Poseidon showed his great strength for the first time. With a wave of his trident, a white horse suddenly fell from the sky. This circus gallops in the valley, and its mane flutters like snow in the wind, which is very beautiful. Poseidon said excitedly, "Look, this is my gift. It can cultivate land and haul things, which will bring people a lot of wealth. Who can provide mankind with something better than this good horse? " Athena didn't answer immediately. After a little thinking, she put the spear in the ground, only to see two leaf buds immediately grow on the ground, and soon it grew into an olive tree with lush foliage and numerous fruits. She said to the gods: "the whole body of this tree is useful to human beings, and its fruit can be eaten, brewed and pressed for oil;" Its tree body can not only be used as medicinal materials, but also be used to extract spices for lighting. This tree will surely bring peace and harvest to mankind. It is a symbol of health and strength, and a guarantee of happiness and freedom. However, this horse, it will bring war, struggle and pain to mankind. Shouldn't this city be named after me? Poseidon was very dissatisfied, but the gods finally decided Athena would win. So, with the approval of Zeus, this mountain city was named after Athena. Athena has also become the patron saint of this mountain city. This mountain city was later a very famous historical city, which is the capital of Greece today-Athens.
This legend shows that the Greeks have special feelings for olive trees. In Olympia, ancient Greece, because of the lack of food, olives and grapes became people's regular food and occupied a very important position in the lives of local people. Therefore, it is said that in Olympia, whenever olives and grapes are harvested, people will get together to celebrate the hard-won harvest. They will perform various programs, such as singing and dancing, music and drama. Participants will have a binge drinking. At the same time, there will be various sports competitions, such as running, wrestling, chariots and discus throwing. The contestants are all naked, only men are allowed to participate, and women are not allowed to enter. In order to prevent sun exposure and make muscles beautiful, shiny and elastic, they coated their bodies with olive oil. This is a famous nude sports legend in ancient Greece with unique style in history. This gradually evolved into an ancient Olympic Games held every four years.
According to another legend, Evy Dawes, the king of Elis, where Olympia is located, went to consult the famous prophet Biddy in order to find a way to protect the country from aggression. Biddy told him that if we want to avoid war, we must restore the sports meeting that the gods love. Evy Dawes went to see King Gourgue of Sparta again. Gourgue proposed to recognize Elis as a neutral country, and other city-states also accepted this proposal. Evy Dawes was very happy. In 884 BC, in order to celebrate peace and thank the gods, he founded the Olympic Games every four years. Dawes, Evy, specially built an oval stadium with a length of 2 15m and a width of 30m for the Olympic Games. The track length of the stadium is 192.27m, which is said to be just 600 times that of Hercules. Nobles and civilians visiting the sports meeting should enter the stadium separately to show their dignity. From then on, if there is a war between the ancient Greek city-states before the Olympic Games is over, both sides should lay down their arms and watch the Olympic Games to show their respect for the gods. In this way, the Olympic Games became the largest and most extensive sports event in ancient Greece.
Myths and legends are not meaningless fantasies. They reflect the ancestors' vague understanding of nature and human society in ancient times, express the mental outlook and ideal pursuit of human childhood, and also reflect people's historical, moral and religious views to some extent. The above myths and legends reflect the motives and hopes of Greek ancestors to host the Olympic Games from one side. Through these myths and legends, we can glimpse the clues of the ancient Olympic Games. However, myths and legends are not reality after all, and they are still the products of people's fantasy and random processing. To truly restore the original appearance of the ancient Olympic Games, we have to look for it from the social life and history of ancient Greece.