Culture · 776 BCE (traditional)
First Olympic Games
Olympia, Peloponnese (Greece)
According to tradition, the first Olympic Games were held in 776 BCE at the sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia, with a single footrace, the stadion, won by Koroibos of Elis; archaeology suggests major games began nearer 700 BCE. Held every four years for free-born Greek men, the games were protected by a sacred truce for travellers and continued until the late 4th century CE or a little later.
Why it mattered
The four-year Olympiad became a common Greek way of dating events, the games gave rival Greek city-states a shared festival and identity, and they inspired the modern Olympic Games.
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