Olympia Museums

                The first day in Olympia was very pristine, but yesterday morning the streets were filled with tourist buses and filled with people. It is pleasing to know that we were able to experience the ancient ruins before the crowds of people arrived. We went to 3 museums before heading back to Athens; the archeological museum, the ancient Olympics museum, and the modern Olympics museum.

                 It was evident from the start that the military was a major influence on the ancient Olympics. There was a lot of armor that was dedicated to the sanctuary as war prizes from victorious Greek battles. It was interesting to see the sculptures that were taken from the ruins. There was a horn and ear, which is all that is left from a giant bull statue that was directly in front of the Temple of Zeus. There were also statues of Zeus and Ganymede, Nike (the Goddess of victory), and Hermes (the messenger God). The Hermes statue is one of the best surviving statues from the ancient world. It was taken from the ruins of the Temple of Hera, which was like a museum at the time of the ancient Olympics. The statue told of the story where Zeus had a child, Dionysos (God of wine and dining), with another woman and charged Hermes to take Dionysos to the Nymphs, who were to nurse him, before Hera found and killed the child. We also saw artifacts from the building where the famous statue of Zeus was made. I was shocked to see how tiny the tools the artist used to sculpt this masterpiece. There were also molds that were used to shape and build the statue. We also saw all of the statues that were on the front and back side of the roof of the Temple of Zeus. Since the roof was a triangle they had to make the statues be larger in the middle and smaller on the outsides. They accomplished this by putting a God in the center because they were taller than ordinary men, then people standing, then horses or centaurs, then people sitting down, and finally people lying down. These groups of statues always showed a mythological scene, usually involving someone trying to get the girl.

                 We next went to the ancient Olympic museum where the displays did a great job of walking people through different aspects of the ancient Olympics. The ancient Olympics are regarded as a revival of Games that had been interrupted for a long period of time similar to how the modern Olympics were founded. The Games were held from 776 B.C. to 393 A.D. (1169 years). It was interesting because it was held every four years without interruption and local wars between city states would be suspended until after the Games, unlike the modern Olympics which have been interrupted twice for World War 1 & 2. The athletes themselves had to be Greek citizens in order to compete. They would travel to Elis, which was where the organizers of the Games were headquartered, a month prior to the start of the Games. The athletes would train and have their character tested because athletes were not only supposed to be good athletes, but good people as well. Women were not allowed to be at the Olympics because the athletes would compete in the nude. There was a competition for women, but not at the Olympics. We found out the stadium was 192.28 meters long so Brian won the 192.28 dash when we raced in the stadium the other day. The winners of the different events would be rewarded with a crown of woven olive branches and enjoyed privileges at their city state for the rest of their lives such as free meals, exemption from taxes, and seats of honor at entertainment events. Along with a lot of descriptions of the Games they had many artifacts. My favorite room in the museum had a glass floor with a beautiful artistic tile floor underneath.

                 The modern Olympic museum was not as good as the Olympic museum in Lausanne, but it did have a lot of unique artifacts such as stamps, tickets, Olympic programs, pictures, newspaper clippings, medals, pins, figurines, and Olympic torches. The most interesting information that I learned was that Pierre De Coubertin’s heart was buried in ancient Olympia as per his final request.

 I know my blog was long and I hope I didn’t bore you,

 Jonathan Prinsell