Viking Sea July 24, 2022
Empires of The Mediterranean – Olympia, Greece
Winners: Brabec and Guzman Family!
This cruise the Viking Resident Historian challenge was to find the location where Hera’s Priestesses create fire every four years and take a picture reenacting the event. The Brabec and Guzan family rose to the challenge and were first to submit their picture — WELL DONE!
The idea for the Olympic flame was derived from ancient Greek ceremonies where a sacred fire was kept burning throughout the celebration of the ancient Olympics on the altar of the sanctuary of Hestia. Sacred fires were present at many ancient Greek sanctuaries, including those at Olympia. Every four years, when Zeus was honored at the Olympic Games, additional fires were lit at his temple and that of his wife, Hera. The modern Olympic flame is ignited every two years in front of the ruins of the temple of Hera.
When the tradition of an Olympic fire was reintroduced during the 1928 Summer Olympics, an employee of the Electric Utility of Amsterdam lit the first modern Olympic flame in the Marathon Tower of the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam. The Olympic flame has been part of the Summer Olympics ever since. The Olympic torch relay was first introduced to the Summer Olympics at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin.
Leave a Reply