Sport in ancient Greece

The Olympic Games

The modern Olympic Games are the greatest international sporting festival today, and they were also the biggest sporting event in the ancient Greek world. They were held every four years, as they are now, but they always took place at Olympia instead of moving around to different places. Athletes usually competed as individuals, though a victory would still bring honour to their home city.

There were glorious things to see at Olympia: the enormous temple of Zeus, the god of the Games; the beautiful temple of Hera; fine statues of gods and goddesses and of previous winners in the Games. Inside Zeus' temple there was a 13-metre-high gold and ivory statue of the god which was known as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The bronze statue in the picture is a small version of this.