to his family, on the
Olympia site. Stoa’s were built in the religious area for general religious
meetings to take place. A temple dedicated to house the bones of a local hero
was erected. These were in many Greek towns and were places where cult’s hung
out to worship the local hero figure. The river Kladeos (named after the river
God) was diverted to prevent flooding in Olympia (this engineering feature
failed over time, as all of Olympia was covered in 12 feet (4m) of sediment,
due to flooding, before it was located in 1875 by the German Archeological
Society. Other additions were lodging for the important visitors, more
government buildings related to the Olympic games (a kind of Olympic Committee),
and a general meeting place for non-religious meetings to take place.
The third (started in 300
B.C.)
The Gymnasium, Greek
baths, and Wresting structures were built. The Priests quarters were expanded,
and a vaulted ceiling (tunnel), was built over the entrance was to the stadium.
The fourth (started in 50
A.D.)
An Emperor’s villa was
built for Nero’s visit in 67A.D, Roman baths and more temporary quarters were constructed.
Sacred Truce
The city states in
Greece were often at war with each other. When the date of the Olympic Games
was determined, messengers would be sent to each City State, declaring a truce
for the purpose of competing in and spectating the games.
Despite this truce, city
states still sent soldiers to the games to protect their best military assets,
just in case. In 324 B.C. the city state where Olympia was located, attacked
the games during the last Pentathlon event, in which two opponents were very
close in score. Soldier Archers at the games, climbed onto the roofs of the
monuments, to defend the games. Supposedly with fans cheering them on.
In 420 B.C. Sparta was
banned from participating in and spectating the games, for having violated a
peace treaty.
Summer of 480 B.C. The
Persian Army attacked Greece. Greek City States allied together to mount a
defense, but could not find enough males to build the defensive force. Most of
the able-bodied men had refused conscription, on account of they were going to
the Olympics. Once the games were over, they returned, and their grand Army was
formulated.
Nero’s visit in 67 A.D.
Nero was one of the most
colorful Roman Emperor’s. Hated by politician’s and the upper class, but loved
by the middle and lower classes. Nero loved theater, so he raised taxes to
build theater’s. Nero often acted and played music in public, which the ruling
class, saw as activities unbecoming of someone in the ruling class. The economy
tanked, their monetary system deflated, and Nero raised taxes to create many
public service projects, keeping the common people employed. After the great
Roman fire, Nero funded Rome’s recovery and assisted the homeless as best he
could.
Nero also liked to spend
money on himself like a lavish villa in Olympia, and to perform crazy acts. In
66 A.D. Nero performed a wedding ceremony, in which he was both officiating the
wedding, and he was the bride. The groom was a young man. Probably would have
been seen as OK had he took the role of groom instead, but a bride in those
days would have been a sign of weakness on his part.
Nero bribed the Olympic
Committee to move the 66 A.D. Olympics to 67 A.D. so that he could attend, he decreed
that they add theater and music completions so that he could compete, and they allowed
him to enter the 4 horse chariot race event, with a chariot that was pulled by
12 horses. Nero fell off the chariot during the race, yet was awarded the
winner on account of, he would have won, had he stayed on. After Nero’s suicide
in 68 A.D., his name was removed as winner of that event.
Olympic Traditions continuing
since ancient times
Olympiad – Zeus decreed
that the games should only be held every 4 years, and so they were, forever
after.
Eternal Flame – The
goddess Hestia was the goddess of the hearth, home, domesticity, family, and
the state. An eternal flame brunt in Hestia’s temple or structure, that was
monitored by priests to ensure that it never went out. Often times this was the
priests quarters, probably to make it easier to monitor. When a new Greek colony
was established, one of the first items to be built, was a hearth, where the
eternal flame was kept, and that flame was initially transferred from the
Hestia hearth in the nearest colony to the new colony. If that flame went out
(by whatever means), a ritual ceremony had to be performed, before it could be
relit. This was one of the most important items in ancient times, as fire was
needed for heat, to cook and prepare meals, and later for making tools and
weapons.
Ancient Olympic Games
The participation in,
and the spectating of, the games, was open to any free Greek male, regardless
of class status. Unmarried females were allowed to spectate but not participate.
The only married female spectator was the statue of the goddess Demeter.
Probably because Demeter was the god of sacred law (amongst other duties). A
reminder to the athletes that they had better not be cheating, because Demeter
is watching. Yet there was a female on the winner list of an ancient Olympic
event. The chariot race event win, was awarded to the owner and not the driver.
Kyniska, daughter of a Spartan king owned a chariot that won in two
different Olympiads. There were running contests for women, but those were side
events that were not part of the ancient games.
The winner of the first
recorded race was Koroibos, who was a cook by profession. For the first 13
Olympiads, the only competition was a single foot race of 195m(640 ft or 1/8
mile) over a sand track. In those days 195m was called 1 stadia.
By 500 B.C. the games
lasted for 5 full days and consisted of running, jumping, throwing,
boxing, wrestling, pankration (mixed martial arts) and equestrian events.
The winner received a red
woolen ribbon that they often tied around their head, and a palm branch for the big parade on the last day. There was a
big closing ceremony, where a wreath, made from olive branches (cut from
the tree of Zeus, which was at the end of the Stadium) was put on their head.
The crowning ceremony was considered sacred and serious, which is probably why
the ribbon and palms were given out in advance, to celebrate before the closing
ceremony. Second place and below got
nothing.
Ancient Athletic
Equipment
There wasn’t any
equipment, and therefore no perceived advantage from it. All athletic activities were
performed in the nude. It was felt, that this was a tribute to the gods,
and encouraged aesthetic appreciation of the male body. The word gymnasium
stems from the Greek word gymnos, which translates to naked.
In ancient Greece, it
was common practice to undress when exercising, but physical training was only
allowed for males who were at least 18 years old. Exercise was termed as
education for both the body and the mind. Greek gymnasiums also offered scholarly instruction in philosophy,
mathematics, and other ancient education, which is where the exercise of the
mind came from. Ancient Greek scholars often hung out and debated at the Gym.
Rules
Running – Both as an
individual event and as part of the pentathlon event. Race length; 1
stadia, 2 stadia, and one long distance race (from 7 to 21 laps depending on
the year). For races longer than 1 stadia, the participants ran around a pole
that was placed at each end. Race in Arms was a 2 stadia race where the
participants wore a helmet, shin plates, and carried a shield, but otherwise
were naked. That reminds me of being at sea in the Navy. A combat ship’s munitions
storage area was always guarded by Marines. Every once in a while, a spurious intrusion
alarm would go off, in the ship’s munitions storage area, at like 2 A.M (0200).
Marines sleeping, would be summoned to respond to that intruder alert. I always
had to chuckle to myself, when I saw a Marine double timing from the berthing (sleeping)
area to the munitions storage area, carrying an M-16, wearing a helmet and combat
boots, but only in his underwear (no time to waste dressing). A skinny dude in white
briefs, just doesn’t look very fierce, even if he is carrying an M-16.
Chariot Race – 4 horses,
a wooden chariot with 2 wheels and 12 laps around a track which is 4 stadia (1/2
mile or 790m) long, with a stone and/or wood barrier separating its length into
2 halves. Owner gets all the credit and the award for the win. There was a rule
about not deliberately running into another chariot, but it happened all of the
time and there were no penalties for it. Deaths were common in Chariot races.
Since everyone tried to get the lead, and the inside position, the start was
staggered so the horses on the outside were started first. Actually, the most
outside chariot started first, and when it caught up to the next, the next
innermost started, etc. The starting mechanism was created by the architect
Cleoitas and consisted of a dolphin weight that was dropped, and the rope
attached to it, caused the lanes starting ropes to be dropped in succession, as
the dolphin fell. The lap counters were individual dolphin statues, that would
be turned over, signifying that a lap had been completed. No red light, a
wrecked chariot is just like part of the track, that can be driven over. The
driver was required to wear a full length sleeved gown (probably to hide the
blood when killed), and the feet were strapped into the bottom of the chariot. That
had to be a wicked ride.
Discus throw - Only part
of the pentathlon event – No running start, and all participants used the same
disc.
Long Jump - Only part of
the pentathlon event – A large stone (about the size of a bowling ball) must be
held in two hands at all times. It can be extended during the jump, but must be
held onto. Standing long jump only. 5 jumps in rapid succession. Allowed to
have a flute player present to help the participant keep their rhythm and
balance during the event.
Javelin Throw – Only
part of the pentathlon event - Allowed to have a short leather strap to give
the javelin additional rotation when letting go. The rotation helps keep it
upright during flight and these ancient javelins were probably not very well
balanced.
Wrestling – An
individual event and part of the pentathlon event - Smother the body with olive
oil and a dusting of fine sand (this was to make it easier to garb hold). No
punching, No gouging the eyes or face with fingernails, no tripping and no biting.
In Kato Pale wrestling (ground wrestling in mud), the wrestlers will wrestle
until one opponent raises a single finger to acknowledge acceptance of defeat.
In Orthia Pale wrestling (standing wrestling), the first wrestler to be thrown
to the ground three times, loses. Only two wrestling classes, men and boys. The
boys class was 18 to 20 years old, and the mens was over 20 years old.
Boxing - Boxers bound
leather thongs across their knuckles. These were modified over time, and at one
time included metal straps over the knuckles. The match ends when one opponent
concedes defeat.
Pankration (mixed
martial arts) – Similar to wrestling but all that is disallowed is biting and gouging
of the eyes. Matches ends when one opponent raises a single finger to
acknowledge acceptance of defeat.
Penalties
Breaking a rule, was
taking care of at the time of the infraction, by an official beating the
individual whom created the infraction.
Collusion or Bribery to
cheat, was taken care of by fining the individual(s) involved. The fines went
towards the creation of bronze statues of Zeus, which carried the inscription
of the individuals involved and the phrase “Victory is to be achieved by
speed of feet and strength of body, not with money.”. These statues were called Zane’s and were erected on the walkway
to the stadium. Sixteen where created and erected over the course of the entire
Ancient Olympics.
Olympia Today
In 393 AD, the Christian
emperor Theodosius I, forbade the celebration of pagan cults, which included
the Games. Olympia was covered by up to 24 ft (8 m) of sediment, from a Tsunami
that occurred in the Mediterranean around 600 A.D.
It was lost until 1776
when Englishman Richard Chandler, in search of antiquity items re-discovered
it.
In 1874, the Greek state signed an agreement with Germany for an
archaeological exploration of the Olympia site. The German Archeological Society started excavation and have
been working on it ever since. The modern signs around the site are in three
languages (Greek, English, and German).
In 1888 the first Archaeological Museum of Olympia was erected to hold
the items that were found during the excavation.
In 1936 the tradition of the Olympic Torch relay was created. It always
originates at the Temple of Hera in Olympia, by lighting the first torch with a
curved metal cauldron that focuses the sunlight at a point where the torch is
lite by the natural light (not sure what they do if there is a cloud or rain
delay). The torch relay then progresses on a journey to the location of the
modern day Olympic games (Because of all of the protests, now that relay only
occurs in Greece and the hosting countries, but traditionally it traversed
through many countries on its way). After the Officials give a 60 minute long
speech at the ancient stadium, there is a torch lighting ceremony in front of
the temple of Hera, that consists of several women dressed in white Greek, full
length gowns, and men dressed in white tank tops and white skirts that end at
the knee (I am not making this up). They then summon Apollo (God of the Sun),by
beating drums, knocking rocks together, and playing flutes, while fair maidens prance
around the grounds. When they finally
have Apollo’s attention, a high priest requests his assistance in lighting the first
torch. That torch is then placed inside of a metal cauldron that intensifies
the suns rays, and lights it. Immediately a backup device is lite from the
torch, this is used to relight the torch if it goes out during the relay, so
the flame can always be traced back to Apollo, even if it goes out along the
way. Same if the stadium flame goes out. The torch makes its way to the ancient
stadium, where the dudes in white skirts are prancing around. A young boy
appears holding up a palm branch. The
first runner appears, his torch is lit from the fair maiden’s torch, and he is
handed the palm branch. A white dove is released, and then the runner takes off
on his journey, with 30 photographers who run with him for about the length of
the track, then fall over in exhaustion.
A statue dedicated to Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern day
Olympics, was erected on the ancient grounds after his death in 1937.
There was a forest fire here, in 2007, that nearly damaged this site. The
God Apollo, probably blew it out, as it approached.
Photo blog (Click to View)Thank you for reading.
I'll see you next time,
Craig
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