An Olympiad is a period of four years, associated with the Olympic Games. Today, an Olympiad refers to a period beginning January 1st of a year in which the Games of the Olympiad are due to occur, and lasting four years. The first modern Olympiad began in 1896, so the second began in 1900, and so on. The twenty-ninth will begin in 2008 (see the Olympic Charter).

Ancient Olympics

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An Olympiad, especially in ancient literature, was a period of four years (Polybius, Histories 9.1.1) counting inclusively (the fifth year during which the games were held was also the first year in the beginning of the new cycle), starting with the games at Olympia. The ancient Olympics, it is believed, originated from Heracles, the eldest of five brothers, who matched them in a race and crowned the winner with an olive branch. The games, in accordance with the number of brothers, were held every fifth year (Pausanias, Description of Greece (Elis 1) 5.7.6-9). By our modern calendar system (Gregorian), the first Olympiad is reckoned to the year 776 BC, which year is arrived at deductively. The first year of the common era (1 CE/AD) is equivalent to the seven-hundred and fifty-fourth year from the founding of Rome (AUC 754) according to the Varronian epoch. The founding of Rome, in turn, is testified as being April 21, in the third year of the sixth Olympiad (OL 6) (Plutarch, Romulus 23-24; Eutropius, History 1.1). So deductively speaking, the first year of the games and the start of the first Olympiad was the summer of 776 BC.

Example: OL 1 - Yr. 1 - 776/775, Yr. 2 - 775/774, Yr. 3 - 774/773, Yr. 4 - 773/772

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