[00:00.00]UNIT15
[00:13.45]The Ancient Olympics
[00:15.97]With great anticipation,China
[00:19.90]is busily preparing for
[00:21.87]the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.
[00:25.82]Beijing will be added
[00:28.00]to a long list of
[00:29.42]the great cities that
[00:30.85]have invited the world to
[00:32.38]honour the world’s greatest athletes
[00:34.79]in the modern era
[00:36.43]of the Olympic Games.
[00:37.96]China will also become
[00:40.59]part of an important,
[00:42.33]rich heritage, that goes
[00:44.19]back more than 2000 years.
[00:46.82]The origins of the ancient
[00:50.76]Olympic Games tend to be
[00:52.83]submerged in a sea of Greek myths.
[00:55.13]One popular myth suggests that
[00:59.18]Pelops, a prince from Lydia,
[01:02.13]in Asia Minor (nowadays Turkey),
[01:04.76]won the hand of a princess
[01:06.95]by unfairly defeating a competing
[01:09.80]suitor in a chariot race.
[01:12.09]The loser was to
[01:14.39]be condemned to beheading.
[01:16.69]The prince rigged his opponent’s
[01:19.75]chariot to crash during the race.
[01:22.49]Later, the chariot did crash,
[01:25.11]killing the driver. The princess
[01:28.28]became Pelop’s bride, and
[01:31.79]he instituted the Olympic Games
[01:34.30]to celebrate his victory.
[01:36.16]However, others claimed that
[01:39.00]the first Olympic event
[01:40.76]was a funeral festival to
[01:42.29]honour his dead competitor.
[01:44.81]Another myth involved Hercules,
[01:48.96]the mythical strong man.
[01:51.26]Hercules was the son of Zeus,
[01:54.32]the Greek god, and one
[01:56.73]of the god’s mistresses.
[01:58.15]Hera, Zeus’ wife, and also
[02:02.64] his sister, was very upset.
[02:05.70]She attempted in many ways,
[02:08.44]to kill Hercules as a baby.
[02:11.83]Hercules survived. Later, after
[02:15.55]he had married, Hera successfully
[02:18.61]put a spell on him, demanding
[02:20.58]that he kill his wife.
[02:22.66]Because he was the son
[02:25.17]of the god, Zeus, Hercules
[02:27.47]was destined to become
[02:28.79]a god himself. In order
[02:31.08]to accomplish this, Hercules
[02:34.37]had to be cleansed
[02:35.57]of his wife’s murder.
[02:37.21]To do this, he was
[02:39.51]directed to perform
[02:40.82]twelve difficult labours. If he
[02:43.12]successfully completed these,
[02:45.41]he would become an immortal
[02:47.16]god,like his father.
[02:48.80]One of the majestic labours,
[02:53.62]was to clean the stables
[02:55.48]of the King of Elis,
[02:58.87]in the impossibly brief period
[03:01.61]of one day. The king
[03:04.34]had huge stables with
[03:06.53]very large herds of cattle.
[03:09.15]Her cules asked the king
[03:11.45]to give him one tenth
[03:12.98]of his cattle, if he
[03:14.84]completed the task in
[03:16.15]one day. The king,
[03:18.46]perhaps humouring Hercules,
[03:20.42]or perhaps believing that
[03:22.51]this task couldn’t possibly
[03:24.15]be done in one day, agreed.
[03:26.99]In one day, Hercules diverted
[03:29.84]two rivers through the barns,
[03:32.45]cleaning them, but he did
[03:33.99]not receive the cattle
[03:35.30]that were promised in the deal.
[03:37.38]Hercules waged a successful war
[03:39.79]on the King, sacking Elis.
[03:42.19]He introduced the Olympic games
[03:45.59]to celebrate this victory
[03:47.12]and to honour his father,
[03:48.87]Zeus, who lived on
[03:51.06]nearby Mount Olympus.
[03:53.03]The myth also suggests that
[03:55.33]Hercules measured out the stade,
[03:57.95]a footrace event of about
[04:01.01]200 meters (or the
[04:02.98]length of the stadium).
[04:04.51]As today, athletes in
[04:08.34]the ancient world were popular
[04:10.31]and had tremendous impact on
[04:11.85]the society of their day.
[04:14.58]The goal of the well disciplined,
[04:17.42]physically trim athletes
[04:19.29]was to be the best.
[04:21.91]The champion athlete assumed
[04:24.21]a position of honour and
[04:26.07]privilege in Greek society.
[04:28.80]The status of a triumphant athlete
[04:31.75]also enhanced the reputation
[04:33.61]of his home city state.
[04:36.90]Every young Greek boy
[04:39.52]who pursued the dream of
[04:41.39]being an Olympic champion
[04:42.92]some day, envied the athletes.
[04:45.43]An important part of
[04:47.95]a Greek school boy’s
[04:49.59]curriculum was vigorous physical
[04:51.56]training in gymnasium.