Words for Board: Olympian Games, Oracle, Oracle of Delphi, Peloponnesus

The Greeks thought the gods were competitive (cuz the Greeks themselves were competitive). Greeks competed in games and war. The biggie of Greek games were the Olympian Games. They were held in Olympia every 4 years starting in the year 776 BC. The Greeks used them as a dating system. They were held in honor of Zeus. Olympia was in western Greece and was hard to get to. Most of the action in Greece was in eastern Greece. To go to the games was a type of pilgrimage–good for your soul. Only Eupatrids could compete in the games. They would train for 10 months or so at the stadium track on their specialty. Everybody performed in the nude. The foot races were the big sport. Sometimes they ran in armor. There were competitions for children, too. They had the long jump, javelin throw for distance and accuracy, boxing/wrestling combination where the only illegal thing was gouging your opponent's eyes. No women were allowed at the games (though it's been rumored that unmarried women were allowed). The winners got laurel wreaths. They competed for prestige, not money. Only amateurs could compete. The athletes that won were allowed to set up a statue of themselves in their hometown. Usually the big city-states had all the winners (like now, most winners are from USA, USSR, etc.). There were no water sports at all cuz the games started with the barbarians in Russia and they brought them down to Greece and they had no water back home to play with. Greeks hated cheaters. Olympia put up only statues of the cheaters with their names and hometowns to disgrace them. There was supposed to be the Truce of Zeus during the games. That meant there was no war, but it was not always followed. However, the safe conduct passage was always honored.

An Oracle is: 1. A Place where you can get in touch with the gods, 2. A Person who gets in touch with the gods, or 3. A Prophecy from the gods. There were lots of places to get in touch with the gods. The biggie was the Temple of Apollo at the Oracle of Delphi. It was not for the commoners' use. Cities sent delegations to ask the gods. They brought the priests presents of gold and silver. The 1st day they baptized a goat with cold water and, if it shivered, the gods were going to answer your question. The next day you got to go in the presence of the priestess who was in a trance and ask her your question. The 3rd day you go back and get your answer which was always in the form of a poem. But the poems left a lot to interpretation. For instance, a high class person asked the gods about a journey he was taking. He got the answer: "You will go you will return not you will die." But Greek writing is funny cuz they never capitalize or punctuate their sentences. This prophecy was two sentences but the outcome differed with the punctuation. "You will go you will return. Not you will die" or "You will go you will return not. You will die."

There were other ways to tell the future. There was a well at Corinth with a god at the bottom who answered only yes/no questions anybody (including commoners) asked. You bought a bowl from the priest and threw it in the well. If it sunk, the god had accepted it and your answer was yes. If it floated, the answer was no. Or you could tell things by a shoulder blade of an animal (bull, ox) that had been thrown into a fire til it cracked and then (carefully) taken out and read. The entrails of animals, especially sheep, were good for future information.

To summarize Greek religion: It is a state religion. There weren't any ethics as far as the gods were concerned except no murder, incest, or breaking treaties. Things like robbery, etc. were the problem of the cities. At the services, people gathered and priests sacrificed, prayed, and burned fat. They roasted some meat and passed it out among the congregation. There were no sermons cuz the gods didn't care about morals. You were supposed to be quiet. If the group was too noisy, they had to do the whole service all over again. There was a secret underground religion that supposedly guaranteed the passage into heaven, but we don't know much about it cuz it was a well-kept secret.

The Peloponnesus is southern Greece below the 3 mile land bridge that separates northern Greece from southern Greece. The Olympian games were held in the Peloponnesus. Northern Greece had no special name, just northern Greece.