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Political of Athens and Sparta
Athens vs Sparta Debate and Essay
Importance of ancient Olympic games
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The ancient Olympic Games were a microcosm of Greek antiquity. Olympia was one of only a handful of festivals that had the prestige to draw athletes into competing from all corners of ancient Greece and the Greek colonies and kingdoms spread throughout the antique world. As the author Stephen G. Miller asserts that “The games brought all Greeks together (to the exclusion of all non-Greeks, to be sure) and, in some sense, promoted international (that is, inter-polis) communication and understanding, albeit on a much more restricted level than today.” And with athletes competing from every Greek state, it is no wonder that politics were endemic to the ancient Olympic Games. The ancient Olympics Games provided an avenue for Greek states to cultivate …show more content…
The most famous of these proxy disputes was between the Greek states of Athens and Sparta. The Olympic rivalry between Athens and Sparta took form in tethrippon race, culminating in the famous story of Alkibiades, who fearing the continuation of a Spartan winning streak, entered seven charioteers from Athens into the next Olympiad, successfully breaking the Spartan winning streak in the event. Just as there were disputes between Greek states at the Olympics, there were also those between the Olympia herself and different Pan-Hellenic festivals. The most serious dispute was between Olympia and Isthmia, and it involved the “curse of Moline.” This curse has a complex history behind it but the basic ramifications were that the people of Elis – the city state which controlled the Olympics – were banned from competing at the Isthmian Games. Olympia was involved in other disputes with Pan-Hellenic festivals like the Macedonian Olympics, which were a kind of fraudulent Olympics held in Macedonia, as well as with the festivals at Sybaris. The Greek state of Sybaris decided to hold their own festivals alongside of those at Olympia, and attempted to lure Olympic athletes with immense cash prizes to compete at Sybaris instead; these festivals were ultimately unsuccessful and terminated after a few
Since 776 BCE, the Olympics have been a way for people of different cultures to come together and compete in friendly competition. In 1892 the first modern Olympics were held in Athens, although it had been over a thousand years since the last game it still had brought together an assortment of different religions and ethnic groups together. Many factors shaping the Olympic Games reflect the changes that have taken place in our world since the last game in 393 CE in Greece such changes include woman’s suffrage, global economy, world wars, and proving competency.
In 480 and the years prior the Athenians and Spartans, banned together to defeat the Persian Army. The Spartans stand at Thermopylae, allowed the Athenians time to prepare, and ultimately allowed the victory. With both of these great city-states located so close together in Hellas, there differences would ultimately lead to dissension. Throughout the course of this paper, I hope to explain the reasoning behind the dissension between Sparta and Athens, made war between these former allies inevitable.
Athletic events at this time were also closely related to the religious beliefs and practices of the Greek citizens. Each competition was devoted to a specific pagan god. For example, the patron of the Olympics was Zeus. The Greeks believed that the physical strength and ability of athletes was a direct gift from the gods (http://www.meiaconcerto.com/olympic/olympia/ideal_o.php, September 27, 2004). Therefore, each athlete competed not only in honor of his city-state, but also in honor of the gods.
There were several offenses committed by both Sparta and Athens and the Megarian Decree was yet another instance of strain in the relationship between the two
The time has come again for Olympics games to begin. Organizers of the Olympics must choose the finest statues from a certain time period; they chose to decorate with the Classical period. They believed that the Classical period would best decorate the course of the marathon because they believe that the Classical statues characterize both modern and ancient values the best. The three Classical statutes that would best signify both ancient and modern values would be: The Charioteer from Delphi, The Discus Thrower, and Zeus/Poseidon. These three Classical statutes would best depict both modern and western values because of their characteristics of determination, freedom of expression/language, as well as their perfection of form.
In Michael Poliokoff’s book Combat Sports in the Ancient World: Competition, Violence, and Culture, the author argues against the commonly held belief that the classical Greek agon, or athletic competition was primarily used a means of training soldiers and preparing them for battle. In making this argument, much of his evidence comes form the Homeric epics. While Poliokoff uses these sources to make an entirely valid argument about the function of the agon, he often presents these sources without the level of context and analysis that could have significantly strengthened his argument. Furthermore, Poliokoff occasionally make claims about the nature of sport in ancient Greece without providing sufficient evidence, leaving the reader to doubt
Historians. In 300 BC all time was dated by Olympiads, a time span of four years
The two adversaries of old Greece that made the most commotion and gave us the most customs were Athens and Sparta. They were near one another on a guide, yet far separated in what they esteemed and how they experienced their lives.
Modern Day Olympics are a huge tradition that sweeps the screens of televisions across the world. Competitors take the arena with uniforms that dawn their countries colors and designs that are meant to resemble their designated flag. For months the news is centered around the games; the preparation, the athletes, and of course the competition. Countries aren 't obsessed, they are inspired and full of pride seeing athletes from their country compete and show their incredible skill. This tradition dates back to ancient Greece where the games began. Tony Perrottet writes about the traditions of the ancient game in his book The Naked Olympics.
...rces, but in the historic years their founder is said to be Oxylos whose descendant Ifitos later rejuvenated the games. According to tradition, the Olympic Games began in 776 B.C. when Ifitos made a treaty with Lycourgos the king and famous legislator of Sparta and Cleisthenes the king of Pissa (Coote p. 13). The text of the treaty was written on a disc and kept in the Heraion. In this treaty that was the decisive event for the development of the sanctuary as a Panhellenic centre, the "sacred truce" was agreed, that is to say the ceasing of fighting in the entire Greek world for as long as the Olympic Games were on. As a reward for the victors, the cotinus, which was a wreath made from a branch of wild olive tree that was growing next to the opisthodomus of the temple of Zeus in the sacred Altis, was established after an order of the Delphic oracle.
Dr. Donald Kyle, in his book Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient world, makes the argument that ancient Greek athletic participation was technically open to all male Greek citizens, but not all male Greeks could or did participate. Dr. Kyle asserts that because all male Greeks had access to athletics from youth that sport in ancient Greece was democratic. But, when it comes to spectacle or what would more modernly be seen as professional sport, it was often aristocratic athletes performing in front of a crowd of lower-class people. The way lower-class people would have perceived sport is much different than how an aristocratic athlete would have viewed sport. Sport in ancient Greece was not democratic; every male Greek citizen had the opportunity
The Olympic Games plays a significant role in the world. The relationship between it and host countries is important to investigate for comprehending cultural studies. According to Xu and Kirby (2008), the Olympic Games has a considerable impact on the expression of national identity. For example, London applied this approach to promote its national identity. This can be discovered from the BBC video called James Bond escorts The Queen to the opening ceremony in 2012 (2012): an amiable identity is perceived by the audience through presenting corgi at Buckingham Palace. Moreover, China is no exception. There is an image about the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympics, it shows a spectacular drumming performance. In addition, an article about
Greek athletes and athletics have influenced modern athletics in many ways. First, the Greeks created the Olympic Games. Second, the Greeks influenced a lot of brands that people use today including in sports. Last, Greeks influenced many other sports that athletes take part in today. The Greeks had a huge influence in modern athletics.
Modern Olympics vs. Ancient Olympics In Ancient Greek times, the Olympics was a yearly event, which took place. the whole preceding year to prepare for. Today the Olympics take place every four years and we spend the 4 or 5 years leading up to it to prepare. Then, the sand is ready. The ancient Olympics lasted for 5 days but today the Olympics last 3 - 4 weeks.
Ancient Olympics The ancient Olympics had some differences from the modern Games. There were fewer events, and only free men who spoke Greek could compete, instead of athletes from any country. Women where not allowed to even watch the games on penalty of death let alone play in them.. Also, the games were always held at Olympia in Greece instead of being moved around to different sites every time. But also they had some similarities to our modern Olympics, winning athletes were heroes who put their home towns on the map, and became financially sound for life. The conflict between the Olympic's ideals of sportsmanship and unity and the commercialism and political acts which accompany the Games where also present in ancient times. "Sotades at the ninety-ninth Festival was victorious in the long race and proclaimed a Cretan, as in fact he was. But at the next Festival he made himself an Ephesian, being bribed to do so by the Ephesian people. For this act he was banished by the Cretans."