Appendix I

Time Line

THE STORY OF ancient Greece—and thus Western civilization—is intimately bound with the story of the Olympics. The Games went through many ups and down in their twelve-hundred-year history, but were never once canceled. By contrast, the modern Olympics have been suspended due to war three times since their revival—in 1916, 1940, and 1944.

Early Antiquity (c. 2500–776 B.C.)

c. 2500 B.C.—First settlement in Olympia region.

c. 1280 B.C.—Approximate date of Trojan War.

c. 1100 B.C.—Olympia becomes a cult site for Gaea, goddess of the earth, with agrarian and fertility festivals attended by local villagers.

c. 1000 B.C.—Worship of Zeus grows at Olympia, related to his oracle, which gives predictions on war; some casual athletic events take place at festivals.

c. 900–800 B.C.—Growth of the polis, or “city-state,” in Greece, independent cities ruled by different forms of government—tyrants, oligarchies, and democracies.

The Archaic Age (776–479 B.C.)

776 B.C.—The first Olympic Games are proclaimed by King Iphitos of Elis, acting on the instructions of the Delphic oracle; the festival is offered to appease the gods and combat a plague that has been devastating Greece. The one and only event, a running race, is won by the Elian cook named Coroibos. (The date 776 B.C. was noted by the Greek chronicler Hippias of Elis; archaeologists suggest the Games may have begun slightly earlier.)

c. 750 B.C.—Homer composes The Iliad and The Odyssey.

570 B.C.—The city of Elis gains control over Olympian sanctuary (against the competing claims of the nearby Pisatans). Events at the Games are expanded.

508 B.C.—Athenian democracy established, a radical experiment in direct participation of male citizens in all government decisions and criminal trials. The result is a chaotic but highly creative civic life.

490 B.C.—First Persian invasion of Greece, ordered by King Darius. Against overwhelming odds, Athenians emerge victorious at the battle of Marathon. Olympia at this stage is a modest rural outpost with a single temple, dedicated to both Zeus and Hera, plus a few altars; athletic events are held in open fields and a rudimentary stadium.

480 B.C.—Second Persian invasion, led by Xerxes. The Olympic Games proceed despite the threat to Greece. Athens is sacked and the Acropolis burned—but the Persians are unexpectedly defeated by combined Greek forces in the naval battle of Salamis.

479 B.C.—Land battle of Plataea forces Persian withdrawal from Europe.

The Classical Age (479–323 B.C.)

476 B.C.—A celebration of Greek freedom combined with the Olympic Games consolidates the prestige of the festival. Building program begins at Olympia (including the erection of the massive new Temple of Zeus, completed 459 B.C.; redesign of the Stadium; and creation of Phidias’ statue of Zeus, completed c. 420 B.C.).

447 B.C.—Work begins on the Parthenon in Athens, a crowning achievement of the Golden Age under Pericles. The artistic ferment of Athens—in the arts, drama, science, and philosophy—leads to the Golden Age, funded by tributes from the city’s growing naval empire.

431 B.C.—Commencement of Peloponnesian War, with Athens and Sparta as the main rivals. Greece begins to self-destruct.

404 B.C.—Surrender of Athens.

399 B.C.—Suicide of Socrates.

364 B.C.—Olympia becomes embroiled in Greek in-fighting; Elians and Arcadians fight a pitched battle in the sanctuary in the middle of the Olympic Games.

338 B.C.—Macedonia, led by King Philip, takes control of Greece after the battle of Chaeronea; end of the independence of city-states.

334 B.C.—Alexander the Great, Philip’s son, begins his campaigns of conquest across the East, carrying Greek rule as far as the fringes of India.

323 B.C.—Death of Alexander in Babylon after a drunken feast.

Hellenistic Age (323–31 B.C.)

323 B.C.—Alexander’s empire broken up into kingdoms ruled by Greek generals; Ptolemies rule Egypt as Greek-speaking pharaohs.

229 B.C.—First Roman incursion into Greece.

146 B.C.—Greek rebellion against Roman influence is crushingly defeated; the city of Corinth is leveled, all male citizens executed, and women and children sold as slaves.

144 B.C.—Olympic Games are held despite the new order.

80 B.C.—The Roman general Sulla pillages Olympia during civil wars fought on Greek soil; Greece is at a low ebb, as Roman armies repeatedly march across the country.

31 B.C.—Battle of Actium off Greece’s west coast: Octavian, the future emperor Augustus, decisively defeats Mark Antony and Cleopatra, ending Rome’s civil wars.

Roman Imperial Age

27 B.C.—Octavian proclaims himself princeps—“first citizen”—and takes the name Augustus. Pax Romana ushers in a new age of peace and prosperity. As Greek culture spreads more rapidly through the Roman Empire, athletics festivals are imported to Italy (as Horace famously said, “Conquered Greece took captive her barbarous conqueror”).

A.D. 66—Visit of Emperor Nero, a devoted Hellenophile, to Greece; the emperor competes at the Olympic Games in A.D. 67, adding poetry to the roster of competitions.

c. A.D. 100—A second Golden Age of the Olympic Games emerges as emperors such as Hadrian lavish Olympia with gifts and buildings; in A.D. 150, the site even has its first efficient water system installed, ending centuries of discomfort for spectators.

The Gods Desert Olympia

A.D. 267—The Heruli, barbarians from southern Russia, invade the Peloponnesus of Greece; Elians put up a wall in the Sacred Grove to defend the sanctuary.

A.D. 312—Emperor Constantine makes Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire; as paganism fades, the prestige of Olympia declines rapidly.

A.D. 365—The last Olympic victor on record is the Armenian prince Varazdates, who won the boxing in the 291st Olympiad.

A.D. 393—Last official Olympic Games (the 293rd). The victors’ names are lost.

A.D. 394—The emperor Theodosius I bans all pagan festivals. The Olympics are officially disbanded—although archaeologists now suggest that they kept going in some form, perhaps in Christian guise. Phidias’ great statue of Zeus is packed up and transported to Constantinople for display in the emperor’s palace.

A.D. 426—Temple of Zeus burned on orders of Theodosius II. Christian fanatics destroy the rest of the sanctuary.

A.D. 475—Palace fire in Constantinople destroys the statue of Zeus.

A.D. 522—The first of several devastating earthquakes hits Olympia. In coming centuries, the rivers Alpheus and Cladeus regularly flood, burying Olympia under fifteen to twenty feet of yellow silt.