Archaeological Site of Olympia — Attraction in Municipality of Ancient Olympia

In the plain below the stadium Olympia built a special hippodrome for horse races. Women as well as men might enter their horses, and, as now, the prize went to the owner and not to the jockey, though the horse was sometimes rewarded with a statue. The culminating events of the games were the chariot races, with two or four horses running abreast. Often ten four-horse chariots competed together; and as each had to negotiate twentythree turns around the posts at the ends of the course, accidents were the chief thrill of the game; in one race with forty starters a single chariot finished. We may imagine the tense excitement of the spectators at these contests, their wordy arguments about their favorites, their emotional abandonment as the survivors rounded the last turn. When the toils of five days were over the victors received their rewards. Each bound a woolen fillet about his head, and upon this the judges placed  a crown of wild olive, while a herald announced the name and city of the winner. This laurel wreath was the only prize given at the Olympic games, and yet it was the most eagerly contested distinction in Greece. So important were the games that not even the Persian invasion stopped them; and while a handful of Greeks withstood Xerxes’ army at Thermopylae the customary thousands watched Theagenes of Thasos, on the very day of the battle, win the pancratiast’s crown. “Good heavens!” exclaimed a Persian to his general; “what manner of men are these against whom you have brought us to fight?—men who contend with one another not for money but for honor!” He, or the Greek inventor of the tale, did the Greeks too much credit, and not merely because the Greeks should on that day have been at Thermopylae rather than at Olympia. Though the direct prize at the games was little, the indirect rewards were great. Many cities voted substantial sums to the victors on their return from their triumphs; some cities made them generals; and the crowd idolized them so openly that jealous philosophers complained. Poets like Simonides and Pindar were engaged by the victor or his patrons to write odes in his honor, which were sung by choruses of boys in the procession that welcomed him home; sculptors were paid to perpetuate him in bronze or stone; and sometimes he was given free sustenance in the city hall. We may judge the cost of this item when we learn, on questionable authority, that Milo ate a fouryear-old heifer, and Theagenes an...

This place is massive, took me and my wife about 3-4 hours to see everything. The site is clearly well maintained and nice to see the new areas they are rebuilding/excavating.

The staff were all very good save for one interaction. We noticed someone behind the ropes sat on the ruins with their backpack and seemed to be on their phone, given I actually value these things being preserved I took a picture to let other staff know this was going on, cue immediate aggression, (I think the pic captured the actual moment) she jumped up asking "what is your problem?!?", I just gestured to the the rope line and her position, the response "so I work here", I didn't really believe this at the time as there was no visible lanyard and she was paying no attention to what anyone was doing. Anyway, I just said I'll check, walked away and when I looked back she had moved fully up to the the rope line with her arms outstretched in what can only be described as a "bring it" pose. If this lady does work there then her work ethic and attitude is vastly different to her colleagues, there was a gentleman in a white polo with a lanyard close to the temple of zeus that had his head of a swivel and frequently used his whistle to let people know they needed to stop climbing on things/crossing lines etc, passed by him several times and he was constantly scanning. I can only think maybe we caught the angry worker out in some how either way it's a bad look to have workers lounging in off limit areas as it will encourage tourists to do the same, it's especially bad if it's unclear that they work there. Very isolated incident and the...

I think this is a site not to be missed, mainly due to the significance of the Olympic Games. I usually take photos but this was a very special place and I was instead taken by the urge to simply allow the feeling of the place to permeate the mood. The site and the valley has a different feel than the rest of the Peloponnese which tends to be a hot dry scrub type of environment. This valley has 2 rivers, lush trees, impressively high grasses; some sort of Juncus species. The only down side is that with vegetation and humidity comes those pesky little biting insects. Bring insect repellent and mesh head coverings if you have them; I am scratching numerous little bites as I type this. We will have to return to the museum which is considered the real draw. We missed it because it was a beautiful day and we spent the entire time wandering the ruins and ended up meeting some very interesting folks who shared some common interests and one of whom studied Greek History as a degree. We stayed until they closed us out! Spend some time in town as well since it is a cute place. Many of the locals will tell you about their runners who have carried the Olympic Torch in the past; many have pictures of sons, cousins, relatives. The Olympic Torch usually starts from Olympia, gets transported by plane to the host country, where it is then run into the stadium; for those who didn't know. We were less concerned about missing the museum since we are living here and will be able to return...