The idea of fair play has always been deeply rooted in the heart of every Greek, intricately entwined with an instinctive tendency to stand out. The Olympic Games were already popular with the Mycenaeans and the Minoans in pre-historic Greece. The first ever Olympic sports, such as acrobatic gymnastics, boxing, racing, chariot racing and a popular bull-chasing game were depicted in frescos and ceramic pots in the 2nd millennium B.C. These early efforts would later become the official Olympic sports that we all know and love. They were all bound by rules and regulations and they bore a strong element of antagonism. They always took place in open-air spaces that allowed for large audiences and they seemed to be closely associated with specific religious ceremonies. The strong connection between sports and religious worship remained unaltered until the last Olympic Games of the ancient world. In those times, sports events were considered religious activities that took place during festivals to honor the Gods.
Thanks to Homer’s epics we get a compete list of all the sports included in a funerary sporting event called athla the Achaeans had organized in memory of the deceased Patroclos. During that time sporting events seem to have become a regular festive after dinner activity, which is more in keeping with the contemporary Olympic spirit. According to Homer, the winner was supposed to be distinguished for his physical strength, his spiritual virtues and his morals that helped him deliver a superior performance and obtain a glorious victory. Homer’s famous saying, “Always excel and prevail among others” expresses the ideals of the ancient greek society in the best possible way.
Nobody really knows when athletes first started flocking into Olympia to test their physical strength and spiritual virtues against each other. According to Pausanias, Ifitos, the king of Helida, once asked the oracle at Delphi what to do in order to protect his country from civil wars and pestilence and Apollo apparently answered that Ifitos and his people had to resuscitate the Olympic Games. According to a different legend, three Peloponnesian kings, Ifitos, Lycurgos (a legendary legislator from Sparta) and Klisthenis (the king of Pisa), formed a long-lasting alliance called the Sacred Truce that was respected by everyone in the country and was considered an inviolate rule of the ancient world, even during the most dramatic of circumstances. This treaty was recorded on a copper disc and placed in the sanctuary of Hera, where Pausanias saw and described it in 160 A.D. Thanks to the Holy Truce, Olympia and Helida area were deemed sacred and inviolable and the passage of military forces from the sanctuary of Zeus and the Helida area in general was strictly forbidden. That’s when the Ierominia (Greek for Sacred Month) was first established, a month during which all warfare and hostilities were suspended in honor of the Olympic Games.
Helida, an ancient unfortified city built on the banks of the Pinios River, was put in charge of organizing the Olympic Games and would keep doing it for the next thousand years. It was about 50km away from Olympia, located in the same spot where Amaliada is today, and it kept the sanctuary of Zeus under close supervision. The high priests of the temple were chosen amongst two of the oldest sacerdotal families in the city. The local Parliament, also known as the Olympic Parliament, was in charge of organizing the Games.
The first Olympic Games were traditionally said to have taken place in 776 B.C. and were probably nothing more than a local festival with the participation of some neighboring cities. Thanks to the Sacred Truce and the ever growing popularity of Zeus’s sanctuary, the father of both gods and humans, the Olympic Games soon involved the whole of Peloponnesus, their fame spreading to the rest of Greece and finally attracting the attention of Greeks all over the world: from the ionian cities in Asia Minor to the greek islands and Cyprus and from the northern greek cities to the colonies of Pontos and the north of Africa.
The Sacred Truce, that was always declared on the first day of the Sacred Month by representatives of Helida called Spondofori, granted the sanctuary of Olympia significant privileges and secured a safe passage for both athletes and pilgrims/spectators, allowing them to gather around Zeus’s sanctuary every four years to celebrate in the biggest festival ever to be held in his honor. 
It’s important to note that the Sacred Truce wasn’t a treaty that relied on good intentions. If anyone was to violate it he would suffer grave political consequences and the city he came from would be stigmatized forever. The Olympic Parliament had the right to inflict harsh punishment and almost unbearable fines to anyone who dared break the rules. Whoever failed to come up with the money was denied access to the oracle of Delphi and the Olympic Parliament banned them from ever taking part in the Olympic Games again. Both penalties were inconceivably severe for the ancient Greeks, so the violations were very few: when a Spartan soldier violated the political neutrality of Helida, Sparta was obliged to pay a very large fine. During the reign of Philippe II, an Athenian called Frinon was mugged by Macedonian soldiers. Philippe claimed that they were not aware that the Sacred Truce was in effect, but nevertheless punished them very harshly and apologized to the Olympic Parliament.
The first Olympic Games ever to be recorded, took place in 776 B.C and consisted of a single sport called Stadio, a 192,25m race won by Korivos, who lent his name to this first Olympiad that has been known as Korivias ever since. The organizing committee kept a detailed list of every athlete who ever won this particular sport and their names were given to the respective Olympiads. The Olympiads, the four-year periods that elapsed between two Olympic Games, were used as the base for the ancient greek calendar.
We still can’t be absolutely sure as to when the Olympic Games were actually held. Most researchers are positive that they used to take place in the summer, when it was warm, and preferably when the moon was full in order to facilitate the arrival of the athletes and the spectators who came from far away. We also know that the Olympiads were initially five-year periods and the Games used to take place at the beginning of each of those periods. According to the ancient greek system, the Games were repeated every 49 or 50 months.

As far as the actual competition went, physical strength was supposed to be combined with high morals and spiritual substance. That’s what the Olympic Games were all about: a harmonious co-existence of virtue and strength within the same person, making for a physically and spiritually complete personality.
The ideals that drove the Olympic Games were confirmed by all the strict rules the athletes had to comply with in order to take part: first and foremost they had to be Greek citizens - slaves were not allowed in the Games - and they had to be free of any accusation concerning murder, sacrilege, or breaking competition rules. Both murder and breaking competition rules were considered religious sacrilege. All athletes had to spend a year preparing for the Olympic Games in their hometowns, while on the last month they were required to train in the gymnasiums and the arenas of Helida or Olympia, where the final stages of their preparation was to take place.                               
The Olympic Parliament had an impartial committee of judges at their disposal for the duration of the Games. The members of the committee were called Elanodikes and consisted of the most well-respected citizens of Helida. Their number periodically changed depending on the local tribes.
On the eve of the Games, the judges (Elanodikes), the athletes and their training instructors left Helida by way of Iera Odos (Sacred Street) and made their way to Olympia. A few kilometers outside Helida there was a sacred spring called Piera, where they offered sacrifices to the gods. In the meantime, the representatives of the greek cities (theori) along with the crowds of pilgrims/spectators, were slowly flocking into the city of Olympia.
On the first day of the festival, after the usual sacrifices had taken place, the athletes had to take their oaths in the Parliament House, in front of the sanctuary and the statue of Orkios Zeus, protector of all oaths. They were made to swear that they would abide by the rules, that they wouldn’t commit any crimes, that they are all Greek citizens and that they are not wanted for murder or sacrilege. The judges (Elanodikes), the training instructors and the athlete’s parents had to take the oath with them.
After the ceremony was over they made a sacrifice on Zeus’s altar and then, according to Filostratos, they entered the Stadium by the main entrance “in a slow and synchronized pace”, where Hamini, the high priestess of Demeter - the only woman who was allowed to attend the Olympic Games - welcomed them. The herald was ordered to announce the beginning of the Games with the following words: “Now starts a competition of the finest sports”.
At first the Games only lasted a day, but later on, when more sports were added to the competition schedule and the participating athletes started multiplying on account of the games becoming so famous, two more days were added. In the mid-5th century B.C. the number of the participating athletes was so great that all sports required qualifying rounds before reaching the finals. This process required two more days, leading to the grand total of five days.

Text: Yiorgos Koutsouflakis  - Archaeologist