MUSEO DO IES FRANCISCO ASOREY: Nº 11

OLIVE WREATH

An Olive Wreath was the distinction (or the prize) for the winers of the Olympic Games. The Old Olympic Games were series of athletic competitions disputed by representatives of different greek city-states. The first Olympic Games were organized by the ancient greeks in Olympia, in 776 B.C. The Olympic Games were celebrated every four years. At that time in Olympic Games there were less events and only free men who spoke greek can compete, the Games were always celebrated at the same place. The last Old Olympic Games were celebrated in 393 AD, almost twelve centuries after their beginnings. Before the adoption of christianity as official religion of the Roman Empire, the emperor Teodosio banned all the pagan celebrations, and the Olympic Games are included in that group. The olive wreath consists in a siege of olive's branches, previously cut with a golden knife, the person who cut the siege was a twelve year old boy, but his parents had to be alive. The winers were proclaimed heroes in their cities too, and the State paid their feeding for lifetime.

Now, the winers get medals and prizes from their respective Olympic Committees, but the olive wreath was reused in the Olympic Games of Greece, in 2004.