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Fairy Tales.
As you watch the young athletes compete in the Athens 2004 Games,
imagine back to the beginnings of the Olympics, almost 3,000 years
ago, when ancient Greek spectators were watching with pride as
their young athletes competed in an Olympic game called the “stadiun”,
a footrace, in Olympia, Greece. The Olympics have a long history
in Greece, with origins back to at least 776 BC, when the first
Olympic victory was recorded into history. The Olympics were one
of four in a series of Greek-only competitions called the Panhellenic
Games. The Olympics were held every four years and was considered
the most prestigious of all the Games.
The Olympics continued for almost twelve centuries, well after
the decline of Greece. They were outlawed by Roman Emperor Theodosius
I in AD 393 as a pagan ritual incompatible with a Christian Roman
Empire. The Olympics began anew in 1896 in Athens, the idea of
a Frenchman who thought it would be a good way to bring young
men from different nations together in a competitive, yet peaceful
manner. The tradition started by the ancient Greeks continues
this summer, as the Games come full circle, back to Greece.
In this mini-unit study, you can: read about how different the
ancient Olympics were from today’s games , hear the history
of the Olympics from ancient Athens to Athens 2004, take a tour
of Olympia - the site of the original Greek Olympics, read the
stories of ancient Olympians, play Olympiad online games, host
Olympic games in your own backyard, create medals, wreathes, torches
and more and look at historic Olympic posters and design your
own for the ancient Greek Games.
Reading
An interactive overview of the Olympics (for younger kids):
Using what you have
learned about both the ancient Greek Olympics as well as how posters
have been used in the modern Olympics, create your own poster
for the Greek Games in ancient times - use a variety of materials.
Recommended
Resource
The Ancient Greek Olympics
If you are looking for
a book that provides a good overview of the Ancient Greek Olympics
for the 9-12 crowd, this is the one to pick up.
While concise at just 32-pages, it has a plethora of Olympic information,
including the training of athletes, what games were played, who
the spectators were and what religious ceremonies and banquets
were held.
It does all of this in a unique day-by-day format, covering the
five days of the ancient Olympics. See if your library or bookstore
has a copy of this nice companion to the current Athens Olympics
on tv.
