The Classical WorldCulture & Arts First recorded Olympic Games 776 BCEMajor Greek city-states gather at Olympia; the games become a pan-Greek tradition for over 1,000 years. ▲ MattersSaveShareTrace roots Longest chain: The Big Bang → First stars ignite → Supernovae seed heavy elements → The Sun forms → Earth forms → First oceans → First life → Photosynthesis evolves → Great Oxidation Event → Complex cells (eukaryotes) → Multicellular life → First animals → Cambrian Explosion → First vertebrates → Jawed fish → Fish walk onto land → The amniotic egg → The Great Dying → Dinosaurs appear → Asteroid ends the dinosaurs → Early primates → Apes split from monkeys → Human line splits from chimpanzees → Walking upright → First stone tools → Genus Homo appears → Homo erectus → Control of fire → First fired clay figures → First pottery → Copper smelting → Bronze Age begins → Minoan palaces on Crete → Mycenaean Greece → First recorded Olympic Games Community notesLoading notes… Learn more ranked by votesDocumentbritannica.comOlympic Games, including the ancient Games (Britannica) ↗Editor's pickBookNigel SpiveyThe Ancient Olympics ↗Editor's pickVideoSearch on YouTubeancient Olympic Games history ↗Editor's pick