Olympian Odyssey

My strategy is simple. My friend and I will wake well before dawn to beat the busloads of tourists we saw clogging the streets of Olympia the previous night. We all have one destination in mind, ancient Olympia, the archaeological site of the first Olympics, considered one of the most important sanctuaries in the ancient world.

It works. We are among the first to arrive and have the entire site to ourselves, free to walk around the columns and temples of this mass of ruins. The sanctuary lies in a valley between the rivers Alpheios and Cladeos, an area that in ancient times was home to poplars, wild olives, oaks, and pines. Appropriately, the sanctuary's original name was Altis, meaning grove. Altis was renamed Olympia after Mount Olympus in Thessaly, the mythical home of the gods.

One ancient Greek myth says that the Olympian gods started the games at Olympia, with Zeus the victor over Cronos in wrestling and Apollo defeating Ares at boxing and Hermes at running.

A man named Heracles was believed to have established the first track race in the world's first stadium. Legend has it that when he became champion, he was crowned with a kotinos, a wreath made from abranch of a wild olive tree he had planted at Olympia.

Another story claims that the games were first held when five Cretan brothers brought the infant Zeus from Crete to Olympia to be raised by nymphs. The oldest organized a race among his brothers, and the winner was given a wreath of wild olive.

As the golden dawn lights the archway into the stadium, my friend says, "I can just hear the crowd cheering." We enter through a vaulted passage called the crypt, which was constructed in Roman times.

The track itself stretches about 630 feet long, a length believed to have been determined by Heracles. The surrounding banks overlooking the field are large enough to host 40,000 spectators.

It wasn't until 776 BC that the first true Olympic games - foot races - were held. Contests in the stadium later included wrestling and boxing, among other events, with athletes performing nude (the word naked is gymnos in Greek). The equestrian competitions included stallion races and four-horse chariot races, held in the Hippodrome, which once stood south of the stadium but long ago was washed away by the waters of the Alpheios river.

The Olympic Games were held every four years and, over time, expanded from one day to five days. During those periods, a "sacred truce" was initiated for the protection of the athletes and spectators, in which all hostilities among Greek city-states were suspended.

Early on, the state of Elis presided over the Olympic Games, with supervision in the hands of 10 of its citizens. These were the judges who awarded prizes to the winners. Like Heracles, the winners were crowned with a wreath made from a branch of the olive tree.

Opposite the judges' platform in the stadium is the altar of the priestess of Demeter Chamyne, the only married woman allowed to view the games. Originally only virgins were given that privilege. Other women found sneaking a peek at the competitions were supposed to be hurled from Typaion rock, though there is no record of that ever happening.

According to legend, one woman defied the rules. Kallipateira disguised herself as a trainer so she could watch her son compete. When he won, she leapt over the barrier of the trainers' area and lost her clothing, revealing her identity. But because her father, three brothers, nephew, and son were Olympic winners, the officials pardoned her.

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