The Ancient Olympic Games

Date

2011

Identifier

Private Collection

Publisher

London: The British Museum Press

Abstract

All the events at the ancient Olympic Games were undertaken in the nude, in fact the word ‘gymnasium’ means a place to do things in the nude. Going to the gym for ancient Greek men was a way of balancing academic pursuits with exercise and a way to ‘keep fit’ for war. The discus event, as it still does today, required the competitor to throw a flat, round disc as far as possible. Ancient Greek discuses could be made of bronze, marble or lead and usually weighed around 2.5 kilograms (the modern-day minimum discus weight is 2 kilograms). All the discus competitors at Olympia used one of three ‘official’ discuses in an attempt to maintain fairness.

Files

Judith Swaddling Cab 13.jpg

Citation

Judith Swaddling, “The Ancient Olympic Games,” ourheritage.ac.nz | OUR Heritage, accessed March 30, 2024, https://ourheritage.ac.nz/items/show/7916.