Olympics in Ancient Greece
Informal games had been held for several centuries before the Olympics began.The Olympics themselves grew out of funerary games held in honor of the Greek god Zeus.The ancient Olympic games were held every four years for over 1，000 years—from 776 B.C.to A.D.393.，quite a remarkable featwhen one considers the modern Olympics have been around for slightly over a century and the Mediterranean region experienced great changes and upheavals during the time the ancient Olympicswere conducted.
The ancient Olympics games lasted for five days—three days ofmajor competition，and a day each for an opening and closing ceremony.Running and field events were held the first day.Horse and chariot raceswere on the second day and thewrestling and boxing eventswere held on the fourth day.The number of contestants varied from year to year in each event and itwas not unusual to have over 40 racers flying around the narrow track in the chariot races.
There were usually about300 athletes competing in 15 to 18 events.Athletic and running competitionswere held in the stadium and horse and chariot races were held in the hippodrome.Since athletic contests began as part of a religious ceremony no admission was charged.Money for the construction of buildings and templeswas supplied bydonations from rich patrons and from booty claimed in wars with neighboring city states.
The golden age of the Olympics was the late 6th century to the early 5th century B.C.with the peak was perhaps in 476 and B.C.After that the games weremarred by refusal of the city states to accept Olympia's authority over the games，divisions within Greece and war.The games went through a period of ups and downs after the Romans took over Greece in 146 B.C.
Contrary to myth war swere not called off during the Olympics but there appeared to have been timeswhen truceswere called during fighting to accommodate the Olympics.For a brief period in the 5th century an Olympics appeals board settled disputes involving the city states that participated in the Olympics.
Many of the political problems that have tarnished the modern Olympics were present in the ancient Greek games.In 424 B.C.，during the Peloponnesian War4，the Spartans were banned.Once during a wrestling match，spectators had to run for cover when a military force from Elis5 chose that moment to launch an attack.Fighting went into the night in the middle of some of Olympia's most sacred templeswith spectators cheering the combatants.But no matter how bad things got the Olympics were never canceled，not even as the Persians prepared to invade and Athens and Sparta fought in the Peloponnesian War.
The Olympics were revived in Athens in 1896 due to the efforts of Frenchman Baron Pierre de Coubertin6 who felt his country needed to shape up after their defeat by the Prussians7 in 1870.Thirteen countries competed in mostly track and field events.Greece was without a winner until the marathon.Themodern games now feature more than 10，000 athletes from more than 200 countries competing in more than 300 events.
Notes：
1 Socrates
Socrates was a classical Greek philosopher credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy，and as being the firstmoral philosopher of theWestern ethical tradition of thought.An enigmatic figure，hemade no writings，and is known chiefly through the accounts of classicalwriterswriting after his lifetime，particularly his students Plato and Xenophon.
2 Zeus
Zeus is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion，who rules as king of the gods of Mount Olympus.His name is cognate with the first element of his Roman equivalent Jupiter.
3 Ancient Sparta
Sparta was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece.In antiquity，the city-state was known as Lacedaemon，while the name Sparta referred to itsmain settlement on the banks of the Eurotas River in Laconia，in south-eastern Peloponnese.Around 650 B.C.，it rose to become the dominantmilitary land-power in ancient Greece.
4 Peloponnesian War
The Peloponnesian War was an ancient Greek war fought by the Deli an League led by Athens against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta.
1-3 Peloponnesian War
5 Elis
Elis，ancient Greek region and city-state in the northwestern corner of the Peloponnese，well known for its horse breeding and for the Olympic Games，which were allegedly founded there in 776 B.C.The region was bounded on the north by Achaea，on the east by Arcadia，and on the south by Messenia.
6 Pierre de Coubertin
Pierre de Coubertin（January 1，1863—September 2，1937）was the founder of the modern Olympics.His campaign to promote athletic activities began as a lonely crusade，but it slowly gained support and he was able to organize the firstmodern Olympics in Athens in 1896.
7 Prussians
Prussia，in European history，any of three historical areas of eastern and central Europe.It is most often associated with the kingdom ruled by the German Hohenzollern dynasty，which claimed much of northern Germany and western Poland in the 18th and 19th centuries and united Germany under its leadership in 1871.