© Getty Images

The Ancient Olympic Games -

The inaugural Ancient Olympic Games is traditionally dated back to 776 BCE and the town of Olympia. Pictured is an artist's impression of Olympia, Greece, at the time of the Games.

© Getty Images

Zeus -

The games were held every four years, or Olympiad, in honor of Zeus, the Greek god of sky and thunder.

© Shutterstock 

Fire -

The ancient Greeks conferred upon their games a mythological status, where fire had divine connotations. It's said that Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gifted it to humanity, and sacred fires were kept burning at many ancient Greek sanctuaries.

© Getty Image s

Hera -

At Olympia during the Games, sacred fires illuminated the temple of Zeus and that of his wife Hera, the goddess of women, marriage, family, and childbirth.

© Getty Images 

Temple of Hera -

The Temple of Hera at Olympia dates back to approximately 590 BCE. The original structure was largely destroyed by an earthquake in the 4th century CE. Today, the modern Olympic flame is ignited at a spot near the temple's ruined altar.

© Shutterstock 

Banned and revived -

The Ancient Games were banned in 394 CE by Theodosius I as an unwanted pagan festival. The Olympic Games were eventually revived in 1859 and took place at the restored Panathenaic Stadium (pictured in 1896, when the Games were held for the first time under the auspices of the International Olympic Committee). The stadium today is the last venue in Greece from where the Olympic flame handover ceremony to the host nation takes place. But in the 19th century, the idea of an Olympic flame was yet to be sparked.

© Getty Images 

Amsterdam 1928 -

The tradition of an Olympic fire was relit in Amsterdam in 1928 when the flame made its first appearance of the modern age at the top of the Marathon Tower, which overlooked the Olympic Stadium, the venue for the athletics events.

© Getty Images 

Los Angeles 1932 -

The flame reappeared four years later at the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. In this image taken during the opening ceremony, you can see the top of the tower on the gateway to the stadium, which would be lit.

© Getty Images

Carl Diem (1882–1962) -

While the Olympic flame had been successfully reintroduced, what we know today as the Olympic torch relay—which had no ancient precedent—was yet to be conceived. This tradition was created in 1936 by German sports administrator Carl Diem (pictured), who headed up the Organizing Committee of the Berlin Olympic Games, set to take place in the summer of that year.

© Getty Images 

Running with flame -

Diem's idea was to organize a buildup event for the Berlin Games. He drew inspiration from the relay races held during the Ancient Olympic Games when runners had to keep alight the flame in the torch they were clutching and pass it to their teammates for a successful handover.

© Getty Images

Inaugural torch-lighting event -

In 1936, it was also decided to return to Olympia in Greece for the inaugural torch-lighting event (pictured).

© Getty Images 

The first Olympic torch relay -

A highly publicized event, the first Olympic torch relay saw the flame transported from Olympia to Berlin over 3,187 km (1,980 mi) by 3,331 runners in 12 days and 11 nights. Pictured is the first torchbearer, Greek athlete Konstantin Kondylis, leaving Olympia. 

© Getty Images 

Berlin 1936 -

Pictured is the last of the torch relay runners entering Berlin's Olympiastadion and about to ignite the Olympic flame. The 1936 Games were used by Adolf Hitler to promote his government and the Nazi ideals of racial supremacy and antisemitism. Most Jewish athletes were barred or prevented from participating.

© Getty Images 

Winter Games -

1936 also saw the flame first flicker at the Winter Olympics, held in February at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. It was, however, ignited at the venue and not at Olympia. Pictured is an ice hockey match between the USA and Canada during the Games.

© Getty Images 

Ancient methods -

The Olympic flame for Berlin 1936 was ignited with the aid of a parabolic mirror reflecting the sun's rays, a method used by the ancient Greeks and still employed today to guarantee the purity and integrity of the flame.

© Getty Images 

Cultivating the flame -

The Olympic fire is ignited several months before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. The ritual is performed by 11 women, representing the Vestal Virgins, priestesses of Vesta, the goddess of the hearth, whose task is to ensure that the flame is cultivated and never extinguished.

© Shutterstock 

Old and new -

Symbolic of the Olympic movement, the flame also represents the continuity between the ancient and modern games and the bond uniting the two versions. The flame is pictured being symbolically transferred from the prior Olympic city to the current year's host city at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens.

© Shutterstock 

The Olympic torch -

The Olympic torch relay serves as a symbol of peace, friendship, tolerance, and hope, and travels routes that reflect human achievement. It's carried not only by athletes, past and present, but a whole host of noted individuals and members of the public from all walks of life. Celebrities are also invited to hoist the coveted flame.

© Getty Images 

Unusual modes of transport -

Throughout its history, the Olympic torch has been transported in many different ways, including by boat, airplane, and on horseback. In 2000, Wendy Craig-Duncan, a marine-biologist on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, carried the torch underwater at Agincourt Reef in Queensland, during the run-up to the Summer Games in Sydney.

© Getty Images 

The torch and celebrity -

Muhammad Ali (1942–2016) is pictured in 2001 lighting the first Olympic torch for the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympic Winter Games at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta.

© Getty Images 

Martin Sheen -

Actor Martin Sheen clutching the same torch on the streets of Los Angeles during the run-up.

© Getty Images 

Arnold Schwarzenegger -

Arnold Schwarzenegger is seen here lighting the Olympic flame from a runner as he prepares to run with the torch during the relay ahead of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics in Canada.

© Getty Images 

Michael Bublé -

Canadian crooner Michael Bublé carries the Olympic flame during the Vancouver 2010 Olympic torch relay ahead of the Winter Olympics.

© Getty Images 

Lewis Hamilton -

Formula One race ace Lewis Hamilton with the Olympic flame in England in 2012 during the run-up to the Summer Games.

© Getty Images

Boris Becker -

German tennis supremo Boris Becker waves to the crowds as he hoists the torch during the relay in England in 2012.

© Getty Images 

Olympic cauldron -

The Olympic torch relay in the host country ends with the lighting of the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony. These are always elaborate and carefully choreographed events. The flame then continues to burn in the cauldron for the duration of the Games, until it is extinguished during the Olympic closing ceremony.

© Getty Images 

Mexico 1968 -

Mexican athlete Enriqueta Basilio de Sotelo, the first woman in Olympics' history to light the Olympic cauldron, is seen during the October 12 opening ceremony of the 1968 Mexico Olympic Games.

© Getty Images 

South Korea 1988 -

An Olympic torch bearer salutes the crowd after lighting the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony of the 1988 Olympic Games on September 17, 1988 in Seoul, South Korea.

© Getty Images 

Australia 2000 -

The blazing cauldron slowly ascends a ramp leading to its final position high above the stadium in Sydney after the final torch bearer ignited the 27th Olympiad in 2000, and the first of the new millennium.

© Getty Images 

Greece 2004 -

The flame came home in 2004 when Greece hosted the 2004 Summer Olympic Games. Pictured is the cauldron ablaze during the opening ceremony in Athens.

© Getty Images 

Brazil 2016 -

The Olympic cauldron is lit at the Olympic Boulevard for the 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Games on August 5, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

© Getty Images 

Tokyo 2021 -

The Olympic relay torch was lit on March 25, 2021, in the run-up to the Olympic Summer Games in Tokyo, postponed from 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sources: (Olympic)

See also: The most popular sports in countries around the world

© Getty Images