The Olympic Games. A.M.2697.

This is part of a group of drawings by British artist and book illustrator Edward Francis Burney, depicting scenes from Greek and Roman history and mythology. The Olympic Games were founded in Greece in 776 BC by Heracles and Alcmene in honour of Zeus, father of Heracles and king of the gods. They took place every four years in the valley of Olympia between August 6 and September 19, and inspired the modern Olympic Games which began in 1896.