First Olympic Games

The first recorded Olympic Games took place in 776 BCE at Olympia, in the western Peloponnese of Greece, honouring the god Zeus. The initial programme consisted of a single foot race (the stadion, roughly 192 metres). Over centuries the Games grew to include wrestling, chariot racing, the pentathlon, and boxing. Held every four years, they became so important that warring Greek city-states observed an Olympic truce (ekecheiria) to allow athletes and spectators safe passage. The Games continued for over 1,000 years until the Roman emperor Theodosius I abolished them in 393 CE.

Some scholars argue athletic festivals at Olympia predate 776 BCE, but this is the earliest date recorded in ancient Greek historical records.

Context

The date 776 BCE comes from ancient lists of Olympic victors compiled long afterwards, the best known by the scholar Hippias of Elis around 400 BCE. The first name on those lists is Koroibos of Elis, the winner of the stadion foot race. Historians treat the date as the start of the recorded tradition, not proof of the very first athletic festival.

The Games were part of a religious festival at the sanctuary of Zeus. They were open to free Greek men; women could not compete, and married women were generally barred from watching. A sacred truce was declared before each festival so that athletes and spectators could travel safely, although the truce covered travel to the sanctuary and did not end wars between cities.

The traditional end date of 393 CE is linked to the Christian Roman emperor Theodosius I, but historians debate when and how the Games actually stopped, and some activity may have continued later. The modern Olympics were revived in Athens in 1896 by Pierre de Coubertin.