| （College of Humanities and Communication，Shanghai Normal University，Shanghai 200234，China） Abstract: By analyzing early ritual activities carried out by ancient Grecians and myths about the origin of Olympic Games as well as by examining the early history of Olympics, the author discovered that there is a close relation between ancient Olympic Games and religious faith of ancient Grecians. Early Olympic Games is a way to remem-ber dead heroes, an important constituent part in religious ceremonies, and related to periodical changes of throne. From the perspective of ancient Grecians, hosting a sports competition gathering is a way for humans to communi-cate with God, which can not only soothe the soul of the dead and please God, but also gain the protection of their ancestors, heroes and God. It is based on this kind of religious significance that ancient Olympic Games was estab-lished and developed from a spontaneous local sports competition gathering into a periodically hosted holiday ceremony of all Grecians.
Key words: ancient Olympic Games；athletics；Greek religion |
