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NEMEA 2008
| In
June 1996 and 2000, history was made . . . and lived! The Nemean Games
were reborn. |
The race begins at the ancient starting line.
| The ancient Greeks celebrated festivals at Nemea that
were part of the cycle of games at Delphi, Isthmia, and (best known
today) Olympia. At each one of these four sites in rotation, for a
brief period each year, wars and hostilities were suspended by a sacred
truce, and all Greeks — Spartans and Athenians, Corinthians and
Argives, Macedonians, and Cretans — gathered in recognition of their
common humanity. This impulse toward peace — albeit limited to a few
days each year — was the first in the history of an organized, regular,
and international scale. Thus, the ancient festivals at Nemea, Olympia,
Delphi, and Isthmia are the direct ancestors of today's Olympic games
as well as of the United Nations. |
The moment of victory.
| The
society for the Revival for the Nemean Games (which now has more than
2200 members from around the world) was founded in the belief that
there is today scope and pehaps even the need for the average person —
regardless of ethnicity, language, religion, gender, age, or athletic
ability — to participate in an international athletic festival. And so
it happened in 1996, 2000 and 2004. More than 1300 people from 45
different countries, ranging in age from 10 to 93, added their
footprints to those of ages long ago while more than 8000 spectators
looked on. |
After a race: athletes from
Greece, Denmark, Oman, Syria, Switzerland.
No
records were kept and no medals were awarded. Families with picnics on
the slopes of the stadium were as much a part of the festival as the
runners. Races were organized by gender and age, and were interspersed
with music and dances. All the participants ran barefoot and in ancient
tunics which they put on in the ancient locker room. And they entered
the stadium through the same tunnel where athletes passed in the 4th
century B.C. They started from the same stone line and with the same
starting mechanism, and the winners received the same initial tokens of
victory — a ribbon tied around the head and a palm branch. At the end
of the day the victors received the same crown of wild celery that was
the ephemeral symbol of the victory at the ancient Nemean Games. But
all the participants were rewarded with feet sore from contact with the
same earth where ancient feet ran more than 2,000 years ago — and by
the knowledge that they had been in direct physical contact with an
ancient idea, an ancient spirit, that still lives at the earth of Nemea.
The
Fourth Nemead will take place on June 21-22, 2008, and you must
register by May 1, 2008. A link to register for the games is at the
bottom of this page.
If
you would like to become a part of this movement and to learn more of
it as it develops; if you would like to help this idea come to be a
reality; and if you would like to be a member of the Society for the
Revival of the Nemean Games please send your name, address, and
membership dues in the form of a cheque or money order for €10 to:
The
Secretary
The Society for the Revival of the Nemea Games
P.O. Box 2008
GR-205 00 Nemea
Greece
Further information is also available by telephone:
011-30-746-24125 (Greece from the USA)
1-510-642-5314 (within the USA)
NAME
___________________________________ AGE_______ M/F____
ADDRESS______________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
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Telephone, FAX,
E-mail_______________________________________
DATE______________
SIGNATURE________________________________
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Victors
from Poland, Germany, Hungary, and the U.S.A.
LINKS
Participate in the
Games
Movie:
"Step into History: Nemea 2004"
(Link to free Real Player for Movie)
Society
for Revival of Nemean Games
Ancient
Basis of Modern Games
Nemea
Stadium
Become
A Member Home
Nemea Home
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