Myths, Ruins and Olympia!

          Almost every founding place in Greece has a founding myth or two; we went to Olympia. One of the founding myths of rediscovery of Oylmpia was connected to a competition in the Olympics, the chariot race. There was a king whom was married and had a beautiful daughter; her name was Hippotomeia. She had a fiancé named Pelops and was ready to be married but her father was jealous he did not want give away his daughter and he would lose all his power if she were to marry. He then proclaimed a contest, the chariot race. The deal was if the king won, Pelops has to die but if he wins he can marry the daughter. Sounds simple enough, but the Kings horses were immortal, so no one could win against the king leading to Amia’s fiancé to his death. Pelops had to find a way to win and marry the beautiful Hippotomeia; he loosened the bolts on the king’s chariot so it would fall apart when the race began. In the end Hippotomeias fiancés won, got to marry the princess and became a hero.

            Today we went to Olympia, we learn about all the temples, gymnasiums, and stadiums once stood. As we walked through the site, you could see all the outlines where everything one stood but most had fallen. We walked through learned the time periods when each temple was built, why and what they were used for, while still standing. There was once rectangle building called the Temple Hera with columns surrounding the whole temple, which is called Peristyle. Depending on the design of the columns a person can tell what time period they were built because they remain consistent throughout a time period. There are three types of columns from these times; in Professor Ryan’s words they look like, a squished marshmallow, a basket of flowers and a scroll. This temple was like a modern day bank to the locals of Olympia, it held all their valuables and treasures. Unlike today it did not only hold money, it held objects and artifacts of the people that were of importance to them.

            All states send athletes as an Olympic truce We spent sometime walking along the racetrack, visualizing the race(s) from the start to finish lines. We toured the gymnasium where the athletes changed, bathed and got ready to compete. There were little baths still there from when the Olympian’s bathed. It was pretty amazing there were some remains left after all this time.

            Next we observed the remains of Zeus’s temple where it once stood, you could see all the columns, where they use to stand. Almost all had fallen, but they fell into pieces on the ground in a line like pattern. Its pretty cool to see the columns that were once standing around the ancient temple of Zeus, who is one of the most important Gods to the Greek, along with his wife Hera, both have there own temples. Each Greek God them self has there own festivals such as, Athena, Apollo, Hercules, Hermes, Nike, etc.

            One more interesting founding myth we learned while from Olympia was a different king was told a fortune that his unborn son could not touch the ground, until he could walk on his own. The king had it arranged so his son would never touch the ground, he was order to be carried until he could stand and walk on his own. One day the young son was bitten by a snake and was killed before he ever touch the ground to walk on his own.

            Later that evening we went out to group dinner to try an authentic Greek meal! It was defiantly an experience to remember. We tried Solvaki, medallion veal, seganki, muzaka tazki, stuffed cabbage, fried cheese, stuffed zucchini, an herb entrée and an actual Greek salad. Some of my spelling may be off but some is even difficult to pronounce. I won’t lie some of it was not appealing, and didn’t taste so great, but I tried to keep an open mind! I did not enjoy everything but I am personally a very picky eater and I know some of the group enjoyed every bit of it. It’s such an amazing experience to take in the culture by eating the food and interacting with the people. They eat food that is so different than our normal family dinners, that it’s awesome I got a chance to encounter it all myself, I just don’t think I could eat some of the entrees every week, or the gyro sauce with every meal; I need my ranch! 

            Overall the day was great, our first day in Greece and I’ve already experienced and learn so much about the culture and Olympics. I cannot wait to see what awaits for us in Athens!!