Olympia, Greece

Tim Ratigan

Period 6A-B

Global History I

Mr. Raboy

Location: Greece, Europe

Size of Greece: 130,800 km2

Geographical Features: Mt. Olympus, Santorini volcano, Pindhos mountains, Rhodope mountains, multiple island chains; the climate is temperate with

wet, mild winters and arid, hot summers

Population of Olympia: 11,069

Olympia was first settled approximately 3000 BCE. By the ninth century BCE, Olympia was already a popular site, evidenced by bronze offerings from all over Greece. According to popular legend, the Olympic Games started 776 BCE as a peace offering between Sparta and Elis, but they may have been even earlier than that. Because of the peace offering, many could go to Olympia without weaponry and it became a major center for political discussion. Eventually, every city-state became a part of the Olympic Games and the Games’ duration was expanded from one to five days. A temple for Zeus was erected with a gold and ivory statue of Zeus that was 13.5 meters tall, with Nike, the goddess of victory, in his palm. The games lost their importance in the second century BCE when the Romans conquered Greece and were banned in AD 426 by the Christian emperor Theodosius, and many buildings had been taken down to defend against possible invaders. Later in that century, the statue of Zeus was lost. In the 6th century, earthquakes ravaged Olympia and did further damage to the site.

The rules and punishments of the games and the rewards for victors, which both could be extreme, are quite interesting. For example, women could not watch the games. If a woman was caught attending the games, they would be thrown off Mount Typaeon. If a competitor was caught cheating in the games, they had to pay for a statue that would be built with their name on it and the statue would be put in front of the stadium. Champions, though not paid for victory, would often be given free meals by his home town for the rest of his life. The town would also supposedly tear down its wall as they found it unnecessary with such a citizen.

Price Carriers Stop-overs time/dateof

departure

Time of arrival

Airport Destination Class

$857 Delta, Alitalia

1 on return

On first flight: 4:20

p.m, 12/4/10,

on return: 6:55 a.m., 12/18/10,Connect:

11:40 a.m.

First flight: 9:30 a.m.,

Return: 8:10 a.m., 3:50 p.m.

JFK Airport Athens, Greece

Economy

$860 KLM Dutch Airlines, Delta, Alitali

1 on first flight, 1 on

return

On first flight: 10:10 p.m.,

12/4/10, connect: 8:05 p.m. 12/5/10

on return: 6:55 a.m., 12/18/10,Connect:

11:40 a.m.

First Flight: 11:20 a.m.,

connect: 12:20 a.m.,

Return: 8:10 a.m., 3:50 p.m.

JFK Airport Athens, Greece

Economy

Hotels:

Best Western Europa Hotel: €60 per night for a single room, €80 for a double, €99 for a triple room, and €112 for a family room. Includes wi-fi, television, radio, hairdryer, refrigerator,

telephone, air-conditioning, marble restrooms, balcony, and safe in each room. Amenities include an on-site restaurant, free breakfasts, children’s activities, a tennis court, an outdoor

pool, a jewelry shop, laundry, and free parking. Olympion Asty Hotel: €73 per night for a

single room, €83 for a double, €110 for a triple room, and €124 for a family room. Air-conditioning, wi-fi, heating, bath and shower, minibar, safe, telephone, music, television, and veranda included with a room. Amenities include playground, outdoor pool, free parking, restaurant and bar.

T r a n s p o r ta t i o n a n d A c c o m o d a

t i o n s

The Historical Museum of the Olympic Games

in Antiquity

The Temple of Zeus

The Archaeological

Museum of Olympia

Castle of Chlemoutsi

The Stadium

This is a beautiful museum off the main road that

was made in 2004 and

includes many artifacts from

Ancient Olympia that reveals

Olympia’s former wealth and glory

This used to have an enormous statue of Zeus

made of bronze and ivory within it, but the statue

was lost in the 400s AD and the temple crumbled

due to an earthquake in the 6th century AD, but the site is still there with the remains of

the once glorious temple

This is located on the site of the

ancient Olympics, and it

is most renowned for its

collection of sculptures,

although it has the largest

collection of bronze artifacts

in the world.

Only an hour away from

ancient Olympia by car, this is probably the

best preserved Frankish castle in

all of Peloponnese, with amazing views of the Ionian sea

This stadium held most of the

events of the ancient Olympic

games with room for 20,000 spectators, and

people could view the games from the slopes

of Mount Kronos.

TOURIST

ATTRACTIONS

Attractions: Olympia is 15 to 25 km away from the beach. Sports can be played at the ancient Stadium, the site of the original Olympics.

Restaurants: the top two rated restaurants in Olympia are Aegean and O Thea. Aegean serves home-made Greek food with a special unique twist on each dish. O Thea is a restaurant up the hill in a small village called Floka that serves traditional taverna and has wonderful food off the grill.

Activities