Apartheid In Ancient Greece

The blazing sun beat down on the citizens as sweat poured from their bodies. Their eye's glued on the stadium below them, where the sounds of wooden wheels clanked as they turned faster, eager to get in front of the wheels that lay before them. The heavy, heaving breaths of horses could barely be hear under the discordant roar of the crown. The race is coming to an end, peoples' voices only become louder, and the riders are heard cursing at their horses, screaming at them to go faster. The leading chariot crosses the line for the final time. The crowd begins to yell with delight, while others begin to groan loudly with displeasure. This exciting event only comes around once every four years, so the losing riders go home in attempts to maybe

Competitions began to pick up, and a crave for excitement began to sprout. The Greeks, however, took this to another level and created the "Olympics." They only had a few sports such as "running, long jump, shot put, javelin, discus, wrestling, boxing, pankration, and equestrian competitions," (stated in passage one, paragraph one.) That doesn't really sound like our modern day Olympics, but they didn't have the technology (or time) to make a thirty meter long pool. While all these sports sound fun their favorite was the chariot races, that fits in with the 'equestrian sports.' There wasn't only one type of chariot racing either. They had a "four horse chariot race which came first, followed by race for fully grown horses, a two mule chariot race, a race for mares, a two horse chariot race, and finally a chariot race for foals," (stated in passage one paragraph one). The chariot races lasted twelve laps which equaled about nine miles, while the horse races only lasted about six laps which is about four and a half miles long. It was probably the one Olympic event that the Greeks looked forward too the most. Although in the ancient Olympics only men were allowed to participate in the activities, and married women were forbidden to go due to most of the men competing were nude, but women such as "Princess Cynisca led the way for other women to go on to win in the chariot races in later Olympic games," (stated in the caption in passage one.) Giving us the perspective we have of today, where both talented men and women can compete if they