The Most Physical Competition In Ancient Olympic Games

The Olympic games originated in Athens in 776 B.C. The more popular modern day Olympic games began nearly 2300 years later in 1896. The games no longer represented a religious festival, but a sports competition instead. The games can be studied via multiple aspects such as political, social, and economic, but this paper will concentrate on the economic aspect of the games and more specifically, the macroeconomic impacts the games possess.

The Ancient Olympic Games took place during a time of prosperity for the nation of Greece. In fact, they contributed to the success of the Greek Empire. The Olympic Games reinforced the power of ancient rulers, brought peace with the surrounding nations, and created a reliable way to track time. These ancient games have had such an influence, that they are still continued in our modern society.

“The Olympic games satisfied the Greek ideal-- that a healthy body was necessary for a well balanced mind.” ( Quinnell, 156)All over Greece every boy practice the five parts of the pentathlon, ( running, jumping, discus, javelin throwing, and wrestling) hoping that one day they would be able to represent their city in the event. Competitors trained year around to get ready for the games. Greece was known to be one of the most powerful civilization during this era. If a war was to ever break out in Greece they had the advantage because of how fit most of the men already were. The Olympics brought the greek world a unique power against other

As running was the most popular of the events of the games, in 724 BC a second running event was added, the diaulos foot-race, which ran two lengths of the stadium. Gradually, as the games gained popularity, other events were added also, including wrestling, boxing, equestrian events, discus and jumping. Over time, development in Greek society constructed different variations of many of the basis games, expanding the event and gaining popularity. The Pankration, a combination of wrestling and boxing, was added and quickly became the one of the most challenging sports played. The Pentathlon event was also added in 708 BC and incorporated 5 separate games; Discus, Javelin, Jump, Running and Wrestling. As the games developed and events were added, the duration of them became longer. By 5th century BC, the games had extended to a 3-day event, and again to cover 5 days. They were held every 4 years, and were always played at the site of Olympia. With the consistent expansion of games came the development of prizes for worthy victors of the each competition. These became more extravagant and desirable as the games gained

In the image of a black figure vase, we can see a clear distinction between the different characters involved during the games. We can see the umpire on the right of the vase, naked and with a whip in his hand, ready to punish any athletes who cheated. The lower bodied athlete signals submission to the umpire, who then forwards the submission to the hellanodikai. The hellanodikai, on the left of the vase, wears a robe, which would have been purple, and a crown to signify his more honourable roll. The five days of the Olympics each had their own special event; the first included the athletes and hellanodikai swearing an oath of honesty and sportsmanship before the statue of Zeus, an unbreakable promise. The second day hosted the horse races and the pentathlon, consisting of discus, the long jump, javelin, running and wrestling, all went on in one afternoon. The third day saw a more religious side to the Olympics; rites for the hero Pelops were given, a procession of all participants, hellanodikai and ambassadors of the different cities took place, and a sacrifice of a hundred cows was given to Zeus. The fourth day was for the running and combat sports, including wrestling, boxing and pankration, which was a sport that combined both the rules of wrestling and boxing. In contrast to the Pythian Games at Delphi, musical events were never added to the Olympic Games. Victors in any of the contests received a crown of leaves as a symbolic prize for their achievements, and

The sport pankration was a mix of wrestling and boxing it was considered to be one of the toughest sports involved in the Olympics. In this sport punches were allowed to be thrown but the fighters did not wrap their hands with protective tape or padding known as himantes. Many Greek thinkers think the sport was created by Theseus when he defeated a Minotaur in the labyrinth. Certain rules that were outlawed back at the start of Pankration were no biting or gouging out an opponent’s eyes, nose, mouth with your fingernails (Oxford University Press). One rule that is definitely outlawed today but was perfectly legal was kicking an opponent in the belly or below the waist as it is considered today. Pankration did have division’s just like boxing and wrestling for men and boys. Although Pankration did have

Although the original ancient Olympic Games can be traced back to 776 B.C, Homer’s Iliad indicates they may have existed as early as the twelfth century BC. The Games were then continued for twelve centuries and were devoted to Olympian deities. Olympia turned into the site of these memorable ancient Olympic games that scattered the seeds for the largest global sporting events of current times, the Modern Olympics. The location of the Ancient Olympics is situated in the western part of Peloponnese. The Ancient Olympic Games continued until 393 A.D when Emperor Theodosius I of Rome discontinued them. There were not any more Olympic games for fifteen hundred years before they were resurrected in 1896 in the city of Athens. The man in charge of the recreation of the Olympic games was a Frenchman named Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who introduced the thought in 1894. He proposed to stage the games in Paris in 1900 but representatives, from thirty-four nations were so captivated with the idea that they persuaded him to move the Games up to 1896 and have Athens serve as the host.

Only nobles were allowed to attend or host a tournament. This, usually known as a martial competition, which was the main event of the competition. Armor was provided for participants; however, it was common for one to be injured. It’s ironic how those who pierced the armor were dubbed “skillful”. Even Queen Elizabeth I enjoyed watching hawking and similar sports.

People around the world have always enjoyed sports and activities. The sports are different, but they reflect the culture of the people. Some sports are more violent than others. Sports have evolved over the years. Frequently sports from the past were more aggressive than the sports that we see today.

However, below that, both legs are showed as toned and muscular through the angular curves formed below the knee. These aspects of proportionality highlight the body type that was overwhelmingly accepted as the ideal figure. According to Greek Art: An Introduction page 1, “The Olympian games were so significant that many Greeks date the beginning of their history as a nation to the first games in 776 BCE”. These games were held to recognize athletes and focus on physical competitions. These games were one of the most defining features of Ancient Greece, which displays their value of strength. They began the idealization of athletic bodies which were clearly displayed in most of Greek art. This admiration for athleticism is displayed in this vase through the use of warriors. This shows that this work of art was also made to respect the warriors and show

While there are clear contrasts between the ancient and the modern Olympics there is still the respect for the athlete striving to perform at the highest level. Today, the Olympic Games are the world's largest carnival of athletic skill and competitive spirit. They are displays of nationalism, commerce, and politics. These important elements of the Olympics are not a modern invention, as the first Olympics was in 776 BC in Ancient Greece. After 1503 years, in 1896 the Olympic Games were recreated as what we know today. The Ancient Games were once dedicated to the Olympian God, Zeus Olympios and were staged on the ancient plains of Olympia, which is also how the word ‘Olympics’ originated from. The modern Olympics is the largest international sporting event, which feature both summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of respectable athletes from over 200 different nations compete against one another. There are clear contrast between the modern and ancient forms of the Olympic Games regarding uniforms, participants, religion, events, politics and the concept of amateurism. However both the Ancient Greeks and the people in the modern world still respect and admire the athletics achievements of the participants making the Olympics the most highly regarded contest in sport.

One exceptionally significant custom of the Greeks still observed today is the Olympics. These ancient games incorporated a concept of free athletic competition without bloodshed. If the Greeks

Sports have been around for centuries, dating back to 776 BC with the first Olympic Games. Ancient civilizations like the Egyptian, Greeks and Mayans all had a sport they enjoyed taking part in. They were created to bring people together and help them settle disputes or conflicts in an organized manner. Great leaders of the ancient world saw a fascination in sports and made it part of their reign to promote the human’s natural competitiveness. Since then, new sports have emerged and also new reasons for one to play. New sports evolve every day all over the world. Everywhere in social media and magazines you will find images of famous athletes and their achievements. Not much history has been left behind by these famous civilizations except for some cave paintings and stories passed down through generations. However, these sports have helped new ones all over the world flourish and the competitive aspect has been kept intact with some modifications to minimize some of its historical brutality.

My group is creating a showcase on the history of the Olympics. The question I would like to answer is “What exactly were the ancient Olympics like?” To answer this question, I decided to start from the beginning.

Following Poliakoff’s introduction to the ancient combat sports, he proceeds to provide a basic outline to the world of ancient combat sports in a series of sections within the chapter, including: The definition of a ‘combat sport’ and its relation to recreation and training; similarities amongst combat sports, training methods and common practise; the premise of athletic festivals, and the organization of said competition.