We saw the.. bizarre spectacle of the Opening of the 2024 Olympic games; but do we really know the origins of the Olympics and what they meant?
Follow me down this thread back in time, when the Games signified Honor, Unity and Respect.
The origins of the ancient Olympic Games are steeped in Hellenic mythology. Legend credits Hercules with founding the Games to honor his father, Zeus.
The first recorded Olympic Games took place around 776 BC in Olympia, a sanctuary site for the Greek gods. These early Games were a local festival, but they quickly grew in importance and prestige.
The primary purpose of the Olympic Games was religious. The Games were part of a festival to honor Zeus. A massive statue of Zeus at Olympia, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, underscored this religious devotion.
The date of the festival was determined according to a complicated formula whereby the midpoint of the festival would occur during the second full moon after the summer solstice—usually late August or early September.
Heralds were sent from the Committee to announce the dates and invite only "legitimate sons of free-born Hellenic parents." Thousands of Hellenes from Macedonia to Crete and from Magna Graecia to Asia Minor made the journey, like a pilgrimage.
The Olympics served as a unifying force among the ever-warring Greeks. During the Games, a sacred truce (ekecheiria) was declared, allowing athletes and spectators to travel safely to Olympia.
Can you imagine the mad Greeks massacring each other and then just shaking hands and meeting in Olympia to celebrate the unity of their nation? In reality, this was not entirely true; the hostilities almost paused and the “pilgrims” were allowed passage (almost) everywhere.
The Games celebrated the human body's capabilities and encouraged a culture of physical fitness, which was highly valued in Greek society. They featured mainly athletic but also combat sports such as wrestling and the pankration, horse and chariot racing events.
Some examples are Pentathlon, five-event competition including discus, javelin, long jump, stadion race, and wrestling, combat Sports like Boxing, wrestling, and pankration (Greek MMA) and chariot and horse racing.
The Games evolved into a five-day event, featuring various athletic contests, religious rituals, and feasting. Only freeborn Greek men were allowed to compete.
Women were not permitted to compete or even attend, except for the priestess of Demeter. Athletes trained rigorously for months, sometimes years, under the patronage of their city-states.
The ancient Olympics were more than just athletic competitions; they were a crucial part of Greek cultural identity. Victorious athletes were celebrated and immortalized in statues and poems.
It was great prestige and immense Honor to win in the Olympic games; Philipp of Macedonia won the chariot games multiple times. Other great champions were Milon of Croton, Theagenes of Thasos and Diagoras of Rhodes.
The Games reached the height of their success around 5th century BC, but then gradually declined in importance as the Romans gained power and influence in Greece.
While there is no consensus as to when the Games officially ended, the most commonly held date is 393 AD, when the emperor Theodosius I decreed that all pagan practices be eliminated.
Greek interest in reviving the Olympic Games began with the Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1821. It was first proposed by poet and newspaper editor Panagiotis Soutsos in his poem "Dialogue of the Dead", published in 1833.
Evangelos Zappas, a wealthy Greek-Romanian philanthropist, first wrote to King Otto of Greece, in 1856, offering to fund a permanent revival of the Olympic Games.
Zappas sponsored the first Olympic Games in 1859; he also funded the restoration of the ancient Panathenaic Stadium (kalimarmaron) so that it could host all future Olympic Games.
The legacy of the ancient Olympics was supposed to live on in the modern Olympic movement, which should carry forward the ideals of unity, peace, honor and the pursuit of excellence.
And now I ask you.. Do the Paris Olympics serve their original purpose?
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Everyone knows the Spartan saying: “Come back with your shield, or on it”. What most people do not know is that Spartans did surrender, betray & sometimes cowered as well.
Let's explore the Spartan psyche & maybe debunk a dogma forged in blood & terror.
How do you build a Reputation? How can you create an impression of unyielding discipline and invincibility? How do you make a nation of madmen respect you and recognize you as the baddest among them all? Well, you need extreme gore, sheer violence and immense brutality.
Spartan society would be difficult for us to comprehend; many idolize today the Spartans but they do not understand them in depth and definitely do not know how brutal they could be with themselves but the other Greeks as well.
Yet it was this level of discipline, brutality, sacrifice and ingenuity that imprinted the legend of Sparta into the annals of History. Because the Spartans had a unique social structure and a single, monolithic and unwavering aim: Sparta’s domination, above anything else.
Everybody loves an exploration story; but I bet you didn’t know about the ancient explorer who found the Midnight Sun, the “Sea Lung”, the Hyperboreans, magical Thule and the “Lizard People” of the East.
Follow me on this strange adventure into the deep North, as narrate what Pytheas, an ancient Greek explorer saw in those frozen, mythical lands for the first time in History.
Try to imagine the circumstances, around the 4th century BC, for an explorer hailing from the Greek city of Massalia (modern-day Marseille) who undertook this series of daring expeditions that would leave an indelible mark on the annals of exploration. This adventure into the unknown, navigating the Atlantic Ocean and the Deep North brought him as far as the British Islands, Scandinavia and possibly Iceland. This journey speaks to the spirit of exploration that defined the Greek seafaring civilization, pushing the boundaries of geographical knowledge and challenging the prevailing perceptions of the world.
Just to set the record straight, Pytheas' accounts, unfortunately, have not survived the ravages of time in their entirety and we do not know exact dates for his journeys. Instead, fragments and references from later scholars serve as the puzzle clues to reconstruct his voyages. Nevertheless, the journeys of Pytheas continue to inspire wonder and speculation, offering a glimpse into the courage and inquisitiveness that fuelled the ancient mariner's quest for understanding the world beyond the horizon. Our main sources will be Timaeus, Pliny, Geminus, Eratosthenes, Strabo (did not like Pytheas very much – like Polybius), Arrian and Diodorus. Sit back and enjoy our sailing into the frozen seas of myth and the unknown.
Before we venture North, I believe it makes sense to paint the landscape and understand the circumstances that led to a Greek madman going to the North Pole (apart from the natural madness that resides in Greek DNA). Pytheas lived during the Hellenistic period, which followed the conquests of Alexander the Great. Upon Alexander's death in 323 BCE, his vast empire was divided among his generals, leading to the emergence of Hellenistic kingdoms. This period saw a fusion of Greek culture with the cultures of the conquered regions, creating a diverse and cosmopolitan world.
We see Greek culture and know-how fusing with the Egyptian, Indian, Persian and even Chinese-Buddhist civilizations. The Mediterranean world was characterized by Greek colonization, and Pytheas hailed from Massalia (modern-day Marseille), a Greek colony in southern France. Greek city-states had been establishing colonies throughout the Mediterranean and beyond, contributing to cultural exchange, trade, and exploration.
Everybody knows about the power of Rome and its iron fist, the Legions. But did you know that one of them was lost in the dark woods of Caledonia?
To this day, the fate of the 9th Legion remains one of history's most chilling enigmas. Did they fall in combat, or were they victims of something far more sinister?
Follow me down this thread, through the dark forests of Caledonia and its whispering hillocks, to find out what happened to those elite soldiers.
In the shadows of history, cloaked in mystery and whispers, lies the tale of the Lost Ninth Legion—a story veiled in darkness and shrouded in dread.
The mighty Roman Empire sent its elite force, the Ninth, northward into the uncharted, brooding wilderness of Caledonia, present-day Scotland. With over 5,000 battle-hardened soldiers, they marched into the mists, their banners fluttering defiantly in the biting wind.
But what awaited them beyond the frontier was a land of ancient magic and untamed forces, where the very air crackled with ominous foreboding. The locals spoke in hushed tones of malevolent spirits and beasts that prowled the dense forests.
As the legion ventured deeper, the natural world seemed to conspire against them—trees whispered secrets, the ground seemed to shift underfoot, and shadows took on a life of their own.
Everybody knows Alexander the Great; he almost single-handedly united ancient Hellas and brought its civilization to new frontiers, creating the Hellenistic Era.
What many do not know, is his complicated relationship with his troops. As I said, he wasn’t alone in his adventure; he had an army of inglourious basterds, with most of them Greek to the bone.
Naturally, and as the Hellenic spirit commands, they all had opinions and were also incredibly unruly; they were beasts on the battlefield but divas outside of it. Alexander had a very complex relationship with them; they were a dysfunctional family and had mutinied more than once.
What many also do not know, is that Alexander was also a brilliant orator and always managed to handle their attitudes; I am bringing you today his speech, as documented in detail by Arrian, when he addressed his mutinous troops in Opis. They demanded to go back and were offended that he was embracing the conquered Persians, rather than “staying true" to the Greek customs.
Follow me down this thread, as I am relaying his exact words, in his language, translating it also in English. You will be able to read exactly what he said, while he yelled emotionally at his troops. Here's the speech in Ancient & Modern Greek and English:
Μακεδόνες, με αυτόν εδώ τον λόγο που σας απευθύνω δεν επιδιώκω να ανακόψω την ορμή σας για επιστροφή στην πατρίδα —μπορείτε να πάτε όπου θέλετε, χάρη σε μένα— αλλά να σας κάνω να καταλάβετε πώς εσείς φερθήκατε σε μένα και τί έχετε γίνει τώρα που φεύγετε.
Macedonians, with this speech I address to you, I do not seek to stop your urge to return to your homeland - you can go wherever you want, thanks to me - but to make you understand how you have treated me and what has become of you now that you are leaving.
[7.9.2] Και θα αρχίσω τον λόγο μου πρώτα από τον πατέρα μου τον Φίλιππο, όπως άλλωστε και ταιριάζει. Γιατί ο Φίλιππος σας παρέλαβε περιπλανώμενους και φτωχούς να βόσκετε οι περισσότεροι από εσάς επάνω στα βουνά λίγα πρόβατα ντυμένοι με προβιές και να πολεμάτε για να τα εξασφαλίσετε με δυσκολία τους Ιλλυριούς και τους Τριβαλλούς και τους γείτονές μας Θράκες. Αντί για τις προβιές σάς έδωσε να φοράτε χλαμύδες και σας κατέβασε από τα βουνά στις πεδιάδες και σας έκανε ικανούς να πολεμάτε τους βαρβάρους γείτονές μας, έτσι ώστε για την ασφάλειά σας να στηρίζεσθε όχι πλέον στην οχυρότητα των τόπων σας, αλλά πολύ περισσότερο στη δική σας ανδρεία. Και σας ανέδειξε σε κατοίκους πόλεων και τη ζωή σας οργάνωσε με χρήσιμους νόμους και έθιμα.
[7.9.2] And I will begin my speech with my father Philip, as is also fitting. Because Philip received you as wanderers and poor, clothed in sheepskins, herding a few sheep on the mountains, and fighting to secure them with difficulty against the Illyrians and the Trivallians and our neighbors the Thracians. Instead of sheepskin he gave you tunics and brought you down from the mountains into the plains and made you capable of fighting our barbarous neighbors, so that for your safety you no longer depended on the fortifications of your places, but much more on your own prowess. And He made you citizens and organized your life with good laws and customs.
Everybody knows about the battle of Marathon and the epic Greek victory over the Persians; but did you know that a massive “alien” warrior, wielding a strange-looking laser weapon, helped them in battle?
This is a thread about when Echetlus, and other god-like beings, helped the ancient Greeks save their homes:
Echetlus, also known as Echetlaeus, is a fascinating figure from Greek history/mythology. He is best known for his legendary appearance during the Battle of Marathon in 490 BCE, where he played a crucial role in helping the Greeks defeat the invading Persians.
The Battle of Marathon was a pivotal conflict during the Greco-Persian Wars. The Persian Empire sought to subjugate Greece. The Athenians, vastly outnumbered, prepared to defend their homes. The tension was high as the Persians landed at the Bay of Marathon, close to Athens.
Everyone knows about their Zodiac Sign and even some Constellations in the night sky; but do you know how Astronomy & Astrology were created in the first place?
A thread about how the ancients looked at the stars for guidance and meaning from the heavens:
In ancient times, astronomy wasn't just a science; it was deeply intertwined with religion, mythology, and daily life. The sky and its stars were always seen as points of reference for religion, navigation, cultural and practical aspects of our ancestors’ lives.
The Mesopotamians, particularly the Babylonians, were pioneers in astronomy. They meticulously recorded celestial events on clay tablets, which helped them predict lunar eclipses and develop one of the earliest known calendars.