ABSTRACT
By the year 200 BCE most of the major cities in Greece held their own Games, combinations of religious ceremonies and athletic events. The most prestigious of these were the Olympic Games, held every four years in southern Greece. Inter-city warfare was common, but a truce was almost always agreed to allow the Games to take place.
For the first 13 Olympiads only one athletic event took place, a simple foot race over 192m. Over the centuries, however, the Games expanded to include up to 20 competitions, for which the prizes were no more than olive wreaths. Winners, however, could expect to be showered with gifts, money, and even political advancement when they returned to their own cities.
After the Roman conquest of Greece in 148 BCE the Games gradually declined over several centuries. Gladiatorial contests and wild animal hunts catered to Roman tastes. Floods, earthquakes and barbarian invasions battered the Olympic complex. Finally, in AD 394, the Christian Emperor of Rome banned all Games throughout the Greek world as they were considered to be pagan festivals.
