The Ancient Olympic Flame

THE ORIGIN OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES

The Victory of Pelops

Tantalus, a king favored by the gods and son of Zeus, invited the gods to dine with him in his palace in Asia Minor. Having invited them he couldn't think of anything that was so valuable to set before his highest ranking guest. The only REAL treasure he had was his son Pelops. So, he decided to sacrifice his son for the gods by making a stew of him and set the dish before the gods. The Olympian gods detested human sacrifices and they punished Tantalus by throwing him in the underworld and giving life again to Pelops. One of Pelop's shoulder bones was missing so they restored it with a piece of ivory and gave him many rich gifts. One of them was a gift from Poseidon. He gave him fast horses and with them to set off and win himself a new kingdom.

In the kingdom of Elis, king Oenimaus had a beautiful daughter, Hippodamia. Any man that married her would inherit the kingdom but her father loved her so much that he could not suffer the thought of losing her. King Oenimaus had a set of horses given to him by Ares, the god of war. Whenever a suitor came to ask for his daughters hand in marriage, Oenomaus would challenge him to a chariot race. If the suitor won, he would win his daughters hand in marriage. Suitors came and were defeated. Twelve in all lost their lives attempting to win Hippodamia's hand in marriage.

When Pelops came to Elis to ask for the princesses hand in marriage, king Oenomaus was not aware that Pelops horses were magic. Not knowing this, he accepted yet another challenge. Hippodamia, after falling in love with Pelops, fearing her father would win again, bribed her father's stable boy to fix her father's chariot so that Pelops would win. The stable boy took out the wooden pins that held the wheels to the axle, and replaced them with pins of wax.

The race started. Oenomaus was surprised when he saw he could not pull ahead in the race. No matter what he did, they were neck to neck. Suddenly, the wax pins gave way and the wheels of the chariot broke and flew off. The king lost his life and Pelops had won Hippodamia's hand in marriage and a new kingdom, Elis.

In honor of the old king, Pelops had a funeral feast inviting heroes from all over Greece to take part in athletic games. These games were held on the plain of Olympia, in Elis, and were repeated every four years. They were called, THE OLYMPIC GAMES.

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