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Exhibition Destination Olympia: 5th Century BC Until 1st May 2005 Teacher’s Kit With the exhibition “Destination Olympia: 5th Century BC”, the Olympic Museum offers a unique opportunity to familiarise your pupils with some of the aspects of life in Ancient Greece. The purpose of this kit is to give you the key information required to organise a meaningful visit with your pupils. Various approaches are offered, all of which can be easily combined: For a visit where you are the guide: - A 10-stage visit highlights the content to be used (page 6) For a visit by your pupils on their own: - Discovery sheets encourage an individual approach - Mission briefs encourage content discovery in small groups For classwork: - Images and texts to comment on (pages 22 and 23) For a tour organised by the Olympic Museum for your pupils: - Themed guided visits (page 24) Feel free to give us your comments and suggestions Olympic Museum – Educational and Cultural Services Quai d'Ouchy 1, Case postale CH-1001 Lausanne This kit can be downloaded from www.olympic.org/education , link “Consult the fact sheets” Imprint Design and production: Olympic Museum, Educational and Cultural Services: David Vuillaume, Anne Chevalley Teaching partner: Jean-Marc Henry © IOC/Olympic Museum Collections, Photos: J. Donatsch, J.-J. Strahm, ACH, DVE © IOC 2004 2 Table of contents 1. Introduction to the exhibition 4 Background 4 Plan of the exhibition 5 A quick tour 5 2. Preparing for the visit, a 10-stage process 6 Olympic Truce 6 Agora 6 Bouleuterion 7 House 7 Gymnasium 8 Palaestra 8 Loutron 8 Olympia 9 Mythology 9 Games 9 3. Working at the Museum 10 Discovery sheets for individual visits Mission briefs for group work Information for the teacher 19 4. Further activities 22 Class activity suggestions 22 Olympic Museum services 24 References on the Internet 25 Selective Bibliography 26 3 1. Introduction to the exhibition on Background To mark the celebration of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens (XXVIII Olympiad), the Olympic Museum is taking a look at the origin of the Games in Ancient Greece. The exhibition “Destination Olympia: 5th Century BC” invites you to follow the athletes on their way to Olympia, including a stop at Elis, the city where they trained for a month and underwent the final qualifications. During the journey, you have the chance to learn about how people lived at the time, to discover something of the social, political, family and religious lives of the ancient Greeks. What kind of exhibition is it? “Destination Olympia” is an “immersion exhibition”, in other words, the visitor passes through scenes from 5th century BC life, reducing the distance between himself and the subjects of the exhibition. The realistic setting (frescoes, reconstructed rooms, street noises, voices) helps the visitor to imagine the life of a contemporary person at Elis and Olympia. Why the 5th century BC? As the Ancient Games spanned more than 1,500 years, it would have been difficult to depict them over such a vast period of history. The 5th century BC is regarded as the golden age of Greece in general, and Athens in particular (birth of democracy, major architectural achievements), so the Olympic Museum has chosen to examine the Games in that context. A huge reconstruction job! The exhibition content is based on reconstructions created essentially on the basis of archaeological excavation reports. All the architectural components of the exhibition were produced under the supervision of an archaeologist specialising in ancient architecture. Each working in his or her field, experts then produced: the architectural elements (columns, house, palaestra and bouleuterion) copies of vases fabric for the couches bathrooms sports equipment (weights, discus and punching ball) The sculptures (apart from the Kritios ephebe) are plaster models (lent by the Basel Skulpturhalle- www. skulpturhalle.ch) of Roman copies of lost Greek originals. Painters begin work on decorating the palaestra. 900m2 of wall paintings provide decoration and extensions to Creation of the family the three-dimensional elements and produce a trompe-l’œil house in the exhibition area. effect. 4 Plan PALAESTRA Gymnasium HOUSE Street Games OLYMPIA Temple of Zeus Clothing Mythology Map + Truce ENTRANCE EXIT A quick tour In front of the entrance, a map shows the location of Olympia and the Greek colonies, from which a large number of athletes and spectators came. A text on the sacred truce explains that fighting stopped on the occasion of the Games. The exhibition entrance is similar to the entrance to an ancient city, with its public space (agora), civic section (bouleuterion) and private areas (house). The political system and social structures of 5th century BC Greece are evoked, with Athens as a reference. The palaestra and gymnasium offer the opportunity to join the athletes training for a month at Elis. This area provides the chance to talk about the role of the gymnasium as an extension of public life and in educating young people generally. All round the palaestra, information about the sports on the programme heralds the coming Games in Olympia. The distance between Elis and Olympia (approximately 60km) is symbolised by a small olive grove. Both a sanctuary dedicated to Zeus and the site of the Games, Olympia was the destination for pilgrims, athletes and spectators. Offering a tour of the site, details on the programme of the Games and the crowning of the winners, this area also highlights the importance of gods and heroes in everyday life. 5 2. Preparing for the visit in 10 steps 1. Outside the exhibition: map and sacred truce Celebrating the Olympic Games had a unifying power. At a time when political unity was non-existent, the Games brought together for the space of a few days continental Greeks and those from the colonies. They shared the same language, culture and religion and above all the same spirit of competition . The sacred truce (ekecheiria) was the result of a treaty concluded between Iphitos, king of Elis, Lycurgus, sovereign of Sparta, and Kleosthenes of Pisa. The truce ensured that the fighting between cities was halted before, during and after the Games. Athletes and spectators could thus travel to Olympia and return home again in total safety. Their journeys were sometimes long, as they came not only from continental Greece but also from the islands and colonies. At the entrance, a map shows the location of Olympia, Elis and the colonies. There is also the text of the truce: “Olympia is a sacred place. Whoever dares to enter it bearing arms will be branded sacrilegious. Equally impious is he who does not avenge a crime if he has the power to do so.” 2. The agora In the city, the agora was the public square, the place to meet people and hold discussions. Around the agora were public buildings such as the bouleuterion. In the square flanked with porticoes (stoai) stood honorific statues or stelae on which the citizens could read information about the life of their city. Close to the agora, the shopkeepers and craftsmen had their shops and stalls. The figures in the fresco are wearing clothes which are all based on a simple rectangle of material. The The reconstruction of the ceramic merchant’s shop illustrates the different types of recipients refinement lies in the art used in everyday life. The amphora played a of draping it. particularly important role, for both storing and transporting food. Richly decorated examples filled with olive oil were offered to the winners of the games held in Athens. Note also the hydria (for carrying water), krater, oenochoe, cup, skyphos and kantharos (wine goblet favoured by Dionysos), the loutrophoros (used in nuptial ceremonies) and aryballos (containing oil for athletes’ massages). 6 3. The bouleuterion Athens was the birthplace of democracy. Political life was susequently based around the notion of the citizen (women, slaves and foreigners were excluded). The bouleuterion was where the 500-member boule met and deliberated. The Like a Greek citizen, the visitor boule was a kind of council of ministers which prepared laws. The ecclesia enters the bouleuterion, which was the assembly of all the citizens who voted on the laws and took all is like a small, covered theatre. decisions of state, such as making war or peace, exiling undesirable citizens Themistocles and Pericles, the artisans of democracy, and authorising public expenditure. await him there. The kleroterion was a complex machine used to select jurors. The names of the candidates were written on the tickets inserted into the slots. Black and white marbles were then placed in the tube running down the side of the machine. The colour of the marble determined which candidates were chosen. This is an example of a democratic tool, as it enabled corruption or cheating to be avoided. 4. The house Constructed on one, or sometimes two levels, the house consisted of an open- air square courtyard onto which the different rooms opened. The walls were built of unfired bricks reinforced with wood and rested on a stone base. The roof was generally covered with tiles. The furnishings were basic : beds, tables and chairs, with chests for storing clothes. The women, who almost never went out, supervised the household and the slaves and took care of the education of children until the age of seven. They lived in the gynaeceum (oikos) and their principal activity was weaving. A covered portico supported by wood pillars runs the Guests were received in the length of the andron, which explains the courtyard. The presence of the mosaic on the visitor can access floor. The other rooms, for three rooms : the private use, were not decorated.