Ancient Greece

The first recorded Olympic Games were held in 776 BCE at Olympia, a holy place honoring Zeus, king of the gods. They were held every four years, just like today!

🕊️ The Sacred Truce: Greek city-states were often at war. But during the Olympics, a truce was announced so athletes and fans could travel safely to Olympia.

🏃 The events

Tap each card. You'll play some of these in the arcade!

The Greeks believed a family of powerful gods lived on Mount Olympus, the tallest mountain in Greece. They told myths, which are stories about gods and heroes. Many myths explained things in nature that people didn't understand yet, like thunder, earthquakes, and the seasons.

Tap each god to learn their powers and symbols.

🦸 Legendary heroes

🚢 Remember the Ship of Theseus philosophy puzzle? That's the SAME Theseus who defeated the Minotaur!

Around 508 BCE, a leader named Cleisthenes helped Athens create a new kind of government. The Greeks called it democracy, from two Greek words: demos (people) + kratos (power). People power!

⚠️ But... only free adult men who were Athenian citizens could vote. Women, enslaved people, and people born outside Athens could NOT vote. That was most of the people in Athens!

🦉 Great Greek thinkers

Athens was also home to famous philosophers who asked BIG questions. Socrates asked questions nobody could answer. His student Plato wrote about his ideas, and Plato's student Aristotle taught Alexander the Great!