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Article: Tradition dictates.
- Article from:
- Calliope
- Article date:
- October 1, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Carus Publishing Co. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The rules governing the ancient Olympics were as familiar to the ancient Greeks as their own names. The Games were held during the period of the second full moon after the summer solstice--that is, the shortest night of the year. For this reason, the competition did not always take place on the same date. Sometimes, they were in July, and sometimes in August. The festival, however, always lasted for five days, from the 11th to the 15th of the month. (The Greeks did not follow the same calendar we use today.)
Several months before the games, truce bearers set out from Elis, the city-state that governed Olympia. They headed east and west, stopping at every Greek ...