It is impossible to say precisely when the Olympic festival began, we know that it was very early in Greek history because it is the mentioned in some of the writing of the early anonymous Greek poets. The Olympic games began in ancient Greece and were held to honor the gods, especially Zeus, the king of the gods. For athletes, victory in Olympic events was the ultimate achievement. The Olympic Village of ancient Greece grew into great complex, a vast temple that held a forty foot tall statue of Zeus was built there, the sculpture a man named Phidias, carved the form of Zeus form ivory, wood, and stone and seated him on a throne made of cedar wood.
Originally, athletic competition at the Olympic festival was limited to male Greek citizens, foreigners, slaves, and women were barred from competitions. Every athlete had to take the Olympic oath, swearing that he had trained for ten months before the games and that he had done nothing to offend the gods.
For many centuries women ware barred not only as competitors but also as spectators. The penalty for Breaking the rule was death, even so some women still tried to watch the games even if the meant donning a disguise.
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