Iphitus of Elis
Iphitus , King of Elis , is considered a co-founder of the ancient Olympic Games . According to this legend, after wars and the plague had almost completely devastated his country , he is said to have asked the oracle of Delphi via a messenger what he could do to stop this.
According to the oracle, the Eleans should make sacrifices to the temples, hold festivals and hold during this friendship with the Hellenes . Iphitus understood this advice to mean that he should renew the Olympic Games which tradition has reported. He signed a treaty with Lycurgus of Sparta and Cleosthenes of Pisa , in which the Olympic Peace was established. He made Olympia a sacred place to host a chariot race that was repeated every four years. This was to be preceded by a three-month break from war with the neighbors. The chariot race was later replaced by a race over the length of a stadium. First records with naming of the winners exist from 776 BC. According to tradition, Iphitus is said to have had the contract between him and Lycurgus scratched on a disc.
literature
- Less: Iphitos 6) . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 2.1, Leipzig 1894, Col. 314-317 ( digitized version ).
- Paul Christesen: Whence 776? The Origin of the Date for the First Olympiad. In: International Journal of the History of Sport, 26. No. 2, pp. 161-182. Taylor & Francis, 2009, ISSN 0952-3367 , doi : 10.1080 / 09523360802511029 . (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Olympia in antiquity - From the olive branch to the gold medal , sport-komplett.de, accessed on November 19, 2013.
- ↑ Ulrich Sinn: The ancient Olympia: gods, play and art. CH Beck, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-406-51558-4 ( online pp. 175-178. ).