Greece gave the world the ancient Olympic Games, first recorded at Olympia in 776 BCE.
The ancient Olympics were religious and athletic festivals held at Olympia, a sanctuary dedicated primarily to Zeus. Competitors from Greek communities gathered for contests including running, wrestling, boxing, pankration, chariot racing, and the pentathlon. The festival took place every four years, a period known as an Olympiad.
The games were part of a wider Greek tradition of panhellenic festivals. During the competitions, a sacred truce helped protect travelers and athletes moving to Olympia, although the truce did not mean that all wars across Greece permanently stopped.
The ancient games ended in late antiquity, traditionally associated with imperial bans on pagan practices. The modern Olympic Games began in Athens in 1896, but they are a modern revival rather than a continuous event. Ancient Olympia is located in the western Peloponnese of Greece.