In the modern United States, a form of democracy and sport competitions rule society. Yet, we rarely stop to examine how the two are interconnected. As competition ensued in ancient Greece, the formulation of democratic ideals emerged from athletic competition leading to the early development of democracy.
The first important aspect of athletics in connection to democracy is competition. In ancient times, as the population increased, there was a push for colonization of free land. One theory presents the idea of a Dorian Invasion around 800BC. With the introduction of new, war-like people, a new excitement was brought to Greece. New colonies sprang up in Italy and along the Adriatic Coast as different colonies attempted, and sometimes succeeded,
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Egypt, for example, shows images of board games, acrobatics, ball play, and running. However, in Egyptian representations, only the rulers are actively preforming, or else, the performers were professionals who were putting on a spectacle for the rulers to watch. In either case, the actual society is in no way involved in the athletics (Gardiner 6). The primary difference between Egyptian athletics and Greek athletics were the athletes. In Greece, anyone with the desire and drive to compete could be involved in the competitions, whereas Egypt only allowed the rulers or a select few of highly trained common people to perform for the pleasure of the …show more content…
Overall, sports teach us how to behave. Mass sport assists in the development of trust, participation, and leadership. One important ideal potentially developed from sport is self-efficacy. This idea comes from an athletes drive to work on improvements for both him/herself and the larger group as a whole. As of now, no extensive research has been executed to test this theory (Christesen 88). Unfortunately, sports can also lead to docility, exclusion, hostility and inequality. Depending on which sport an athlete engages in, different ethics can be cultivated and developed. An equal balance of both positive and negative ideals is essential in any democratic society. This is important “because too ready a willingness to be compliant is just as much a threat to a democratized society as complete unwillingness to be compliant” (Christesen 93). Through participation in sports, whether as an athlete or a spectator, a person can develop different morals to enhance, or hinder, the development of democratic ideals. By paralleling the morals cultivated through sport with democracy, a person is taught how to behave in
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
According to Marilyn Stokstad, "the visual arts are among the most sophisticated forms of human communication, at once shaping and being shaped by their social context (xxxviii)." As this quote implies, artistic pieces invariably are a reflection of the culture in which they were created. Thus, art is a potent means of deciphering the values and belief systems of ancient societies. Apoxyomenos (330 BCE), or The Scraper, created by the sculptor Lysippos, is an enduring testament to the importance ascribed to athletics by the citizens of ancient Greece.
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.
Early Greek Olympics were not immune to the political virus. They used the Olympics to show off their prominent cities and to gain support from their communities. Durin...
Ancient Olympic games were created with the primary purpose of developing physical strength and skills for men, while women were forced to follow the path of inequality and predestination. The fact that modern women compete in athletic events such as the Olympics is in many situations the motivation thousands of women have to pursue a new sport or activity. The inclusion of women in the ancient Olympic games as athletes can be seen as a stepping-stone to modern day equal opportunity in sport. The actions of our female ancestral athletes have further liberated women worldwide; providing female role models, health benefits due to increased physical activity, and challenging age-old stereotypes.
1. It has become much harder to identify the true and amateur-taught values around sport in our culture. The passion for competition, the aspect of a team, and the actions of sportsmanship are deep values that sports act to instill. It becomes one of the most important ways to teach those values to our young and unfortunately is becoming easy to forget. Throughout the semester we scrutinized sports, looking at their influence, role, and meaning in our American society today. Two foundations to view sport, critical and functionalist theory, were brought upon early in the semester, laying groundwork for looking at the rest of the topics. To better understand these two view points a working definition of each is needed. The three C’s of: capitalism, coercion and commercialism help describe the critical/conflict theory and view of sport in our United States. When looking with this viewpoint some of sport’s purposes in society include, promoting and expanding capitalistic drives as well as showing the power and privilege of elite groups within society. (Coakley, 2001) On the contrary the ...
In conclusion, though the Greek Olympics shared many similarities with the Gladiatorial Games of Rome they were very different. Religion was a large influence on how the games were conducted. This was also true with spectators for they had a significant role on what happened in the games. Values and attitudes of both cultures can be observed through their games. Lastly that although both of these games were founded and conducted in far-away countries and many years ago, the sports and athletes of today share some of the same values as the athletes from ancient Rome and Greece.
...played and it's job was to keep rhythm while the competitors were running towards the pit.
The Ancient Greek Olympics were not only sporting events, it was a celebration to honor the great and powerful Zeus. The Ancient Olympics were held every four years at the famous Olympia, a district of Elis, here all free Greek men were allowed to compete. The first record of the Olympic Games was held in 776 B.C. The main sports were the Pentathlon, the Equestrian Events, Pankration, and Boxing.
Cherie Dimaline, The Dreamer. Dystopian novels are highly appreciated in the literary world, mainly because of how intriguing they are. These novels pique the mind of avid readers because of the amount of imagery and complexity put into the description of the setting in these books. Through one of her most notable works, a bestselling novel called The Marrow Thieves, Cherie Dimaline is a remarkable example of this point. The Marrow Thieves is a dystopian novel written by Cherie Dimaline, it uses setting to amplify the effect of the many themes and characters as well as using a hostile environment to heighten the conflict of the novel.
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.
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.
Sports throughout history have shown close ties and relations to values and cultures of a society. Sports and competition have adapted and grown as the world and people have grown and developed. Sports are often seen as simple consequence of the industrial revolution. The Impact of increased urbanization, better communication and transportation, as well as more time and income for specialization, all led to the creation of sports. (szymanski). In essence As the public sphere grew so did the concept of sport. (Szymanski). Even the impact colonization had on spreading sports, shows the congruence between the development of society and development of modern sports. What make sports very unique is that they always bring about a sense of culture
Introduction Today, the Olympic Games are the world's largest pageant of athletic skill and competitive spirit. They are also displays of nationalism, commerce and politics. Well-known throughout the world the games have been used to promote understanding and friendship among nations, but have also been a hotbed of political disputes and boycotts. The Olympic games started thousands of years ago and lasted over a millennium.. The symbolic power of the Games lived on after their demise, and came to life again as the modern Olympic Games being revived in the last century. Both the modern and Ancient Olympics have close similarities in there purpose and in there problems.
The Olympic Games were a vital part of Greek culture which was heavily influenced by athletics. Today, the Olympic Games are the world's largest presentation of athletic skill and competitive spirit. Thousands of athletes and spectators participate in this universal event. Revived in 1896, the Olympic Games had their beginnings in ancient Greece, and since then the event is very much comparable to modern Olympic events.