Sara Tumminia
After a much needed rest from over 12 hours of traveling, we were off bright and early in Olympia!
Nicki, our wonderful tour guide, who is an expert on Greek history
prepped us in the morning about what we would be seeing in Olympia and told us
some more facts.
It's interesting to think that we study the past and even the
ancient Greeks studied history as well.
In the lobby we started with an informational session from Nicki
about Ancient Greece as well as some of the elements of the ancient
games.
With every story from history there is of course a myth associated
with that story. An interesting myth that stood out to me from today was the
founding myth about a mythical king in Olympia. When his daughter grew up he
realized that he did not want her getting married because he did not want to
lose his power once she found a husband. Therefore, he created a contest for
all the potential husbands in which they had to beat him in a chariot race. If
you won the race you could marry his daughter and if you lost the king had to
kill you. One of the potential candidates loosened the screws on the Kings chariot,
so that he would win and he was seen as one of the heroes of Ancient Greece.
There are issues around whether this was ethical or not, however the argument
is that it was fair because if he had not done that Ancient Greece as we know
it would not have continued. His move was necessary for the evolution of the
civilization.
We then headed over to Olympia where we were able to see many
interesting buildings. Some examples include the Temple of Hera, the Temple of
Zeus, the Philippeion, as well as many more. When you first walk in to the
sacred area of the site, you see the building that Alexander the Great built
for people to know that he was the ruler. The Temple of Hera was beautiful. Not
much of the columns were still in tact, however you were able to get a good
idea of what it looked like because of the foundation that was still standing.
Most of the ancient temples had the statue of that particular God towards the
back for worshipping, with the entrance on the east side facing the sun. The
Temple of Hera is actually about 200 years older than the Temple of Zeus.
Walking through Olympia was breathtaking. It is unbelievable to
think that we saw where all of sports as we know them today began. We saw the
first track where they held the foot race for over 30 years when it was the
only sport in the Olympics. As a Sport Management major, it is really cool to
see where sports started, and it makes you appreciate how far we have
come.
After a long and hot day walking around Olympia, we got some
"pool time baby ow!" (-Jeff Slawson) at the hotel. Some group bonding
and pool chillin is always a good time.
Dinner was family-style: large portions of a bunch of appetizers
where everyone could share. Trying new food is definitely a must when you go
abroad. We were able to eat some Greek dishes were delicious!
Athens tomorrow! Stay tuned.
~t-minus 4 days till home~
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