What were the ancient Olympics, and who could compete?

The ancient Olympics were a religious festival at which freeborn Greek men competed in honour of Zeus. They were held at Olympia, a religious sanctuary, and are traditionally dated to 776 BC, though archaeology suggests the major games arose closer to 700 BC. Every four years, athletes from Greek city-states gathered there, and the four-year gap, called an Olympiad, became a way of counting time.

At first there was a single event, a foot race of about 190 metres called the stadion, which gave us the word stadium. Over the centuries the programme grew to twenty-three contests, with no more than twenty at any one Games. The prize was no gold: it was a wreath of olive leaves.

Who could compete? Participation was reserved for freeborn Greek men, and officials called Hellanodikai decided who counted as Greek and from which city. Women were left out of the competing, but not entirely out of the winning. A Spartan princess named Cynisca trained her own horses and won the chariot race in 396 BC, because in chariot racing the winner was the person who funded the team rather than the one driving it. Whether women could even watch is something historians still argue about.

Then there is the famous truce. Runners were sent out from Elis to announce it, armies were forbidden from entering Olympia, and the death penalty and legal disputes were put on hold. It is often described as a pause in all of Greece's wars. It was narrower than that: it guaranteed safe passage for visitors travelling to the Games, and it did not stop wars in Greece.

The Games were also a religious event. On the middle day, 100 oxen were sacrificed to Zeus. The last recorded Games took place in AD 393, under the emperor Theodosius I.