25→ Museum of the History of the Olympic Games of Antiquity its permanent collection includes 463 ancient objects, divided into sections, thanks to which the visitor follows the history of the
Olympic Games, the most respected institution during ancient times and the longest, as its history spans for more than 1,000 years. The aim of the proposed tour, in a way, is to introduce visitors to the ancient spirit and ideals of the Olympic Games, which the revival at the end of the 19th century sought to restore and elevate. The museum is housed in a magnificent neoclassical building from 1888, donated by national benefactor Andreas Syngros and designed by German architects F. Adler and W. Dorpfeld, who were also associated with the excavation work of the German Archaeological Institute in Olympia. The sections the exhibits are divided into present the birth of sports in Greece, the origin of the Olympics in the myths of the Labors of Hercules, the establishment of other important sports events (the Pythian Games, the Nemean and Isthmian Games and the Panathenaic Games), the awarding of prizes to the Olympians, the evidence of the presence of spectators at the games, the prizes for the winners and, of course, the equipment [discuses, halteres (dumbbells), etc.] used by the athletes. A special section is devoted to the relationship of women with sports. It includes the votive offering of Cynisca, the first woman to be crowned an Olympian because she owned horses that won a chariot race. Reference is also made to the superstar Kallipateira, a great suffragette of antiquity and the daughter of the Olympian Diagoras from Rhodes, who entered the field illegally in risk of the death penalty in order to attend the Olympic Games, in which her son Peisirodos also participated.
62  SUMMER 2020
THE GREEK MUSEUMS