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The Original Greek Olympics and Ancient History’s Coolest Facts

Khalid Elhassan July 31, 2021 35 min

The ancient Greeks inaugurated the Olympic Games in 776 BC. Imagining History

The Battle of Thermopylae, the ancient Greeks' most heroic last stand. — The Battle of Thermopylae, the ancient Greeks’ most heroic last stand. Wikimedia

1. A Betrayal That Undid a Heroic Stand

King Leonidas and the Greeks under his command kept the vastly superior Persian army bottled up in front of the pass at Thermopylae until Ephialtes struck. He informed King Xerxes that he knew of a track through the mountains that bypassed Thermopylae, and reemerged to join the road behind the Greek position. In exchange for the promise of rich rewards, Ephialtes showed the Persians the way. When he discovered that he was about to be outflanked, Leonidas sent his Greek allies away.

When Ephialtes betrayed the Greeks, Leonidas sent his allies away, and stayed behind to guard the pass at Thermopylae with his surviving Spartans. Greece High Definition

He stayed behind with what remained of a 300-strong contingent of Spartans, who fought to the death until they were wiped out. Ephialtes was reviled from the ancient era to the present, and his name came to mean “nightmare” in Greek. He never collected his reward: the Persian invasion collapsed when their fleet was defeated at Salamis later that year, and their army was crushed at Platea the following year. Ephialtes fled, with a bounty on his head. He was killed ten years later over an unrelated matter, but the Spartans rewarded his killer anyhow.

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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading

Ancient Origins – The Brutal Draconian Laws of Ancient Greece

Bleacher Report – MMA History: How Pankration Champion Arrichion Won Olympic Crown After His Death

Chrystal, Paul – In Bed With the Ancient Greeks (2016)

Daily Beast – Things You Probably Don’t Know About the Olympics

Encyclopedia Britannica – Ancient Greek Olympic Games

Encyclopedia Britannica – Milo of Croton

Encyclopedia Britannica – Philitas of Cos

Garland, Robert – Celebrity in Antiquity: From Media Tarts to Tabloid Queens (2006)

Herodotus – The Histories

History Collection – Antiquity’s Greatest Warriors

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy – Empedocles

Gizmodo – Can You Laugh Yourself to Death?

Miller, Stephen G. – Ancient Greek Athletics (2004)

Sherwood, Andrew N., et al – Greek and Roman Technology, a Sourcebook of Translated Greek and Roman Texts (2019)

History Collection – Dramatic and Bizarre Ways People Died in Ancient Greece and the Hellenistic World

Suetonius – Lives of the Caesars: Life of Nero

Swaddling, Judith – The Ancient Olympic Games (1984)

Unbelievable Facts – 10 People Who Died From Laughing Too Hard

Vine Pair – The Pythagorean Cup Will Keep You From Drinking Too Much

Wikipedia – Ephialtes of Trachis

Wikipedia – Kynodesme

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.