Olympia
was a Panhellenic sanctuary, open to all Greeks. Every four
years in late summer, thousands of Greeks from all over the
known world converged at Olympia for the games held in honor
of Zeus. The first Olympic Games were held in 776BC. They continued
uninterrupted for over a thousand years, until around 400BC.
In the sixth century BC, an earthquake toppled all the buildings
and the site was abandoned. Nearby rivers covered the site with
a deep layer of silt, protecting the ruins until excavations
began in 1875. The modern visitor can see the foundations of
all the important buildings and can view a wide array of artifacts
in a museum on the site. In 1896 the first modern Olympic Games
where held in Athens Greece.
OLYMPIA