As Theatre came into existence as a way to worship Dionysus, the Olympic Games were created as a way to worship Zeus.

According to tradition the games were started in 776 BC and then held every four years after that. Competitors and spectators came from all over Greece to the sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia in order to participate.

In the other three years between the “Olympics,” competitions were also held at Delphi in worship of Apollo, at Isthmus to celebrate Poseidon, and again for Zeus at Nemea.

These Panhellenic contests also ensured peacetime in Greece. For the month of the year that the games were held, a truce was enforced between all the different city states.