Modern Olympic Games
The Revival of the Ancient Olympic Games
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- Last Updated: 24 April 2020
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"The idea of the revival of Olympic Games was not a passing fancy: it was the logical culmination of a great movement. The 19th century saw the taste for physical exercises revive everywhere ... At the same time the great inventions, the railways and the telegraph have abridged distances and mankind has come to live a new existence; the peoples have intermingled, they have learned to know each other better and immediately they started to compare themselves. What one achieved the other immediately wished also to endeavour: universal exhibitions brought together to one locality of the globe the products of the most distant lands; Literary or scientific congresses have brought together, into contact, the various intellectual forces. How then should the athletes not seek to meet, since rivalry is the basis of athletics, and in reality the very reason of its existence?" In order to unify the athletic events that were popular in various countries and the transformation of the notion of rivalry into noble competition, free from the notion of profit, it was decided to make: "competitions at regular periodical intervals at which representatives of all countries and all sports would be invited under the aegis of the same authority, which would impact to them a halo of grandeur and glory, that is the patronage of classical antiquity. To do this was to revive the Olympic Games: the name imposed itself: it was not even possible to find another."
The above text illustrates in a lively way what people in the 19th century believed about the revival of the Olympic Games. However, it does not reveal anything about the first attempts of Greeks to revive the Olympic Games, long before the birth of the Baron de Coubertin. Later, in 1896, the 1st International Olympic Games took place in Athens. Many people contributed to the realization of the Olympic Games. In the 19th century the social structure of the national states was ideal for the gradual acceptance of the Olympic Idea in a new -national- framework. The symbolism of the Olympic Games reveals to us today the process through which people learned the new notions of their era. |
Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the man who inspired the revival of the Olympic Games. |
| Athens in the 19th century | |
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In September 18th 1838, Athens was selected as the capital of the Greek state. In the February of the same year, its residents celebrated this fact in the church of St Georgios, the ancient temple at Thisio, which for a long had been transformed into a Christian church. Between 1838 and 1896 there was a serious effort to create the city-planning of Athens according to the modern city-planning requirements of the European cities. Celebrated Greek and European architects, engineers and artists were invited to work to this purpose. However, due to financial difficulties, these requirements were necessarily reduced, providing Athens with the unavoidable hybrid character of a European city in the region, shaped under foreign principles, selectively applied. Nevertheless, as the urban landscape developed in time, the elements that had been introduced became established and, in the 1890s, the Greek capital had assumed -even though to a small scale- the familiar look of a neoclassic city of the 19th century. Population During that period the population of Athens was approximately 10,000-12,000 people. When Athens became the capital, many people moved into the city and the value of urban property rose dramatically. In 1850, the area between the Acropolis and Lycabettus Hill was already thickly built. In the population census of 1879, Athens had already reached a population of 63,374 people. Streets This was the period of neoclassicism and for this reason the streets and squares of Athens were named after important figures of classical history. It is interesting to observe that they did not name streets after the people from the Byzantine period, or the fighters of the Greek revolution: Byzantium was not yet recognized as part of Greek history and the history of the Revolution was still very recent and much alive. Many roads took the name of important Athenian families during the Ottoman period. Districts The inhabited districts of that period were around the Acropolis and Plaka. One of the oldest districts was Psiri, near Monastiraki. It took its name after the island Psara, since most of its residents came from there. At its centre there was the Heroon Square (Square of the Heroes), named after the fighters of the 1821 revolution who used to meet there. Other old districts were Neapolis, which became pretty soon the district of university students, and Exarchia, named after the merchant Exarchos, who opened a general store, which was quite large for that period. In 1860, families of builders that had moved in Athens from Anafi, an island near Santorini, to work in the construction of the Palace created the district called Anafiotica at the foothill of the Acropolis. During the 19th century, the commercial centre of the city was defined by the two busiest streets, Ermou and Aiolou. The first large and luxurious private houses were built in the new avenues Academias, Panepistimiou and Stadiou. Soon the district of Kolonaki started to take shape. |
View of Athens in the end of the 19th century. Card postal.
View of the Ermou st. and the present-day Parliament on the background. Card postal. |
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Problems As the public sector was limited by financial shortage, most of the new constructions were carried out by the private sector, mainly wealthy Greeks living abroad. Even though large constructions changed the topography of Athens, the city had still to face serious problems: there were no regular streets and dust was still one of its most disturbing characteristics; there were not enough gas lamps in the streets and electricity was not established yet due to the strong reaction of the gas company. On top of that, Athens suffered from lack of water supply system and sewerage. However, the fact that Athens was selected as the first city to organize the Olympic Games, led to a hasty execution of public works, such as large streets, bridges, lighting etc. The materialization of these works helped in the accommodation of the visitors that watched the events of the first Olympic Games. Society Athens in the 19th century reflected the transformations of Greek society. It proved to be an attraction for different groups of people. People of different origin and culture met in the same area and had to face the new political and economic conditions. The people of the Aegean islands, the farmers of Thessaly and the educated immigrants from Western Europe were forced to co-exist in Athens. Such a diverse population was the audience that watched the Olympic Games of 1896. |
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| First attempts | |
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In the ancient Greek world, the Olympic Games were a symbol of the unity between Greek people. After the foundation of the modern Greek state, in the beginning of the 19th century, there were some attempts to revive the Olympic Games. In 1833 the poet Alexandros Soutsos recalled the glorious and peaceful character of the Olympic Games and through his poetry sent the message for their revival. In 1838, the municipality of Letrinoi, an area near ancient Olympia, decided to revive the Olympic Games. According to their plans, the games would take place every four years in the city of Pyrgos. Since no additional information about these games are available, historians believe that they never took place. However, this is an important information because it shows that the idea of relating the new Greek state with the ancient Greek culture -an issue that greatly concerned the scholars and politicians of that period- also met with positive response from a large part of the population. |
View of the entrance of the Panathenaic Stadium with the statue of Georgios Averof and the Acropolis on the background. |
| Contrary to the common belief, the Olympic Games of 1896 were not the first modern Olympic Games. The Greeks had revived the Olympic Games before Coubertin himself was born. They organized the Zappian Games in Athens four times, in 1859, 1870, 1875 and 1889. However, these Games were exclusively of Greek character, both regarding the athletes that participated and the spectators that watched them. | |
| The Idea of Alexandros Soutsos | |
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In 1833, the newspaper Helios published a poem by Alexandros Soutsos which referred to the necessity of reviving the Olympic Games. The newspaper was published in Nauplion, the first capital of the new born Greek state, at the Peloponnese. If our shadow could fly to your earth it would daringly shout to the Ministers of the Throne: |
The poem of Alexandros Soutsos published in the newspaper Ilios. |
| Thucudides listened to the beautiful harmony of his prose and prepared to meet him in competition as a worthy rival. (G. Dolianitis, Vikelas, First I.O.C. President, International Olympic Academy, [S.Y.]) Influenced by the ideas of that poem, Evangelis Zappas proposed the revival of the Olympic Games. |
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Evangelis Zappas Evangelis Zappas was born in 1800 at a village of Epirus. In 1831 he immigrated to Bucharest, where he became one of the most important and wealthiest landowners. Influenced by an article by the Greek poet Alexandros Soutsos, in which the need to revive the Olympic Games in modern times was underlined, Zappas decided to promote this idea and to fund this effort. After his agreement with the Greek government, the Zappian Games were organized, a combination of agricultural and industrial exhibits with athletic games. Zappas died in 1865, leaving a large part of his enormous fortune to the organization of the Zappian Games, in order to take place every four years "according to our ancestors", as he said. According to his will, his body was buried in Roumania and his skull was transferred to the new Olympic building in Athens, which was named after him. The visitors of Zappeion can still see the inscription: "Here lies the head". First Zappian Games A wealthy Greek from northern Greece, Evangelis Zappas, inspired by the idea of Alexandros Soutsos to revive the ancient Olympic Games, suggested to the Greek government to finance the establishment of modern Olympics. Alexandros Rizos Rangaves, the Greek Foreign Minister and a scholar, had objections: "the present day spirit is different from the one of antiquity; present day states compete one another in industry and products and not in the stadiums". According to Rangaves, the modern Olympics Games had to focus on the agriculture and industrial progress and not on athletics. That is why he suggested to Zappas a composite organisation that should include agricultural/industrial exhibits and athletics contests for entertainment. Essentially, the industrial exhibit of the Zappian Games was organized regularly every four years and received greater attention and more money than the athletic contests. Zappas accepted Rangaves' proposal and so in 1858 a royal decree was issued that established international contests under the name "Olympia". 1859 As the renovation of the Panathenaic Stadium had not yet been completed, the first Olympia took place in 1859 in the Loudovikos Square (present day Ethnikis Antistasis or Kotzia square, in the centre of Athens). All the official guests, the royal family, the members of the government, the military and municipal authorities and many thousands of people attended. Since it was one of the first mass gatherings of people neither the people nor the police had any previous experience in maintaining order during this event. The fact that it constituted a new experience made the event an interesting case study for the first mass gatherings of people in the modern societies. Athletic contests had more the character of a game than of an athletic organisation. Since there were no athletes at that time, the organizing committee allowed for the participation of workers, porters etc, who were attracted by the monetary prizes of the games. According to the Press of that period, many funny incidents took place: a policeman who was in charge of imposing order, left his post and participated in the games. A beggar, even, who was passing as a blind man, participated in the games! These games, finally, were a complete failure, mainly due to the lack of organization and overcrowding, causing discontent to the organizers and the spectators and the harsh criticism of the Press. This failure caused a negative atmosphere regarding gymnastics and athletics in general. However, the idea of the revival of the Olympic Games continued to concern both those responsible and the wide public. |
Evangelis Zappas, the founder of the Zappian Olympic Games in Athens. His statue lies opposite the Zappeion Mansion.
The Loudovikou square, present-day Ethnikis Antistaseos or Kotzias square, where the first Zappian Olympic Games took place. Card postal. |
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Second Zappian Games 1870 The Second Zappian Games in 1870 took place in the renovated Panathenaic Stadium. This time the preparation and organisation was markedly superior:
The inauguration of the games was in November 15th, 1870. The public that attended them was 30,000 people, nearly the whole population of Athens. There were nine events: seven events from the ancient Olympic Games and two modern ones. There were both monetary and symbolic prizes. A band played the first Olympic anthem, specially written by G. Orphanides, professor of Botany at the university, and composed by Parizinis, a music teacher. Furthermore, the athletes for the first time took an oath in front of the games committee. The judges were university professors and there was a herald for the announcement of the victors. The king presented the prize to the victor with the accompaniment of music. The games of 1870 were extremely successful and enthusiastic articles were published in the press regarding both the organization and holding of the games. This success ignited discussions about gymnastics and the need for the creation of state athletic institutions. |
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Third Zappian Games 1875 The third "Olympia" were organized by Ioannis Phokianos, director of the Public Gymnasium. Phokianos strongly believed that the ideal of gymnastics would soon expand to the upper classes, to the educated people. That is the reason why he was interested in the education of the Gymnasium pupils and the university students. All these studied in the Athens Public Gymnasium. Phokianos introduced a series of gymnastic exercises, inspired by the German gymnastics system. The games took place at the Panathenaic Stadium in May 18th 1875. Despite the large number of athletes that trained in the Public Gymnasium for the games, finally only twenty-four took part. Some of them became famous both in the field of athletics and in the social and political life of the country, for example G. Orphanides, the Olympic victor of 1896, Spyros Merkouris, the future mayor of Athens and Mark Mindler, the future president of the Hellenic Association of Amateur Athletics. The athlete's clothes were impressive: long trousers and white shirt with a large blue stripe. Until 1896, this was the official gymnastics costume. Despite the preparations and the high expectations these games were not successful. The royal family did not attend the event. There was not enough space for the number of spectators that finally assembled in the Stadium. Discontent was evident and Phokianos was considered to be responsible, despite his efforts and the athletes' excellent training. |
Medal from the third Zappian Olympic Games in 1875 with the bust of king George I. |
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1889 The organisation of the fourth, and last, Zappian Games, was initially scheduled for 1885. However, after repeated postponements the Zappian Committee disclaimed responsibility for their organisation in 1888. In the following year Ioannis Phokianos undertook personally the responsibility of the games which took place in May 1889 in his own newly built Central Gymnasium with the participation of 30 athletes. In the first day the large number of spectators and the general disorder hindered the organisation of the events and the games were postponed for a few days. However, when they were resumed there was no problem and everything went on smoothly. Twelve events took place, among them racing, discus throwing, pole vault, parallel bars and wrestling. It can be argued that the Zappian Olympiads paved the road for the Olympic Games of 1896. For example, the ceremonies, the diplomas, the medals, the sponsors as well as the experience acquired through the organization of these Games were also utilised in the future athletic events. At the same time the Zappian Games influenced the public in accepting the idea of the organisation of the first international Olympic Games.
source: fhw.gr/olympics |
The catalogue of exhibitors at the 4th Zappian Olympic Games. |
