Olympieia Festival
From March 9-12,Hellas held a Spring Festival honoring both athletes/athletics and Zeus. Many around AncientWorlds enjoyed participating in various events and activities in the Olympieia Festival. Here is a recap of events. Note - These blurbs were written Saturday, 3/11, and events didn't actually wrap up until Sunday, 3/12.
Zeus' Challenge
Nineteen brave souls signed up to help Zeus find his lightning bolt. They worked their way through 21 clues to find deeply buried graphics the thief dropped along his way. Over 10,000 strti. were handed out to the first three to find Zeus' lightning! Leela Antonius is the first place winner of this event. She braved the mind-numbingly hard (at times) clues to catch the thief and win herself 5000 strti! Well done, Leela!
The Foot Race
Folks from all over AW took part in this exciting race from Marathon to Athens. Each athlete was given 12 items to use to overcome obstacles that included the nine-headed Hydra and the one-eyed Cyclops. At the time of this writing, no runners had suffered mortal wounds but there was no clear cut winner, as this wasn't a race against the clock. Instead racers received points for their cunning ways of using the various tools at their disposal. Following ancient myths in getting past each obstacle earned them additional points.
The Macedonian Bar And Grill
Kallistos Alexandros and the Alexander the Great group have sponsored this great party in the Macedon hood. You can still enjoy the ambiance and great company in
AW's newest bar. Become a regular and have your own special glass on the shelf .
The MOD Art Fair
Sponsored by the group Delian Dreams, this event is on going at least for a while. The Museion On Delos is having an art fair in connection with the Olympieia. Just download a tent graphic, decorate it any way you want, and post it in the
art fair thread.
Olympieia Quizzes
Hecuba Hector, Joseph Niafer, Louisa Agis and Anna Hippon teamed up to create a series of fun quizzes to test your knowledge of Zeus and the ancient Olympic Games. Check them out
here.
The Oracle of Dodona
No Greek festival would be complete without an oracle! Come consult the very ancient oracle of Dodona, see what the future holds for you, and take home one of 13 different plaques.
Discus Throw
The anticipation is in the air as athletes from all over the Ancient Worlds battle for the gold in the discus competition. The top 3 scorers will receive gold, silver and bronze wreaths. If you are interested to find out the winners, check out the contest thread! (Remember - this was written Saturday night! The contest ends Sunday.)
Olympieia Festival Player
Come relax and enjoy the
great sounds of Greece with this selection of Greek music. (Note: You'll need Flash Player 6 to play it.)
Articles
Make sure to check out this month's featured articles for more information on the Olympieia Festival in Ancient times!
Archeological News
Big Tomb Ploughed Up
A Hellenistic-era tomb was recently discovered in Pella by a farmer ploughing his fields. It is the largest such find, with a 16 meter path leading to a 63 square-meter tomb.
Click here for more information.
Plague Origins Discovered
Modern science has discovered that typhoid fever was a major culprit in the Athens Plague of 430-426 BCE. This typhoid fever (possibly along with other diseases yet undiscovered) is likely to have wiped out 1/3 of the population of Athens in these 4 years.
Click here for more information. (
Thanks to Aulus Sergius for posting this story in the Hellas in the News thread.)
Undying Glory
Hellas'
Alexander the Great is one of its more active historical groups, and gets special mention in Heraklia Aelius' new web site biography of Alexander the Great. Under "Bibliography and Links," our Herky notes that Alexander the Great was one of the best web tools available online in her 16-month research in writing Alexander, and member Kallistos Alexandros gave special help and encouragement. Not only that, but AW's Sankira Qin did the beautiful navigation!
Yet another AW member history web site, Heraklia's may be found at Undying Glory: The Pursuit of Alexander.
