Strolling through the ruins of ancient Olympia in Greece, you can feel the glory of the former largest religious center in ancient times from the ruins of the temple of Zeus and the temple of Hera, or imagine the grandeur of the ancient Olympic Games from the regularity of the ancient stadium. "Looking through" the "past and present lives" of this holy place, we will find that this place is not only a place full of miracles and dreams, a place of civilization integration that nurtures peace and exchanges, and a place where civilizations are spreading with wisdom and strategy, but its existence has had an extremely far-reaching impact on the development of world civilization and the progress of human civilization.
On October 18, 2021, in front of the ruins of the more than 2,000-year-old Hera Temple, the Olympic flame was once again lit in Beijing. Photo by Zheng Huansong (Xinhua News Agency)
The origins of ancient Olympia are inextricably linked to Greek mythology and religious traditions.
In Greek mythology, Zeus won the Titan War, which dragged on for 10 years. He overthrew his father, Kronos, and became the third king of the gods. To commemorate this victory, the ancient Greeks enshrined Zeus on the edge of a mountain in ancient Olympia called Kronos. This is the origin of ancient Olympia.
From that day on, ancient Olympia gradually evolved from a village into the largest religious center in the ancient world, and became an important shrine in ancient Greece to Zeus, the "god of the gods".
In the temple of Olympian Zeus inside the site, there was once a statue of Zeus, one of the "Seven Wonders of the Ancient World". It was about 13 meters high and was the largest indoor statue in the world at the time. Built by Phidias, the greatest classical sculptor of ancient Greece, the deity has an olive crown made of gold at the top, and Zeus sits on a magnificent throne made of fir wood, holding a staff in his left hand and a statue of victory in his right. Unfortunately, the statue was destroyed around the 5th century AD, and today we can only imagine its former majesty through a restored model of the statue of Zeus in the Louvre in France.
With the establishment and promotion of the ancient Greek consciousness of "Zeus worship", Olympia gradually grew into a very important sacred place. The large number of sacrificial tributes unearthed from the site of Ancient Olympia confirms that countless pilgrims from the Peloponnese and central Greece visited the worship and sacrifice. By the 8th century, the holy site of Olympia had become famous in the Mediterranean, attracting pilgrims from Mesopotamia in the east to Italy in the west.
Night view of the Temple of Zeus taken in Athens, Greece. (Xinhua News Agency)
For most people today, when mentioning ancient Olympia, the first thing that comes to mind is the Olympic Games, which is also one of the practical evidences of its important impact on the development of modern world civilization.
Opinions vary as to why the ancient Olympic Games were held. On the one hand, the greatest demigod hero of Greek mythology, Hercules, won the Olympia competition and has since become the norm every four years; the other is that the ancient Olympic Games were regularly held in the worship of Zeus as "panhellenic sports and religious celebrations"; and the other is that the development and growth of the ancient Greek city-states led to frequent wars between the city-states for a long time. The ongoing fighting has disgusted the people and the general desire for a peaceful environment in which to recuperate. Later, the kings of Sparta and Ilyus signed a "sacred truce", which stipulated that the city-states would cease all acts of war during the game.
Over the years, the "Peace Theory" has attracted much attention from all walks of life. After all, for more than 1100 years from 776 B.C. to 393 A.D., the rule of stopping the war during the Olympics has been well enforced. Even during the Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC during the Persian War, the Olympic Games were uninterrupted. In the course of a long history of evolution, military training and sports competitions, which were initially carried out in preparation for war, gradually evolved into games of peace and friendship.
The ancient Olympic Games were produced in the context of war and in the form of sacrifice, but it expressed the good wishes of the ancient Greek people for peace, and this complex and contradictory mentality promoted the development of the modern Olympic movement.
An interesting phenomenon is that the ancient Olympic Games were not just a purely competitive competition, but even became, in a sense, an important part of Greek religion, politics, economy and culture. During the ancient Olympic Games, politicians, philosophers and artists from the Panhellenic region gathered to give speeches. At the same time, in order to serve more tourists, the improvement of buildings and related facilities has also been valued. All this has laid the time and space foundation for promoting political exchanges, promoting trade development, prospering ancient Greek culture, and integrating the feelings of various ethnic groups.
More importantly, the ancient Olympic Games gave birth to the tradition of the "Olympic Truce", which not only provided a safe environment for athletes and spectators participating in the competition, but also created the most enduring period of peace in history.
Today, the tradition of the "Olympic Truce" has become a common human consensus, expressing the desire to build a world based on equity, peace, humanitarianism and communication and reconciliation. The rebirth of the modern Olympic movement in 1896 is also based on this peaceful tradition, hoping to make mankind have a peaceful future through the educational significance of sports. In this sense, the birth of the Olympic Games is one of the most far-reaching events of Greek civilization on modern civilization, and the Olympic Games and the Olympic spirit have far exceeded the scope of sports competition and become an important part of human civilization.
After thousands of years of wind and rain, although the ruins of ancient Olympia are only left, the Olympic spirit has never faded. At present, the Greek government is stepping up the protection and restoration of the site, and using digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and photogrammetry to try to make the ancient sites reappear in the human world across time and space. Perhaps in the near future, we will be able to "see" the majestic Olympian zeus with our own eyes and "live" the glorious ancient Olympic Games. At that time, the sacred place full of glory will "go from history to reality"
Economic Daily (author Qu Junpeng), original title "The Origin of the Olympic Truce"
Source: Economic Daily