pindar

1) Greek Athletics were egalitarian; those with ability were able to compete regardless of their social status.

Greek athletics were egalitarian in some respects; sport was a largely integrated into the Greek culture and was expressed in their rites of passage, religion and literature. Sport at this time was egalitarian in the sense that everyone was encouraged to perform sport from a young age through their cultural activities, however, when it came to larger festivals we can see aspects of non-egalitarian sport.

From a young age boys are brought to the gymnasium and palaestra where they would be educated under the guidance of civic officials. Physical and intellectual training was available for many, military and public training took place here. To be Greek meant you must have Paideia, this meant to have a certain perception or intelligence of the world, a culture or knowledge. Thus meaning that Paideia was a thing you could work on, you was not an innate quality, paideia was something taught within the gymnasium and palaestra.

At this time if you were not Greek you could not compete in their sporting events. At first this seems non-egalitarian however, because being Greek meant holding Paideia means that individuals who were not Greek could work on becoming Greek through Paideia and eventually compete within the events. Therefore Greek athletics were available to a wide variety of people and not purely exclusive to just one group. This also meant that for the most part, there was no discrimination dependant upon social status. If you were considered to be Greek then you held the ability to compete in athletic events.

Athletics in ancient Greece were for the most part open to all and some individuals even became...

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...e individuals the ability to win items that held great value to their culture, in this case it was a virgin daughter. I would suggest that these types of wins fall under a symbolic capital because there is not only honour and prestige from the win, but also in the continued success of the marriage and six sons that resulted from the win.

I think on a whole this document like the others implements the message around the importance of sport and athletics within the Greek culture. The fact that prizes for the women could be humans, let alone virgin girls, suggests the value the sport has. The winner of these sports would have had high prestige for these wins. The Greeks thought well enough of competition to prove skill and honour of an individual that they were the essence of a test of character and the victors were though to have the utmost regard after their win.