written by: Vitomir Spasović, illustrated by: Matija Dražović
The publishing of these picture books was enabled by the Croatian Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee.
ISBN 978–953–7981–00–6, picture book 6
ISBN 978–953–7981–02–0, picture book series
Publisher: POKRET – aktivan i zdrav
Graphic design: Boris Barna
www.kidathletes.net
Proofreading: Jana Sumrak
Editor: Vitomir Spasović
Translated by: Andrea Bagović
Written by: Vitomir Spasović
Print: Printera
Illustrated by: Matija Dražović
Zagreb, 2014.
written by: Vitomir Spasović, illustrated by: Matija Dražović
olympic stories
According to one story, the
Olympic Games were founded by Heracles, the Greek hero of heroes, or Hercules, as the Romans used to call him. Heracles was known for his superhuman strength and invincibility.
He often challenged his brothers to compete with him in strength and running, and after their unsuccessful attempts to win, he rewarded them with wreaths made of wild olive branches. The Greek worshipped their hero and decided to prepare the Olympic
Games in his honor.
It is believed that the first Games were held in 776 BC.
Hippias of Elis compiled the list of the first Olympic winners’ names, beginning with Corebus, the winner in running, who was otherwise a cook.
The ancient Greeks attached a great importance to the Games; they even counted years according to them. They were held in the summer, during a full moon.
At the Olympic Games, proving one’s strength and agility was considered to be a gift to the gods. During the celebration of the Games in Olympia, a truce was declared between Athens and Sparta, two biggest and strongest Greek cities, or poleis.
The sacred truce, reigning in Greece during the Games, guaranteed safety to all the participants. Special Zeus’s messengers, carrying a flaming torch – “the fire of peace” – were sent out all over the Greek world to announce the Games.
Competitions were held in the stadium, which the competitors entered to the sound of trumpets, and then
competed in their respective disciplines. The
atmosphere was excited and the air full of the spectators’
loud shouting.
You must be surprised at how all these stories are still remembered. This is thanks to the artists who were inspired by the Games. However, the artists were very sensitive creatures, just like today, and they sometimes exaggerated. The accuracy of their descriptions is therefore sometimes questionable. They used to say about
runners that they became invisible and that their feet did not touch the ground, and about wrestlers, that they were so strong that they could pluck a horse’s tail off with one flick of a hand.
For wrestlers, dexterity and wit were almost as important as pure strength. Milo of
Croton, the famous wrestler who won six times in Olympia, was so strong that, after one victory, he uprooted a big statue that artists had sculpted in his honor, and took it home.
They often made sculptures of the winners, wrote poems about them, put their portraits on coins, drove them in fabulous, decorated chariots pulled by beautiful, white horses, and worshipped them like gods. It is thanks to the Olympic Games that quite ordinary people, like shepherds, fishermen, ploughmen or merchants, became esteemed heroes. And the glory of Olympic winners lives forever, as well as the Games themselves.
Read the other picture books in the series Olympic Stories...