Olympia- the Airburst above Olympia c1323 BC. Part One ©Nicholas Costa 2026
After noting the modern viewpoints concerning why the Sacred Way to Olympia existed, I shall closely examine the route and the mythologies associated with it. They overwhelmingly point to an airburst. The myths have been consistently misunderstood and overlooked. After assessing the route and its attendant mythology I shall examine what the various modern reseach disciplines have determined so far concerning the posibility of an environmental trauma occuring c1300 BC. Do they unknowingly back up my hypothesis?
The Sacred Way
Nobody seems to have seriously questioned why the Sacred Way between Elis and Olympia was so long. It was an arduous route that took the entire procession 2 days to traverse the 58 kilometer distance between the two points.
Modern Conjectures: Limnal Phase?
In his works, such as Eros and Greek Athletics (2002) and Sport in the Greek and Roman Worlds (2014) Professor Thomas F. Scanlon (a leading scholar on the intersection of ancient athletics, religion, and ritual) analyzed the transition from Elis to Olympia as a ritual process. He identifies the journey as a liminal phase, where participants transition from the civic space of the city to the sacred space of the sanctuary. According to him the purpose of this liminality was to grind down the individual’s previous identity so they could be reborn as a sacred athlete at Olympia. According to his theory this transformation was finalized at the arrival in the Altis (sacred grove) where they took the solemn oath before the statue of Zeus.
In the context of the Sacred Way, the theories of Victor Turner (1920–1983) were used by Scanlon to explain why the route was not just a road, but a transformative ritual process. Turner established the theoretical framework that a liminal phase often requires a period of trial, physical separation, and geographic movement to strip away a person’s previous social status.
Scanlon who represents contemporary mainstream opinion most markedly does not attribute the origins of the Sacred Way to a natural disaster. His research focuses on modern interpretations of social, ritual, and political factors rather than the mythologies associated with the event which focused repeatedly upon environmental or geological ones.
The Sacred Way
In ancient Greece, the Sacred Way (Hiera Hodos) between the city of Elis and the sanctuary of Olympia was a 58-kilometer (36 miles) route traversed by athletes, judges (Hellanodikai), and pilgrims. As noted, this two-day journey is commonly interpreted as serving as a spiritual and physical transition from the training grounds of Elis to the sacred competition rather than as a commemoration of an earth shattering event resulting in multiple deaths, from some remote point in the past.
Mythology: The city was the seat of the Eleans, descendants of Aethlius (the name is an adjectival form derived from the Ancient Greek word athlos, which has several layered meanings: (“Contest” or “Trial”: signifying a difficult task or struggle). or his son Endymion (“To Dive Into”: The name is generally interpreted as deriving from the Greek verb enduo, meaning “to dive into,” “to plunge,” or “to enter”.)
Augeas and the Eta Aquarids
Elis was the seat of the mythological king Augeas who was most commonly depicted as the son of Helios (the sun) or of Poseidon (the sea/ earthquakes). His name derives from the Greek word Auge meaning dawn. Followers of these articles will recognize the significance. It is in fact a metaphor for a meteor shower, most probably the Eta Aquarids, a major spring meteor shower that is famous for its early morning activity which appears from the direction of the rising sun (the East). It was the one most closely aligned with the goddess Artemis since it peaks annually around May 6 th the day allocated in antiquity as the goddesses birthday.
The cleansing of Augeas stables is evidently a metaphor for a huge tidal surge, hence the naming of Poseidon as the alternative father of Augeas. In the myth Heracles cleared out Augeas ‘stables’ containing 3,000 cattle (a metaphor for the human inhabitants) by diverting the nearby Peneus and Alpheios rivers.
Stage 1: Departure: The City of Elis. Distance from Olympia: 58 km (36 miles)
The procession began in the city of Elis, the administrative center of the games. It began with a procession that followed the completion of training in the city’s Gymnasiums. Athletes and officials spent 40 days preparing in Elis before marching to the Sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia.
The Temple of Hades (Death) in Elis was located within the ancient city near its agora (marketplace).The people of Elis were famously the only Greeks known to have a temple dedicated exclusively to Hades.The temple and its sacred enclosure were opened only once a year. Even during the annual opening, only the priest was permitted to enter the temple. It was located some 400- 600 meters from the Gymnasium.
The Gymnasium of Elis: Athletes were required to train here prior to the games. It contained the Sacred Track (exclusively for competition-ready runners). The Gymnasium housed an altar to Idaean Heracles (surnamed Parastates, or the Supporter) the reputed ‘founder’ of the games
Street of Silence (Siope): The route exited the Gymnasium, passing by the Sanctuary of Artemis Philomeirax (the friend or protector of youth). Although appropriately named, according to Pausanias the street of Silence was so named from an event in the reign of Oxylus some 80 years after the Trojan war and therefore not related to Pelops. (Pausanias Description of Greece 6.23- 4)
Petra (Stone): It departed the city through a specific point known as Petra (the stone). (Pausanias Description of Greece 6.24. 5).
The Journey South: The path of the Sacred Way then followed the coastline and fertile plains, crossing several key landmarks.
Peneus River: The city stood on the north bank of the Peneus river, which as stated was famously cleansed by Heracles during his fifth labor (the Augean Stables). (Apollodorus, Library (2.5.5).
Pylus: was approximately14.5 km or 9 miles from Elis according to Pausanias. The name comes from the Ancient Greek word Pylos, which translates as entrance or gateway. It sat on the mountain road to Olympia where the rivers Ladon and Peneus meet. It was here than another momentous event was said to have taken place.
The Battle of Hades and Heracles:
According to the geographer Pausanias, this specific Pylus was the site where Hades (Death) fought on the side of the local Pylians against Heracles. During the battle, Heracles managed to wound the god of the underworld with an arrow, a rare instance of a mortal causing direct physical harm to a major deity. It was evidently a memory of survival from a terrible catastrophe.
Pausanias quotes Homer (Iliad, 5.395–402) to support the story that “huge Hades suffered a wound from a swift arrow” when Heracles hit him in “Pylos among the dead” (Pausanias 6.25.3). He explains that Hades fought on the side of the Pylians out of hatred for Heracles and because he had a cult at Pylos. This myth served as the aetiological explanation for why the Eleans were the only people in Greece to maintain a temple and sacred precinct dedicated to Hades (Death).
From Pylus the procession traveled on approximately 9.25 kilometers (5.75 miles) to the Piera spring.
Distances to the Sanctuary of Olympia
The Piera Spring: The distance of the spring to Olympia was 34 km (21.1 miles). It was located at the official border between the territory of Elis and the district of Pisatis.
The etymology of the word Piera is curiously considered to be uncertain. James Frazer noted that “The spring Piera (or Petra) lay on the flat road from Elis to Olympia… It is highly probable that Piera is the same place which is called Petra (Stone) in some manuscripts or by later topographers.” (Pausanias’s Description of Greece, Vol. 4, Commentary on Book VI).
However scant attention has hitherto been paid to the actual Greek root. The verb peiro means to pierce, to transfix, or to skewer. Notably in Homer’s Iliad, it was used to describe skewering meat for roasting (Iliad 1.465) which is a very apt name in the context of the current research.
The spring marked the transition into the lands said to have once been ruled by King Oenomaus. The name derived from oinos and the verb memaa meaning to strive after or be eager acting as a metaphor for chaos as signified by what it is like when one is blind drunk.
King Oenomaus was depicted as the father of Pelops’ future bride. His mother was Asterope/Sterope, meaning lightning or starry. Mythology states that a prophecy predicted he would die at the hands of a future son-in-law, so according to the myth he challenged any suitors to a chariot race, killing them if they lost, until he was defeated by Pelops.
The god Poseidon directly enabled the death of Oenomaus by providing Pelops with a divine, winged chariot. Oenomaus was depicted driving a chariot and carrying a spear which he used to skewer the suitors.
At Olympia itself a relic from the airburst of c1323 BC seemingly survived until Pausanias’ day. He states: 5.20.6 “What the Eleans call the pillar of Oenomaus is in the direction of the sanctuary of Zeus as you go from the great altar. On the left are four pillars with a roof on them, the whole constructed to protect a wooden pillar which has decayed through age, being for the most part held together by bands. This pillar, so runs the tale, stood in the house of Oenomaus. Struck by lightning the rest of the house was destroyed by the fire; of all the building only this pillar was left.”
Sacrificing a Pig
The spring was an important ritual stop where the Hellanodikai (judges) performed a purification ceremony involving the sacrifice of a pig. Pigs are notoriously smelly The offensive odor often associated with them comes from the gases released by accumulated manure and urine—primarily ammonia and hydrogen sulfide. It is also known that airbursts of incoming bolodes can also produce foul odours. (see: Some Space Rocks Are Notorious for Being Stinky, What they actually smell like seems to be in the nose of the beholder. Jessica Leigh Hester, 2020; ‘Cosmic Mudball Meteorite’ Smells Like Brussels Sprouts, Mindy Weisberger, 2019).
This link acts as a potential marker to explain the use of a pig in the ritual for signigicantly in antiquity pigs were also closely aligned with the disease labeled as leprosy. (Beyond Skin-deep: Considering the pig in ancient Greece through the particularities of its skin, Petra Pakkanen, 2021). However the leprosy in question was in fact keloids, a tragic by product of an airburst (see Adam to Apophis, Nicholas Costa, 2026)
Dyspontium: Distance from Olympia: 25 km (15.5 miles). According to the mythology the city was founded by Dysponteus, son of Pelops/ Oenomaus. The name likely stems from the Greek roots dys– (meaning bad, difficult, or unlucky) and pontos (meaning sea). These analogies found in the mythology of the region c1323-1327 BC are very much in line with the findings of Andreas Vott in his 2011 paper that c1300 BC a supra-regional tsunami event during the Mycenaean era buried the cult site of Olympia. This will be explored in more detail in part 3..
Next: Journey to Olympia Part Two: Letrini & The Sanctuary of Artemis Alpheiaia.
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