There are two mythology references about the Olympic games in ancient Greece. The chariot race between Oenomaus and Pelops (see the east pediment of the temple of Zeus where the race is depicted ) and the wrestling match between Heracles and Augeas.
In the most ancient of olden times, King Oenomaus was the tyrant who ruled the Olympian valley and surrounding territory. Like all fabled kings, Oenomaus had a daughter of incomparable beauty; like the others, he felt that no man was good enough for that daughter. Suitors came seeking her hand. Oenomaus had a trick of his own for disposing of these unwanted men, anxious to plight a troth with the daughter, Hippodameia. King Oenomaus, a strong athlete with agility and a superb master of the chariot race, challenged each suitor to a physical contest. The agreement was that each suitor could try to best the king-father, but should the suitor lose, he forfeited his life.
Such a challenge deterred many suitors; but there were others who so coveted the fair Hippodameia, and her father’s rich kingdom, that they accepted the terms of the king. None won. All died. All died, that is, until a Phrygian prince, named Pelops, came along. He used his conniving mind as well as his magnificently trained body, accepted the king’s offer, and asked that the contest be a chariot race. In the light of the full moon in September, Pelops met the king’s charioteer, Myrtilus, under the wild olive trees on the Hill of Kronos. There the dastardly Pelops offered a bag of gold to the traitorous Myrtilus if, on the next morning, the charioteer would loosen the linchpin on the king’s chariot.
The gold sparkled in the moonlight; the charioteer’s merciless heart beat with greed; he accepted the offer of Pelops. When the sun was high the next day, Pelops and Oenomaus stepped into their chariots behind horses champing at the bit. The starting signal was given. Both men lashed their four horses. With the king’s court shouting and cheering, the two men dashed down the stretch of the hippodrome at Olympia. Neck and neck the horses ran. On the first turn King Oenomaus whipped his four white horses to make the first move for the lead. As his chariot thundered around the corner, the linchpin came loose. Oenomaus, catapulted headfirst out of his chariot, was trampled by the hooves of Pelops’ horses and ground to shreds by the sharp bronze wheels of Pelops’ chariot.
Pelops was victor. He married Hippodameia, took over the realm, and ordered that every four years games should be held in his honor at Olympia; that a temple should be erected to honor his patron god Zeus; and that a bronze statue of himself, Pelops, should stand in the center of the Altis. Wishing to appear modest, unassuming, and not grasping for material things, Pelops asked that he not be given gold for his victory; instead, he requested that a branch of wild olive be placed on his head as a symbol of his victory.
Pelops’ victory is shrouded in legend but many Greeks were certain that the event marked the founding of the Olympic Games. Proponents of the legend pointed to the fact that the southern half of Greece is called the Peloponnese, the island of Pelops.
Another myth has to do with Heracles. According to Pindar, a great poet of Greece, in his famous Eleventh Olympic Ode to victory, says that the Games began at the dawn of man’s life on earth. He claimed the Games were started by Herakles (the Roman Hercules ), son of Zeus. One day an impudent, upstart mortal named Augeas made disparaging remarks about Zeus, and so angered Herakles, the original muscle-man, that he challenged Augeas to a wrestling match. Meeting on the flat alluvial plain formed between the two rivers Kladeos and Alpheos, Herakles gave Augeas the drubbing he deserved. The wrestling match was historic! Both wrestlers “had muscles which bulged to the thickness of a man’s arm,” and were so strong “each could crack the neck of the strongest man.” The battle raged as each threw the other, and grimaced in pain from the half nelsons and other torturous holds secured. For hours they fought until their massive muscles were strained to the utmost; until joints bid fair to be pulled from their sockets. But Herakles, the master of all, bested his adversary, leaving him a senseless mass of quivering flesh on the ground.
After the battle, the giant Herakles walked around a large area, dragging a stick behind him. The rectangular arena marked off by the stick he called the Altis, a sanctuary dedicated to Zeus, the chief of all gods. Having marked off the Altis, Herakles decreed that a temple of finest marble should be built to honor Zeus, and should be staffed with priests the year around. Furthermore, he ordered that another building, placed to the north of the Temple of Zeus, should be called the Prytaneion, the priests’ council house; it should contain an ever-burning fire of Hestia, the mild-mannered goddess of hearth, home, and fire, and daughter of Zeus.
Not content with heaping such honor upon his father, Herakles stated that every four years games should be held in honor of Zeus. The finest athletes with the fairest of masculine physiques should meet at Olympia for sporting events.
Tags: ancient Olympia, ancient olympic games, greek gods, greek mythology, Heracles, Olympia sports, Olympic games in ancient Greece
