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The Games in Ancient Greece
The Olympic Games began in 776 B.C. in ancient Olympia. There are two mythological versions as to how they started. The first is the myth of Pelopas from whom the Peloponnese has taken its taken (the isle of Pelops.) According to the myth, King Inomaos of Pissas, invited the suitors of his daughter Hypodamea to a chariot race. Whoever won would take Hypodamea as his wife and whoever lost... would lose his head! Pelopas, prince of Lydia of Asia Minor was one of the suitors. With the help of Myrtilos the charioteer, he formed a plan to beat Inomaos in the chariot race by sabotaging his chrariot. As a result, Pelopas prevailed in the race when Inomao's chariot overturned; killing him. Pelopas married Hypodamea and to celebrate his victory founded the Olympic Games.

According to another myth, the Games were founded by the demigod Hercules. In his fifth Labor, he agreed with king Avgeas of Ilia, to clean his stables, and in exchange would receive one - tenth of his cows. Avgeas did not keep his promise and Hercules declared war, which he won. After the victory, and in honour of his father Dias (Zeus) Hercules founded the Olympic Games.

In 776 B.C. the first Olympic Games of ancient times were held, an institution which lasted 1,170 years, until 393 A.D. when they were banned as a pagan rite, by the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius the 1st. At first, only free Greek citizens were allowed to participate in the Olympic Games. Later, under the Roman Empire, all citizens of the Empire had the right to participate. The Games took place every 4 years, during the first full moon after the summer solstice. At first they lasted only one day, but as different sports were added, the time required to participate grew longer, reaching 5 days. While the Games were in progress the Ancient Greeks obeyed the rule of the Sacred Armistice, which meant the stopping of all hostilities and forbidding the execution of the death penalty. At first the Sacred Armistice lasted for a month, but later it lasted for three.

Women were forbidden to enter the stadium during the Games, and punishment for breaking the rule was an automatic death sentence by being thrown off Mt. Typeo. Only Kallipatira, daughter of the Olympic winner in boxing Diagoras, was able to watch the Games without being convicted. The judges showed mercy because of her "Olympic descent."

Olympic Events
The first Olympic event was the stadium race, a course of about 200m (1 stadium) which was the only event until 724 B.C., when the "diavlos" was added, a distance run of 400m (2 stadiums.) In these races the athletes ran naked, a tradition which was established in the Olympics of 720 B.C. where a runner from Megara, Orsippos, won by running naked after losing his tunic during the course of the race. In 720 B.C. another distance run was added, the "dolichos" which was an endurance race of about 3,5 to 4km. These track competitors had another addition in 520 B.C., the "oplitis", a race of 400m wearing full armour.

Other events which were added at different stages, were wrestling, boxing and the "pagratio" (a combination of boxing and wrestling), the chariot races, the horse riding competitions and the pentathlon. The pentathlon consisted of the javelin throw, the discus, the long-jump, running and wrestling. The first three took place as part of the pentathlon whereas the other two were independent competitions. According to tradition, the pentathlon was established by Jason in the competitions of the Argonauts in Limnos, to honour his friend Palea, who took part in the 5 events, winning first place in wrestling and second place in all the other events. The long jump took place place with the musical accompaniment of a flute, which helped the athletes to obtain rhythm while running.

Olympic Winners
The athletes in ancient times competed for glory, since the one and only prize was a wild-olive tree branch wreath, from the sacred tree of Olympia. On the return of the Olympic winners to the city, part of the city wall was demolished for their entry, whereas in many cities, an Olympic winner was offered meals for the rest of his life, something which was also offered to Spiros Louis when he won the marathon in the 1896 Olympics. Also, every Olympiad (a period of four years from one to the other) gave the name of the winner of the track race to its stadium, as it was the competition with the highest prestige.