Aug 15, 2013
Day Five Photos
Yya sas (Hello) from the Adriatic Sea!
We’ve started our trip to Italy on an overnight ferry from the port of Patras, Greece, to the city of Bari on the east coast of Italy, where we are scheduled to arrive at 10:30 a.m. Greek time.
Most of us have settled in, explored the ship, grabbed something to eat, and are ready for the overnight trip along the Adriatic Sea.
After an outstanding night in Nafpaktos, a quaint little town along the Gulf of Corinth, we got up this morning and headed south about an hour and a half to the town of Olympia, the site of the ancient Olympic games.
Here’s the story behind Olympia and the first Olympic Games. These games were a religious celebration dedicated to Zeus that began in 776 BC and ended in 334 AD, a stretch of 1,108 years – all of which took place at the site which the team visited on Thursday. Only Greeks, males, and citizens were allowed to compete and watch the games, but the games were the only ones to involve all of the city-states of Greece, which at the time, stretched far and wide.
Wars were stopped when the games came around, as were executions. Wrestling, boxing, running events, and gymnastics were some of the athletic activities, but there were also musical, art, and dance competitions held as well.
Gold Nuggets About The Visit To Olympia
The Olympic Stadium has mounds surrounding a nearly 700 foot track area, with seating of up to 40,000 on the mounds.
Dai-Jon Parker ran the whole length of the stadium and back, with his teammates cheering him on at the end of his jaunt.
The duration of the Ancient Olympic Games was five days.
Only the first place winner was awarded a prize – a wreath from a sacred olive tree.
As you enter the Olympic Stadium, there are 16 statues of Zeus that reflected the names, cities, and families of each person who cheated at the Ancient Olympics. It was mentioned that some athletes took money, and on one occasion, an athlete put metal pieces under his boxing wrap to gain an advantage.It was a huge deterrent for competitors through the years, with only 16 known cheaters in over 1,100 years of competition.
The fire for the modern Olympic games’ cauldron begins at this ancient site to begin the lead up to the competition.The fire is started by the sun over Olympia.
We also visited the Olympic museum, where they displayed sculptures found on the site that are dated back to the 5th century BC. Some of the sculptures we saw were Hermes and the Goddess of Victory, Nike.
Coach David Cason and trainer Shannon Gordon had their picture taken with a sculpture of Marcus Aurelius, their favorite character in the movie Gladiator.There was a lot of Gladiator and 300 talk today around the site.
Special thanks to Coach Cason, who took the photos at Olympia today.
Since we’re on the ship in the middle of the Adriatic Sea, the wireless on the ship is a little slow, which means there won’t be as many photos sent back. We’ll give you a double dose of images tomorrow after we visit Pompeii.
Until tomorrow and for the last time on this trip, Antio from Greece (or the Adriatic Sea).
