The Ancient Greek Olympics

by Richard Woff

The ancient Greeks were famous for their love of competition and athleticism. Their most important sporting festival, held at Olympia and honoring Zeus, became the inspiration for our modern Olympic games. It was open to the citizens of every Greek polis, and became so important, that all warfare had to be suspended for its duration. This book runs through the entire five-day session of the ancient games. The athletes' training and the actual sporting events--some familiar, some quite strange to the modern reader--are described in vivid detail and illustrated with both classical art from the collections of the British Museum and photographs of the modern Games. Day Two, for instance, starts with morning activities (a procession into the hippodrome, chariot and horse races), followed by the afternoon pentathlon events (discus, javelin, running, jumping, and wrestling), and ends with the evening celebration (winners' parade, victory hymns, feast, and revels). Supplemental sidebars--such as Homer's description of Odysseus' triumphant discus throw and an explanation of why athletes and trainers had to appear naked--add lively, colorful detail. Commentary on the modern Games and a running comparison of modern and ancient athletic events is scattered throughout the book, providing an important historical perspective on today's Olympics. Three supplemental chapters--"Women at the Olympics," "Games Elsewhere in Greece," and "The End of the Olympics"--complete this fascinating look at ancient Greek customs, competitive spirit, and character.

40 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 10, 2000

Reviews

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

1. Genre- Non-Fiction
2. Awards- None
3. Grade Level- K-2
4. This is a great book to introduce the Olympics to a classroom. The book presents information on the Ancient Olympics process in a very informative, yet easy to understand way. As a follow-up activity, I would have my own classroom Olympics. The students will be divided into the city-states of Greece who will then compete for first, second, and third place in the Olympics. They will each have to design a flag. I will have a series of games for the students to play. It would be over a 5 day period, similar to the schedule the ancient olympics was on. At the end, there will be an award ceremony and a closing ceremony. This is a good book to use with this activity because it explains how the olympics were started and the process the ancient games had. This activity allows the students to take what we learned about in the book and to put a modern spin on the material, while still getting a grasp on the ancient tradition.

[Kassie Houston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grade: 4-6
Genre: non-fiction
Award(s):none

This book shows the students where the original Olympics began and how they played their games. I would use this book as a creative drama activity. I would have the students pay close attention to the events that went on. This way when we went outside for the activity they would know how each event went. I would call out an event and ask the students to show me how it looks when being played. I would also through out some fun facts once we got back in the classroom that they learned while listening to the story (e.g. Did women participate in any of the sports? Was there sports for handicapped people?, etc.)