African Roots Of Olympic Games


  • AFRICAN ROOTS OF OLYMPIC GAMES
    Date: 8/13/2004 3:20:52 AM Central Daylight Time
    From: AlmHai5

    ALL HISTORY IS A CURRENT EVENT

    "The events which transpired 5,000 years ago; five years ago or five minutes ago, have determined what will happen five minutes
    from now; five years from now or 5,000 years from now. All History is a current event."
    ---Dr. John Henrik Clarke

    "I have ridden the shoulders of my mother and my father to arrive at my today, I hold their hands as I test the strength of my legs
    to climb into my tomorrow."

    Knowledge is power. Information is valuable. A people who are ignorant of their past will defile the present and destroy the future.
    "History is a light that illuminates the past and a key that unlocks the door to the future."

    History is a clock that people use to tell their political and cultural time of day.
History is a compass what people use to find themselves on the map of human geography.History tells a people where they have been and what they have been, where they are and what they are.
Most important, history tells a people where they still must go and what they still must be.

History becomes essential. It is your road map for living. For when a people do not know their history they cannot chart their future."
---Dr. John Hendrick Clarke

"The present is where we get lost, if we forget our past and have no vision of the future.?"
---Ayi Kwei Armah


AFRICAN ROOTS OF OLYMPIC GAMES

By Min. Gregory Hodge, Esq.
WO’SE Community Church Of The Sacred AFRIKAN Way - "The Way is MAAT"

In 1988, the spectacular opening of the modern Olympic Games was pure excitement, all ceremony and ritual as always.
With the rest of the world, I watched The Parade of the Nations led by Greeks. A friend watching with me began to ask
some questions.

Why do the Greeks come in first, he wondered.

"Tradition" dictates that the Greek athletes enter first, as the story goes, because the Greeks originated this
international sports competition.“ The Olympics.

But as you know the Greeks get credit for lots of things they didn’t do: they take credit for geometry through such as
the so-called Pythagorean Theory; they take credit for engineering principles even though these principles were
used in the building of pyramids centuries before. So the idea of the Greek origination of the Olympics did not sit well
with me.

I decided to do a bit of digging, a bit of looking into what role African people really played in the creation of The Olympic
Games.

As the opening ceremonies continued, I looked for African motifs. There were drums, like African drums. There was an
exhibition of the ancient martial arts. Ti Kwando from ancient Asia has its roots in Kemet (ancient Egypt). You can
check out certain Kemetic writings and murals. What you will see is that thousands of years before it reached Asia,
Africans were doing martial arts. Those of you involved in martial arts know that they are not purely physical. There
is a spiritual focus too; self-discipline and concern for attributes of the soul. This is right out of the philosophy rooted
in Kemet.

As I searched for the roots of the Olympic Games, I found how important sports were in the training of a young African
prince, Amenophis II. He lived about 1450 BC and was the son of the great ruler Tut-Moses III, who ushered in a
golden age in Kemetic history in which the Hyksos were once more expelled from the land of Kemet. (Egypt)
Tut-Moses himself was a man noted for strength, and his son Amenophis II also excelled.

This future leader’s story is preserved in a stele. Pierre Montet recounts in his chapter on the pharaoh in his book,
"Everyday Life in Egypt", how this prince of the blood and his peers trained in many modern Olympic-type sports:
rowing, hunting, archery and horsemanship culminating in a test of strength, a competition. The stone inscription on
the stele raves of how the young prince excelled in rowing and archery. He broke records in both sports. He could
accurately hit targets of copper set up 35 feet apart while riding in a chariot. Amazingly his arrows not only struck
the targets, but they hit with enough force to pass through and fall to the ground on the other side!

Drusilla Dunjee Houston, in her book, "The Wonderful Ethiopians," reports that as early as 1000 BC Africans
inhabited and ruled the area now known as Saudi Arabia. Our people there customarily had a 30-day-long festival
just prior to an annual pilgrimage to the city called Mecca. This religious festival included not only trading and poetry,
but also international athletic competitions!

Herodotus, a widely respected Greek historian living about 500 BC wrote a bit about the Olympics of his day . This can
be read in his "The History of Herodotus," page 138 of Book II. During the reign of King Psammis in 664 BC,
ambassadors from the Greek state of Elis, the organizing town for the Olympics, went to Kemet, boasting of their
arrangements for the Games by saying, "...Egyptians (Kemau people) who surpassed all nations in wisdom could add
nothing to their perfection."

When the Africans asked the Greeks if the games were open to all, even their own athletes, the Greeks replied that all
could compete. At this the Kemau said that the Greeks departed from justice widely because it was impossible not
favor their own countrymen and deal unfairly with the foreign athletes.

These Africans went on to advise the Greeks of Elis that if they really wished to manage the games in fairness,
they must act only as host and not participate.

Now if one originates something, why go to someone else to check up on the correctness of the rules and regulations?
In all probability since the Kemau had a civilization at least 3000 years before the rise of Greece, they probably indulged
in sports and athletic competitions as well. So in the same way the Greeks went to Kemet to learn geometry and the
higher math’s; in the same way Greeks went to Kemet to learn architecture: in the same way Greeks went to Kemet to
learn science, culture, and theology, they went to Kemet and learned of the games and took the notion back home.

In ancient times, the Greek games were held every four years until they were discontinued by the Roman emperor
Theodosius about 394 AD. This emperor and another one called Justinian, closed down all rituals, practices and
institutions in which were preserved in the ancient African Mystery School (Universities) teachings. At this time
the religion of the people was based on these teachings. For political reasons, the Roman government decided to stop
persecuting Christians. Christianity became the approved state religion of the Roman empire and the Ancient
"Sacred African Way" (Maat) was suppressed to make way for the Roman Catholic church. The ancient religion
was banned throughout the empire of Rome: in Greece, Africa, India, etc.

And the Games were also banned.

If the Games were only athletic competitions, why would they be banned? But the ancient Olympic Games were not
merely games. They were religious festivals and continued the transmission of the African religion - even in an
altered state. These Olympic games were a constant reminder of the religious doctrines which had provided the
foundation for the greatness that had been Kemet.

They had to be suppressed and indeed were until 1896!

Jesse Owens,
  • Jackie Joyer-Kersee,
  • Carl Lewis,
  • Florence Griffith-Joyner,
and the many modern athletes of African descent are a continuation of the long line of superior athletes.

Their achievements add another glorious chapter to
the story of African excellence in the worlds biggest display of athletic endeavor, the Modern Olympics - off spring of

The Kemetic Games of The Nile Valley of Ancient Africa!