Items of Interest September 3, 2012 Issue

Religion at the Olympics, from Zeus to the civitas

Chris Liseeh

“Religion at the Olympics, from Ancient Greece to London” 
Religion News Service. Used with permission. August 1, 2012.

A 600-foot footrace was the only athletic event at the first Olympics, a festival held in 776 BC and dedicated to Zeus, the chief Greek god.

For the next millennium, Greeks gathered every four years in Olympia to honor Zeus through sports, sacrifices, and hymns. The five-day festival brought the Greek world together in devotion to one deity.

What began in ancient Greece as a festival to honor a single god, Zeus, has now become an almost Olympian task, as organizers of the games navigate dozens of sacred fasts, religious rituals, and holy days.

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