Why Pisa
Ancient Pisa, also known as Archaia Pisa, is a settlement and historical site located in the regional unit of Elis on the northwestern Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece. Situated roughly two kilometers from the ancient sanctuary of Olympia, the modern village forms part of the Ancient Olympia municipality. Historically, the name Pisa refers both to the modern village and to an ancient city-state that once vied for regional dominance and control over the nearby sacred precinct of Olympia.
The ancient settlement of Pisa was positioned about one kilometer east of Olympia within a district known in antiquity as Pisatis. This political unit encompassed a confederacy of eight local states across half of modern Elis, including settlements such as Heracleia, Harpinna, Salmone, Cycesium, and Dyspontium. Early traditions attributed the founding of Pisa to mythical figures like Pisus, or associated its name with a local spring, low-lying marshlands, or native black fir trees. Traditional lore also linked the area to the figures Oenomaus and Pelops, as well as stories regarding the colonization of Pisa in Italy, though modern scholars view these origin tales as folk etymologies.
During antiquity, Pisa, Olympia, and Elis engaged in repeated struggles for sovereignty and the administration of the festival of Zeus, which originally fell under Pisatan authority. In 747 BC, the Pisatans seized leadership of the games with aid from King Pheidon I of Argos before Spartan intervention restored Eleian control. King Pantaleon later forcibly captured Olympia in 644 BC during the Second Messenian War to celebrate the games. Following a final failed invasion of Elis by King Pyrrhus in 572 BC, Eleian forces completely destroyed Pisa and its allied towns, removing the city from subsequent history.
Despite the physical destruction of the original city—which Pausanias later recorded as having been converted into a vineyard—the Pisatans briefly returned to conduct the Olympic festival alongside Arcadians in 364 BC. Classical writers such as Pindar and Herodotus frequently associated or identified Pisa with Olympia. Under Ottoman rule, the local settlement was known as Moiráka, which was later adjusted to Miráka in 1940. In 1997, the modern village formally adopted the name Ancient Pisa, and today the site serves as the home of the International Olympic Academy.
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