Welcome to another bonus episode of Calm History, an extra treat for my Soak Plus members.

The Ancient Olympic Games of Greece, origins, events, and training.

The ancient Olympic Games were held from 776 BC or BC to 393 AD or CE.

This is a span of almost 1800 years, but that doesn't mean that there were

1800 ancient Olympic Games. Just like today, they were held every four years, so this resulted

in about 293 ancient Olympic Games.

The games were not just limited to Greek participants and Greek spectators.

People came from many surrounding regions to be involved.

Participation was limited to males, though, and only rarely were women even allowed to watch the events.

If you look at the list of victors, though, you will see that a woman is recorded as the

victor of a chariot race in the 96th and 97th Ancient Olympic Games.

The key detail, though, is that she owned the horses,

but she was not allowed to participate in the actual chariot races.

When the modern Olympics were revitalized in 1896 AD,

this rule of not allowing women to participate still held.

Fortunately, though, this limitation was lifted just four years later,

and women were allowed to participate in every modern Olympics since 1900.

Okay, let's go back to ancient Greece.

The origin of the ancient Olympics in 776 BC is believed to be tied to the training of Greek soldiers.

The ancient Greeks understood that the athleticism of games was also helpful to the development of better soldiers.

So athletes and athleticism of all types were highly valued in ancient

Greece. This is clearly represented in the variety of events that evolved over time in the

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