02-18-2011, 09:43 AM
The true Olympics were a Greek religious event in honor of Zeus that were held uninterrupted for over 1200 years until the Christian fanatic Emperor Theodosius banned them along with the other sacred games like the Nemean, Pythian and Isthmian games for being "pagan".
The games were held even as Xerxes Persian army was burning Athens.
Here is part 1 of a PBS documentary about them:
http://vimeo.com/5059505
It contains some mistakes though, for example it rightly points out that women were not allowed at these games but makes it out like they had no athletic outlet. In fact they did have their own separate games called the Heraean Games in honor of Hera the wife of Zeus:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heraea_Games
The games were held even as Xerxes Persian army was burning Athens.
Here is part 1 of a PBS documentary about them:
http://vimeo.com/5059505
It contains some mistakes though, for example it rightly points out that women were not allowed at these games but makes it out like they had no athletic outlet. In fact they did have their own separate games called the Heraean Games in honor of Hera the wife of Zeus:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heraea_Games