The ancient Olympic Games, which began in 776 BC, lasted for over 1100 years. In 394 AD, the Christian Roman Emperor Theodosius abolished the games, as pagan festivals. At that time the Roman Empire was in decline. The modern Olympics have been around for only a little over 100 years, sine 1896. The Olympics of 776BC was the first, for which there is a written record, but it is believed that these events existed before this. There is evidence to show that athletic contests took place in Ancient Egypt and in the ancient Minoan civilization on the island of Crete.

A plain called Olympia, in the small city-state of Elis was the site of the original Greek games. At the beginning of every four years, a period called an Olympiad, a major religious festival with athletic competition, took place at Olympia. In ancient Greece, the early Olympics did not rotate from city to city, but were permanently hosted at Olympia, the place from which the name Olympics originated. If wars were taking place at the time, as there usually were, a truce would be made during the military conflicts, soldiers would drop their swords and shields and accompany their opponents on a safe passage to Olympia, to enthusiastically participate in the games. After the games, the athletes would return to the battlefields with their companions, pick up their weapons and resume military engagements with their enemies, often fighting to the death, the athletic competitors whom they confronted only a few days or weeks before.

　　In the beginning, only free Greek-speaking male athletes could participate in the games, women, slaves, and foreigners were banned from competition. Women were even barred as spectators, not for sexual reasons, but for from 720 BC the male athletes were usually naked down to their bare feet when they participated. Olympia was a sacred place for men only, a place to worship Zeus, the principal Greek god. However, women were not completely excluded from competitive sports, as they had their own games, every four years as well, called the Heraea, after Hera, the wife of Zeus.

古代奥运会始于公元前776年，延续了1100多年。公元394年，基督教罗马皇帝狄奥多西将其视为异教徒的节日予以废除。那时的罗马帝国正在衰落。现代奥林匹克运动会从1896年开始，才100多年。公元前776年的奥运会是有文字记录的第一届，但人们相信在此之前这项运动就已经存在了。有证据表明在古埃及和克利特岛上的古弥诺斯文化中就举行过体育比赛。

　　在小城邦艾丽斯的奥林匹亚平原，就是古代希腊运动会的场地。每4年的年初，这个期间叫做“四年周期”，伴随体育比赛，要在奥林匹亚举行盛大的宗教节日。在古希腊，早期奥运会不是一个个城市轮流，而总是在奥林匹亚举行，“奥运会”因此得名。到时如果发生战争(这是常有的事)，对抗的军队之间就会休战，战士们丢下他们的剑和盾牌，与他们的对手一起，安全地来到奥林匹亚，参加狂热的运动会。运动会后，运动员们将与他们的同伴一起重返战场，拿起武器，与他们的敌人，也就是仅仅几天或几个星期前相遇的体育竞赛对手，继续交战，常常会战斗到死。

　　起初，只有讲希腊语的自由男运动员可以参加运动会，妇女、奴隶和外国人是不允许参加竞赛的，甚至不准妇女观看。这并非性别的原因，而是因为从公元前720年开始，男运动员在参加比赛时常常从头到脚都是赤裸的。奥林匹亚是只让男人参加的宗教圣地，是崇拜希腊主神宙斯的地方。然而妇女并没有完全被排斥在体育比赛之外，她们有自己的运动会，也是每四年举行一次，叫做赫拉亚，以宙斯的妻子赫拉命名。