The original historical Olympic Games were held as part of a Zeus-centric religious festival in ancient Greece from around

776 BCE until they were quashed by the Roman Emperor Theodosius I in 393 CE as part of his

effort to enforce Christianity on the people living in the Roman Empire at the time. The Olympiad component of the holiday,

Olympiad being the term used for the athletic competition,

which referred to the city in which it took place, Olympia.

That component initially involved foot races and javelin-throwing contests,

and wrestling matches were added in subsequent events.

What we generally think of as ancient Greece was a civilization made up of many polis,

which is a root component of words like metropolis, but which essentially just means city-state,

an entity sort of like modern-day Singapore, which is a nation, but a nation made up

primarily of just one city in its surrounding area of influence.

These city-states were continuously fighting amongst themselves, so important to the success

of this celebration was a tradition called the Olympic truce, which meant that the host city state in which the

games took place would not be attacked for the duration of the games, and those who were attending,

athletes and spectators alike, would be able to travel safely to and from the games.

The wars that were in the midst of being fought did not usually stop completely,

but they could no longer, but those involved could no longer touch the people and places

related to this event. The usual rules of engagement between these oft-waring factions,

in other words, were put on hold, so that everyone could come together

to duke it out on the field of athletic competition instead. Each city-state sending their best

javelin-throwers and wrestlers and runners up against those representing their neighbors. In some cases,

neighbors who they were in the middle of fighting

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