Olympic flame Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. The idea for the Olympic flame was derived from ancient Greece, where a sacred fire was kept burning throughout the celebration of the ancient Olympics on the altar of the sanctuary of Hestia. In Ancient Greek mythology, fire had divine connotations — it was thought to have been stolen from the gods by Prometheus. Sacred fires were present at many ancient Greek sanctuaries, including those at Olympia. Every four years, when Zeus was honoured at the Olympic Games, additional fires were lit at his temple and that of his wife, Hera. The modern Olympic flame is
1936 Summer Olympics torch relay Much of the route was split into kilometre-long sections and it was anticipated that each runner would traverse that distance in five minutes, though some leeway was given to allow for difficult terrain and sparsely populated areas. The names of most of the torch bearers, all of whom were male, were not recorded. For the pass of the Olympic flame at Delphi, a milestone with the Olympic symbol in the faces was made for a torchbearers' ceremony in the stadium at Delphi, site of the famous oracle, where the Pythian Games were also held for orders of Carl Diem where