Students: Based on our recent readings pertaining to different Gods who were believed to reside in mount Olympus (in Olympia),which is located in Northern part of Greece, we have learned the important role these gods played in the lives of the people. The Greeks believed if they had any problem, it was essential to pray to which God or Godess to answer to their prayers, to get their problems resolved. we also learned the Greeks believed they were made in their gods images. For example, the gods looked and acted like humans, they fought, fell in love and were jealous of each other just like humans fought, fell in love and be jealous of each other.
The only difference there were between the gods and humans were that the Gods were immortal and had special powers and the humans were mortals and died when they get old. And if they were lucky to live a peaceful and healthy life they would die at an older age.
(Zeus, the god of all gods)The Greeks honored their gods existence by holding sport events. The sport events were specifically put in place the honor the god of all gods Zeus.
The people of Olympia and the people from all over Greece participated in these events. Some of the sport events they held were as the following: Boxing, wresteling, and running events (of course in comparison to today we have many more events added to the contest). People competed against each other to win. Today this tradition is stronger than ever before. This is the reason why every four years we have everyone from all over the world come take part in the Olympics.
The maps below will give you some insight into the location we speak of. The video below will also help reinforce your knowledge on the tradition the Greeks carried on for centuries which the world now embraces. And it has become part of the continuity to honor and to show respect for the gods.
Questions: If you had a chance to compete in the Olympics, which sport event would you have prefered to participate in?
The map below will give you some insight to Olympias location in Ancient Greece.
the next map gives you a closer look of the location of Olympia.
Below are some of the sport that were added to Olympic game events.
