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How To Use This Lesson Go-Givers’ PowerPoints are designed to inform and support critical thinking and discussion. They can be used in their entirety. However, please feel free to save this lesson to your computer and edit, omit or add content as appropriate for your pupils. Please remember: • Always show the PowerPoint in ‘slide show’ view. Links and animations will only work when in this mode. • The green dot in the bottom right hand corner of the slide indicates when the slide animation is complete. •The Learning Activities are intended for use in conjunction with the PowerPoints and are linked at the end. In this lesson we will be exploring the first Olympics in Ancient Greece. With the help of his charioteer, Myrtilos, Prince Pelops was a prince who sought the hand of Pelops came up with a plan to beat Oinomaos. Hippodamia, the daughter of King Oinomaos. Together they secretly replaced the bronze Oinomaos challenged Pelops to a chariot race. He linchpins of the King's chariot with linchpins made announced that if Pelops won he would win the hand of wax. of his daughter in marriage. However, if he lost Pelops would be beheaded, and his head would be used to adorn the king’s palace. The race began, but just as Oinomaos was about to overtake Pelops, the wax melted, the wheels fell off his chariot, and Oinomaos was thrown to his death. Pelops married Hippodamia and held the first games in the shadow of Mount Olympus to celebrate his victory. They had to be free men (not slaves) and After a great athletics festival, in be able that to speak Greek. honour of the Greek gods Zeus and Hera, Every athlete took anevery oath in front of the was held at Olympia four years. statue of Zeus that they had Men came fromsaying all over Greece to been in training for 10 months. compete. The games were celebrated every four years for more than a thousand years, until people converted to Christianity and the games were banned by Roman Emperor Theodosius in 393 AD, who saw them as pagan. A flame was lit by the sun and kept burning until the end of the Games. Nowadays the Olympic flame is lit at the site of Olympia by women wearing ancientstyle robes using a curved mirror. The Spartans: The Athenians: The athletes represented city states They strived to the wintheir at allarchrivals, costs, by the lying, cheating, They knew that from across Greek empire. whatever it took, as they get Spartans, wouldas dolong anything to didn’t win, but caught. It was important to beat citizens of Athenians would never stoop tothe such Athens, even if they didn’t win, so they plotted behaviour. The twowith biggest rivalscity-states were theto sabotage secretly other Greek any Athenian and chance ofSpartans. victory. Athenians the Athenians were shining examples of all that is fine and noble, clever, creative and courteous. They would cheer only for their fellow Spartans at each event. Athletes in the ancient Olympic Games took part in the nude. The word ‘gymnasium’ comes from the Greek word ‘gymnos’ meaning nude. The exact meaning of ‘gymnasium’ is ‘school for naked exercise’! After the games, the athletes cleaned themselves by rubbing oils over their bodies and scraping off the mix of oil, sweat and dirt with a strigil. As time went on women Women were not were able to compete in allowed to compete in the Heraean games the games, and only which were held in priestesses were honour of Zeus’s wife permitted to watch Hera. them, because the gameswere wereheld dedicated They in the to the God Zeus,before father Olympic stadium of Gods men. the men’sand games. … as well as boxing and chariot racing…. When the Olympic Games first started there was just one event, the stadion, a sprint measuring 192 metres, the length of the stadium. Later they introduced the pentathlon, a combination of five events: discus, javelin, jumping, running and wrestling… …. and pankration, which was a gruelling combination of boxing and wrestling. Only biting and gouging an opponent's eyes, nose, or mouth with fingernails were disallowed. Other brutal moves, such as kicking an opponent in the belly, which are against the rules in modern sports, were perfectly legal. The Marathon was not an Olympic event in ancient times. In 490 BCE, Pheidippides, a Greek soldier, ran from Marathon to Athens (about 25 miles) to tell the Athenians that they had won a battle against the invading Persians. Unfortunately the journey was very hilly and rocky, and Pheidippides arrived in Athens with bleeding feet, completely exhausted. He just managed to tell the Athenians the good news before he fell to the ground dead. In 1896, at the first modern Olympic Games, a race of approximately the same length was held in commemoration of Pheidippides. At the ancient Olympics a wreath of olive branches was placed on the winner's head. The olive tree was the sacred tree of Athens. Medal winners were given olive wreaths in the Olympic games of 2004, which were held in Athens, Greece. Milo of Croton – an Olympic celebrity Milo, six times Olympic wrestling champion, enjoyed demonstrating his strength. He would hold a pomegranate in his hand and ask people to try to take it away from him. Even though he was holding it tight, he never damaged the fruit. Sometimes, he would stand on a greased iron disk and challenge others to push him off it. Another of his favourite tricks was tying a cord around his forehead, holding his breath, Who is destined to become a celebrity and breaking the cord with his bulging forehead veins. Olympic games of 2012? in the London Glossary • dedicated – devoted, committed • pagan – someone who believes in an ancient religion (or no religion) • sacred – holy • Commemorate – honour, celebrate • Brawn – muscle, strength. Activities to complete this lesson include: • Grecian art. • Dialogue between an Athenian and a Spartan • Debate – Is brain better than brawn? Rate this lesson here. Click on the image above to view and/or download learning activities.