奥林匹克的起源英文版

主要是关于古代奥运会的相关信息，一定要是英文版的，内容连贯，最好简单易懂。谢谢！

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"And we compel men to exercise their bodies not only for the games, so that they can win the prizes-for very few of them go to them-but to gain a greater good from it for the whole city, and for the men themselves"
——Lucian, Anacharsis, ca. AD 170

In a fertile valley of Ancient Greece, at a place called Olympia, the first Olympic Games were held at 776 BC. This games were held every four years, for a thousand years. The Games, like all Greek Games, were an intrinsic part of a religious festival held in honor of Zeus.

Hippias of Elis, at ca. 400 BC, compiled a list of Olympic victors, and according to him, the only event at the beginning was a stadium-length foot race (stade). The distance of the race came from the legend, that Hercules, the god of Physical Strength, run the same distance in one breath.

It has been speculated, that the games at 776 BC were not the first games conducted, but rather the first organized games. It is believed, that this lead from the peace agreement between the city-states Elis and Pisa. The Eleans traced the founding of the Olympic Games back to their King Iphitos. King Iphitos was told by the Delphic Oracle to plant an Olive Tree from which the victor' wreaths for the Olympic Games was cut. Another legend says, that the Games were founded by Heracles, son of Alcmene.

In Ancient Greece it was thought that the first Games held in Olympia was organized by heroes and gods.

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