Origins and Legends of the Olympic Games

In this episode, we discuss early Greek religion as it was formalized in the writings of Homer and Hesiod; the various rituals that were performed when the Greeks worshipped their deities; the evidence for the earliest sanctuaries and hero cults in the 8th century BC that developed hand-in-hand with the city-state and their increasing wealth (as seen through votive offerings); the early developments of the idea of Panhellenism (a sense of a common Greek identity); and the foundation myths, archaeological evidence, and importance for the four predominant Panhellenic sanctuaries that gained massive popularity in the 8th and 7th centuries BC (Zeus and Hera at Olympia, Apollo and Artemis at Delos, Apollo at Delphi, and Zeus and Dione at Dodona—with the latter two having popular oracular shrines)

Show Notes: http://www.thehistoryofancientgreece.com/2016/06/010-panhellenism.html