History of the Olympic flame
WWOS staff
The flame for South America's first Olympics has been lit at the birthplace of the ancient games in Greece, starting a 15-week journey culminating in the August 5 opening ceremony in Rio de Janeiro.
The Games were first held in Olympia in 776 BC and remained there for 12 centuries.
For the ancient Greeks, fire was connected to their Gods, thought to have been stolen from Zeus by Prometheus and handed to humans.
To honour Zeus, a fire was lit and kept burning throughout the ancient Games within the boundaries of Olympia.
The modern Olympic flame is ignited at the site where the temple of Hestia used to stand. In Ancient Greek religion, Hestia is a virgin goddess of the hearth, architecture, and the right ordering of domesticity, the family, and the state.
Fire was introduced at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam.
The torch relay was introduced eight years later, at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.
Its journey to the host city has begun from Olympia ever since.
Eleven women, representing the Vestal Virgins, perform a celebration at the Temple of Hera.
