Nemean Games

The Nemean Games (Greek Νέμεα Nemea, also: Nemeen ) were competitions, which were held every two years in the sanctuary of Nemea in ancient Greece. They were among the Panhellenic Games, and were out in the year before or discharged after the Olympic games; like this, there were games in honor of Zeus.

According to legend, the games were introduced after Heracles had defeated the Nemean lion. According to another tradition, it is due to funeral games for the young king's son Opheltes. The historical evidence for the Games but put only one with the year 573 BC. The winner traditionally received a braided from celery leaves wreath from the city of Argos ( the background of this custom see here).

The management of the Games, the city had Cleonae, which was subjected to 450 BC from Argos and thus had to leave the game line. The program included the following sports: Stadium Run ( stadium length 180 m), boxing, archery, wrestling, discus, javelin, and chariot races. The Athenian general Alcibiades once won the race in a chariot race. Pindar wrote songs of praise for the winners of the games. The stadium of Nemea is fairly well preserved as a ruin until today. Even today, every four years, will be held sports competitions (each in the same year as the Olympic Games ) there.

In 1901 mechanism found by wreck divers of Antikythera ( 1st century BC), which has been fully deciphered until 2010, there is a four-year secondary clock that displays the Panhellenic Games, including the dates at the venue of Nemea.