Kotinos - Olive Wreath - Prize for the Winner at the Ancient Olympic Games - Earrings - 925 Sterling Silver

Item Specifics

Condition: New, handmade in Greece.
Height: 2 cm - 0,8 inches
Width: 2,5 cm - 1 inches
Weight: 4,8 g (+-0,5)
Material: Silver 925

The Olive wreath also known as kotinos was the prize for the winner at the ancient Olympic Games. It was a branch of the wild olive tree Kallistefanos Elea (also referred to as Elaia Kallistephanos) that grew at Olympia, intertwined to form a circle or a horse-shoe. The branches of the sacred wild-olive tree near the temple of Zeus were cut by a pais amphiphiles (a boy whose parents were both alive) with a pair of golden scissors. Then he took them to the temple of Hera and placed them on a gold-ivory table. From there, the Hellanodikai (the judges of the Olympic Games) would take them, make the wreaths and crown the winners of the Games.
According to Pausanias, it was introduced by Heracles as a prize for the running race winner to honor his father Zeus. In the ancient Olympic Games, there were no gold, silver, or bronze medals. There was only one winner per event, crowned with an olive wreath made of wild-olive leaves from a sacred tree near the temple of Zeus at Olympia. Olive wreaths were given out during the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens in honor of the ancient tradition because the games were being held in Greece which was also used as the official emblem.
Herodotus describes the following story which is relevant to the olive wreath. Xerxes was interrogating some Arcadians after the Battle of Thermopylae. He inquired why there were so few Greek men defending the Thermopylae. The answer was "All other men are participating in the Olympic Games". And when asked "What is the prize for the winner?", "An olive wreath" came the answer. Then Tiritantaechmes, one of his generals uttered: "Good heavens! Mardonius, what kind of men are these against whom you have brought us to fight? Men who do not compete for possessions, but for virtue."'
Aristophanes in Plutus makes a humorous comment on victorious athletes who are crowned with wreaths made of wild olive instead of gold:
Why, Zeus is poor, and I will prove it to you. In the Olympic games, which he founded, and to which he convokes the whole of Greece every four years, why does he only crown the victorious athletes with wild olive? If he were rich he would give them gold.
The victorious athletes were honored, feted, and praised. Their deeds were heralded and chronicled so that future generations could appreciate their accomplishments. The names of the Olympic winners formed the chronological basis of the ancient world, as arranged by Timaeus in his work, The Histories.