Amazon.com
The First Olympics: Blood, Honor, and Glory includes three exciting History Channel documentaries about ancient roots of the Olympics in fact and myth. Curiously, the first two films, "The First Olympics" and "Blood and Honor at the First Olympics," are essentially the same, with slightly different narration, editing, and chapter titles. Of the two, "Blood and Honor" is a little more streamlined and is voiced by Leonard Nimoy, but the material is compelling enough to check out both works over time. Among other things, one learns that the first Olympians competed in the nude for all sports, that winning was everything and penalties for fouls and bribes were severe, and that there has been an Olympics committee--and Olympics competition every four years--since 776 B.C. "The Greek Gods" is a fine supplemental work introducing us to Zeus, in whose honor the Olympics were born, and the other divinities on Mt. Olympus.
--Tom Keogh
Video Description
" It was perhaps the greatest spectacle in the ancient world. Starting in 776 BC, and every four years thereafter, the greatest warriors of the city-states of Greece would journey to Olympia to engage in a massive festival featuring contests of strength and speed. In the frenzied atmosphere of the Olympics, the contestants and observers lived in a state of Bacchanalian excess reciting poetry, dancing to the lyre, and offering sacrifices to the gods. But the focus was the contests in boxing, wrestling, and races on foot and in chariot. The winners were bathed in olive oil and celebrated. The losers emerged physically and mentally beaten if they survived! The blood and honor of the ancient Olympics come to life in this thrilling program. Visit Olympia and see the ruins of the ancient town and stadium that hosted these contests. Hear accounts of some of the greatest struggles, preserved forever by ancient writers, and learn from leading scholars the essential role this epic festival and its bloody contests played in Ancient Greece."
