Every two years, representatives from virtually ever country in the world come together to compete for medals in front of thousands of spectators in the stands and millions of television viewers. Today, success in the Olympic Games is the pinnacle of athletic achievement for many sports. It makes sense that such an important event would have important origins. Almost 2800 years ago, the Ancient Greeks honored Zeus with the Olympic Games, which was one of the only "national" Greek festivals in the time of the Greek city-states. Until it was outlawed by the Roman Emperor Theodosius I in 394AD, the Olympic Games continued to be important to the Greek people.

For the Ancient Greeks, the Olympic Games served functions beyond those of the Modern Olympics. The Ancient Olympics was a festival held in honor of Zeus and Pelops (a mythical king of Olympia) every four years. It included religious sacrifices as well as games. During the games, contestants competed in the nude in as many as twenty events. The winners were given a crown of olive leaves and were honored by poems and statues. A popular legend says that the Persians were dismayed that the Greeks competed for only a crown of leaves because they knew that it meant that the Greeks were men of honor. The Olympics were of such importance to the Greeks, that they postponed wars and stopped trade during them. They also had the important function of providing a common point of reference for reckoning dates. In a time before the introduction of uniform calendars, the Olympiads were a way of converting the local calendar in one city-state to that in another.

Once the Romans conquered the Greeks, the games began fading in importance. They continued to be held, however, until 394AD when the Roman Emperor Theodosius I outlawed the games. A pagan who had converted to Christianity before becoming emperor, Theodosius was originally tolerant of pagan religions, but ultimately declared Christianity the official religion in the Roman Empire. As part of his ban on pagan rituals, he banned the Olympics. Since the purpose of the games had originally been religious in nature, he banned it outright rather than try to strip it of any pagan rituals. His ban on the games lasted and no games were held for over 1500 years.

Interest in reviving the games began in the 19th century and were brought to fruiting by a Frenchmen named Pierre de Coubertin. Coubertin believed that one of the reasons that the French had lost the Franco-Prussian war was their relative lack of interest in physical fitness. He hoped that starting an international competition based on the model of the Ancient Olympic games would not only give his countrymen an incentive to stay more physically fit, but would allow for healthy competition between countries that might discourage them from going to war with each other. In 1896, the first Modern Olympics was held in Athens, Greece with 311 athletes from 13 nations. Since then, the event has grown and now features tens of thousands of athletes from virtually ever country in the world.

Learn more about this author, Andrew Murphy.
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