Nemean Games
Ancient Nemea athletics
The Nemean Games were one of the four great Panhellenic athletic festivals of ancient Greece, held every two years at Nemea in honor of Zeus.
Along with the Olympic, Pythian, and Isthmian Games, they formed the circuit that elite athletes traveled.
Winners received crowns of wild celery.
The games took their name from the valley where Heracles supposedly slew the Nemean lion.
- HeraclesGreek demigod, twelve labors
- ZeusGreek sky god
- sacred groveWoodland deemed divine
- wrestlingCombat sport requiring holds
- discus throwHurling weighted disk far
lion · libations · celery · athletic games · funeral games · wreath · hoplitodromos · gymnasium · chariot racing · pentathlon · javelin throw · biennial · footrace · boxing · purification rites · laurel · wild celery · victory
- ancient festivalsSaturnalia, Lemuria, Samhain, Beltane, Olympic Games
- Greek festivalsEleusinian Mysteries, Olympic Games, Pythian Games, Isthmian Games
- Greek sanctuariesDelphi, Olympia, sacred grove, oracle, priestess
Nemean GamesOlympic Games
International multi-sport competition
Pythian Games · Isthmian Games · Olympia · Delphi · Corinth
Nemean Gamesgladiatorial games
Ancient Roman combat entertainment