Olympia Greece is the birthplace of our modern olympic games and is a UNESCO world heritage site. Touring the site is an incredible experience.
Only males could compete in the Ancient Greek Olympics. They slathered each other with olive oil and competed naked. My husband thought my last post was a tad boring, so I decided to ramp things up a tick with some factoids I learned from our Greek historian as we toured Olympia.
Continuing with her narrative, the historian explained that married women were not allowed to attend the games, and if they snuck in, they could be put to death by being thrown off Mount Typaeon. (I don’t know if this ever actually happened.) However, young, “maiden” females were allowed in to “observe”, and prostitutes could, and did attend, apparently doing more business during these olympic days than they typically did all year-long.
Some of this I learned on my own afterwards because enquiring minds do want to know, and the historian sort of skidded over some of it.
Travel is very educational.
The historian clarified the word gymnasium came from Ancient Greek and means males exercising naked.
Females did apparently have their own sort of more minor, separate sporting event at Olympia, but they wore shifts, and only exposed one breast, imitating the Amazons.
I wonder if they were allowed to throw their husbands off Mt. Typaeon if they snuck in? Or let single, young, males, in to “observe”? What would you guess?
The first olympics were held here in the 8th century BC and the first buildings were constructed in 600 BC. The Temple of Zeus was considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world and is the oldest known Doric building in the world.
Olympia is extensive and takes a full day just to walk. There are twelve houses of treasure, a hippodrome, a stadium, the Paelastra or wrestling school, the Phillippieion an Ionic circular memorial, vaulted tunnels and walkways, a gymnasium, a museum full of statuary and relics, and much more. It was spring when we toured, and the Judas Trees and wildflowers were just starting to bloom which made it all even more incredibly beautiful. April is said to be the best month to visit ancient sites in Greece due to the stunning spring flowers.
In case you want to check out the historian’s factoids (I did), please see:
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/faq5.html
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/08/0809_040809_nakedolympics_2.html
http://www.ancient.eu/Gymnasium/
We are home now, so it’s cheers to you from The Holler~
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Your shots re awesome, Cindy. 🙂
Awwww, honored my friend. Thank you~ <3
Such a pretty time of year to be there, Cindy. I bet the men were more prone to sneak in to watch the women….chuckle.
Leslie
And I bet they weren’t thrown off Mt. Typaeon for it!
Lot of new things to learn here Cindy. I never knew the meaning of gymnasium. A very interesting post. Thanks for sharing
It tends to explain for me how why didn’t like high school gym class and those mandatory showers!
I’m so glad that women today are participating in the Games! I enjoyed taking the tour with you around such a magnificent site. Like you, I am in awe of all that has occurred there! Great post, Cindy ♥
Greece is just a gorgeous country.
Great post!
ευχαριστώ!
Absolutely gorgeous location, pics, and. Text Cindy!
Ahhhh, was a bit of a morph for me, so I am very pleased you enjoyed. Thank you & cheers too~
Enjoyed tremendously !
<3
Magnificent captures! What a special post, Cindy.
We were there 10 years ago, I was using a cyber shot pocket camera, and took only a few photos. 🙂
It is amazing to see isn’t it. I get such a sense of formidable intelligence when I visit these ancient sites.
I feel the same… I think a part of us wants to connect with these ancient sites (our roots). 🙂
Splendid pictures 🙂
Honored & humbled. Thank you!
You are hilarious! Loved our little steamy tour of Olympia! 😉 x
I was worried about offending people so I am very happy you enjoyed it! Thanks for letting me know & cheers to you Terest~ <3
Enjoyed your pictures
I really think the Olympics should have a permanent home where they began (OH, OK the winter ones can go to nearby mountains – like maybe the Swiss Alps) No doubt they’d have to adjust the audience rules a big now HAHA
I love your idea! We were actually in Greece right before the Olympics. It was amazing to see the games there!
I’ve been in Olympia and I even sat myself in the starting postition at the running court. (Nobody was willing to fire the starting pistol though 🙂 ) I do think young males (providing they were well build) were alowed to ‘observe’ the athletic ladies. Purely educational of course, purely educational.
Cracking up…….
Fabulous description! Fabulous photos!:))
So happy you enjoyed! Wasn’t sure how this would go over, so appreciate your comments very much~
Hi Cindy,
here is a very informative article about women and Olympics in Ancient Greece. I am sure you will enjoy reading it!
Unmarried women were allowed to get in and watch the games and there is the story about Kallipateira , she got in to watch her son, who was participating,disguised as a trainer.
Thanks my friend and I read about Kallipateira. She was discovered, but not punished, if I remembering correctly, because, both her widowed husband and son were olympiads, so they gave her a break. After her successful ruse, visitors had to disrobe to prove they were not wives (or widows).
I am sorry I didn’t give you the link here it is:
http://www.olympicscomic.com/the-women-in-ancient-greece
Thank you! Looking forward to reading it tonite.
Loved this and didn’t know about the Goddess who was allowed to attend. Fascinating!
How absolutely wonderful. Oiled up and running naked…hmmmm…what if they played football and basketball that way. I think they would be a bit different, don’t you? Always controlling the women…while men get to do whatever they like. Blah. They will kill us for tiny things like “looking” at something. How insane is THAT? Gorgeous post and the trees and flowers are incredible.
They wrestled that way. I read somewhere about men from other countries seeing oiled up naked men wrestling naked in the dirt at The Olympics and wondering what was up! It would be quite a spectacle. I think of Ancient Greece as having atypical positions of influence for women in terms of powerful female gods and temples in their honor, women being allowed to own property, etc., but this was discouraging to learn about. It was not just the sexual control of females, but the obvious attempts to restrict what married women in particular could see and know about the sexual behavior of their husbands. This dynamic still operates today in more ways than most people imagine.
I also have beautiful memories of Olympia and surrounding. Thank you very much of your information🌺
Thank you more for the validation and I am so happy you have been to this remarkable place!
Very much enjoyed your pictures and history lesson. I made a lengthy comment, but it was interrupted and closed somehow before being finished, so, unless it goes with the post in, I will forget it. Here is another story, also true. When going through the Pilgrim’s Plantation in Plymouth, MA, we tourists walked about with pride at the reproduction of life as it took place in 1620 or so, waaay back. Then, I saw some German tourists walking by and was brought to clear thinking when I realized that Lowenbrau Beer had been brewed for about three hundred years before the Pilgrims arrived. Good work! Save those sights in situ and in photographs.
I agree. The age differential is simply incredible isn’t it. We are talking buildings that are 2700 years old and still standing. Absolutely stunning isn’t it!
Amazing! Love the extra facts too.
They definitely got my attention. This was never covered in my high school world history class! Laughing……
Pingback: A gorgeous and informative post from Cindy, do not miss this one. Find out the real meaning of the word gymnasium and one more reason men chose to kill women…it’s all here in, Ancient Olympia~ | Rethinking Life
Hugs to you Gigi & thank you. <3
Wow – glad you are back home but these are some great sights.
Greece is chock full of absolutely stunning ancient sites like this. Hugs to you Antionette & cheers too! <3
Such beautiful captures.
If you like them, I am happy. Be well my friend~ <3
Smooches!
<3
>>> “They slathered each other with olive oil and competed naked.”
>>> “However, young, ‘maiden’ females were allowed in to ‘observe’, and prostitutes could, and did attend, apparently doing more business during these olympic days than they typically did all year-long.”
Cindy, your husband won’t be disappointed; boring, this is not! One of my great unfulfilled dreams is to visit Greece. There’s so much culture, history, and beauty to admire.
Laughing…..he’s not saying anything! I remember being in Greece about 10 years ago with our kids and seeing some incredibly graphic ancient artwork. They were certainly a passionate and fascinating culture! I do very much hope you go and spend some serious time in Greece. Everyday you will learn something new.
Beautiful pictures, Cindy. Insanely jealous of your trip!
I very much you go! Greece is a great travel deal and is less expensive than most other parts of Europe especially off season.
Good to know, I’ll definitely look into it!
<3
I really enjoyed reading your post. Great tour of ancient Olympia.
Ah, thanks especially, as I was a tad hesitant about it!
Thanks, Cindy, for sharing these gorgeous photos. 🙂
Thank you more for appreciating them!
I don’t think your posts are boring…! 🙂
You are so nice! This touched my <3 !
Oh, my, how things have changed! I can’t imagine exercising naked, even in the privacy of my own home. Beautiful photos, Cindy, and your tour guide was right about the spring flowers and trees.
It did bring back for me how much I hated middle and high school PE and the teachers who made us take communal showers.
You too?? I always felt like I was running through a car wash, ha!
No we know the origins!
Oh wow I’ve always wanted to go to Olympia- it looks so beautiful!!
I hope you go in April. It is less crowded, less expensive, and the flowers and trees are blooming!
Oh thanks for the tip 😀
Beautiful. Those Judas trees are something.
P. S. Young males are any under 80, right?
All your research pays off John. Remarkable you should know this. They felt middle age commenced at 81.
Aren’t they wonderful! At first I thought they were Jacarandas.
Well aren’t you just a fun little treasure trove if factoids. Very entertaining.
Wouldn’t it be awesome to teach just one high-school class history session for bored, attitudinal adolescents? Of course you would never be asked back, but consider how much fun it would be??? If this had happened to me in high-school, I would actually have stayed awake for at least one hour in three years.
Oh yes. All the deep dark secrets nobody knows. Fun trivia.
Actually there was much more shall we say,….. sensitive, info, but I do have some boundaries!
Well you certainly beefed that one up a bit! Competing naked sounds a reasonable idea, especially since none of my athletic clothes fit me any more!
Cracking up……this comment is much better than the post!
Don’t let your imagination go too wild!
Too late…….
Your tour left me smiling… 🙂 Thanks Cindy, I learned a few things along the way! XO
Trust me, we both did!
Beautify pictures from the place! I like the story or the history about male and female roles during event. Yes, I am wondering about the same thing as you mentioned but I guess, gender role are quite different than now.
Quite different yes, but still way too much disturbing gender-based, power imbalance in the world.
To just briefly exist in places like this…… sigh…..
Oh I know! I imagine this all the time. How incredible it would be to be able to pop in (and out) at will, appropriately dressed, so you could blend in. Just imagine……
It sounds like our imaginations run parallel Cindy. 🙂
This is without fail the greatest thing about blogging. Meeting people who know how you think.
I agree…..look at that, more of that shared thinking 😉
<3
The flowers in bloom make it all the more beautiful I’m sure. And with its history and culture a place of untold kept secrets only the Greek gods would know. 🙂 Funny that the tour guide would not elaborate on some of it. 🙂
” And with its history and culture a place of untold kept secrets only the Greek gods would know.” I love this sentence. <3 It describes the whole ancient, secretive, spectacular nature of the place. Thank you for sensing this. I suppose the historian was a bit concerned about how the information might be received. I can understand her reticence, but when I encounter this sort of evasion, it just makes me dig deeper!
Oh Cindy how beautiful! I regret I’ve never been to Olympia yet (and Delos! -shame on me!) and your photos just opened my appetite! Thanxxx
So many incredible places in Greece. How could you possibly see them all…..yet! 😉 This is what we live for, right??? Going to Delos very off season would be pure magic because you might have the place to yourself, along with the cats of course. I want to go to Meteora. We were so close but couldn’t get to everything. Greece is one of those magic places where the more you see, the more you realize you haven’t seen…..
I am a non- chauvinist but feel the same about my country! There’s something here for everyone… We went to Meteora a couple of months ago and it was out of this world! I suggest you try to go in winter, because it would be even more dramatic: soft light, fog, snow, empty trees… and not so many tourists of course. Also it’s best to stay in Kastraki (a tiny village overlooking the rocks), there’s a small hotel (Doupiani House) with the most outstanding views!
I just came back from Greece, and reading this really makes me want to go again, very soon! <3
Lovely pics and interesting facts!
Thanks much! History doesn’t have to be dull! 😉 😉
Beautiful as always! Blessings and peace! Stay safe💖✌🏿
Visa versa 2UX2! <3
Interesting little tidbits…but of course, the first thing I noticed was the flowering trees! 😀
You and me both! I assumed they were jacarandas but wondered, so I looked it up. They were gorgeous!
Indeed they are! Lovely post, Cindy.
Warm greetings to you.
A riveting post! The gender discrimination with exceptions made me chuckle and ponder.
I guess the strangest thing to me is that we western civilization folks really haven’t improved much entoto, have we, since the Ancient Greeks, 3000 years ago? And more concernedly, we seem to have significantly devolved. But that is my bias speaking, as an American now, with our current President, and his familial unvetted administration. It is pretty freaking depressing. The Ancient Greeks seem so overwhelmingly more intelligent and evolved, it is a preponderance of factors; their philosophers, their writing, their architecture, their logic (especially the logic) that informs how I think now about how poorly we have evolved since them.
Classic architecture. ☺Beautiful shots.
<3
I share your sentiments.
No boredom here. Fascinating! Olympia in April – gorgeous photos. No people in the pics – how did you manage that?
Actually, there are some people in the shots, but I do tend to avoid them photographically, and it amazes me you noticed.
Thought you must have gotten up a dawn. 🙂
Never! I sleep in~ 😉 😉
Reblogged this on Musings on Life & Experience and commented:
Interesting commentary to accompany lovely pictures taken by Cindy Knoke.
You are a lovely person Patricia. Thank you for your thoughtfulness & cheers to you~ <3
I’ve always liked the word, “gymnasium” and now, I know why! 😀 I could get lost in your mesmerizing photos of antiquity. Ah, if only stones could talk…
Laughing…..Love your take on it!
Photography as good as ever
Thank you Derrick!
Very interesting and nice photos 🙂
Kind regards Alexander
Very pleased you enjoyed & cheers to you!
Beautiful photos, and thanks for the information about Olympic Games then. In fact, travelling is a major experience!
Yes, traveling has become for me a way of life.
Lucky you! I wish I could do it also, so enjoy it!
If you wish it, then I wish it for you! <3
Thank you!
Beautiful photos Cindy, as always, and interesting facts too! 😊
So pleased you enjoyed Jules & have a wonderful week!
Thanks you too! 🙂
<3
Fantastic post Cindy – loved the photos and the commentary 😀
Things always get interesting when you scratch beneath the surface!
True!
It’s a beautiful (and beautifully photographed) place. The flowering trees look like what we call “redbud” trees in the eastern US.
The facts/factoids/speculations are both fun and good balancers against the understandable temptation to idolize ancient Greece.
Yes! “The facts/factoids/speculations are both fun and good balancers against the understandable temptation to idolize ancient Greece.”
I love this summation. The Ancient Greeks were people too!
I enjoyed the tidbits of history that we’re never taught in school. Olive oil and naked is quite interesting. Your post was definitely not boring, Cindy. Wonderful tour of your journey to the site of ancient Greece. <3
“Olive Oil & Naked,” would be a wonderful title for something wouldn’t it!!! Laughing……..
I think it would. Ha ha!
<3
Wonderful, Cindy! So glad there is no graffiti here! Very glad!
Not only is this visit educational for you, I get to learn, too!
Yes! Thank God, even the thought of graffiti here is horrifying. It’s awful enough seeing it in Venice.
……and what would Popeye say about a naked Olive Oil ??? Hmmm……..! 🙂
Cracking up……..