The Ancient Olympic Games
Drawn from the British Museum’s rich collections, The Ancient
Olympic Games offers the public an opportunity to explore the story
of the ancient Olympics.
A scale model transports the viewer to Olympia itself and
provides a privileged tour of not only the competition grounds but
also of the religious sanctuary with its many temples and shrines.
The religious dimension of the Olympic Games is stressed with a
selection of objects focusing on the Greek gods. The super athlete
and hero Herakles, founder of the Games, is also featured.
Throughout the exhibition, Greek athletics provide an
opportunity to look at Greek social attitudes, especially the role
of women, and to focus on the human body, which in art is much more
diverse than the ideal male form associated with the ancient
Greeks. The exhibition also features one of the highlights of the
British Museum’s collection which has never been on loan before:
Discobolus. This famous sculpture was the symbol of the 1948 London
Olympic Games and has since taken an iconic status.
In this Olympic year, The Ancient Olympic Games will
stop in Shanghai at the Shanghai Museum and will open then at the
Hong Kong Heritage Museum in Sha Tin (Hong Kong) where the 2008
Olympic equestrian events will be held.
Hong Kong Heritage
Museum
2 August 2008 – 24 November 2008
Image: Discobolus (discus-thrower),
Roman copy of a bronze original of the 5th century BC, from
Hadrian’s Villa in Tivoli, Lazio, Italy