Sports In Greek Sports

Sport is used in the Greek society as a form of entertainment. It was formed around gender and hierarchy but revolved around religious festivals and events (Golden, 1998). These festivals and events were used to honor the ancient Greek gods and goddesses such as, Zeus, Hera, Athena, Olympia, and Hercules.

The history about sport in Olympia and Nafplio was based on the ideologies that mankind would celebrate and worship the gods. Theories and myths have revolved around the beginning of events and festivals in Greece.

Before the Olympics was the Pythian games, which took place in a Delphi stadium every four years. They began in 586 B.C and lasted five days to honor the Greek god, Apollo the god of music, for defeating the Python (Miesfeldt,

The first day of the competition is devoted to religious celebrations and reenacting the epic fights between Apollo and the Python, by sacrificing animals. The second day was devoted to feasting on those sacrificed animals, which created a sense of community among the participants. The third day began the competition with music and dance by portraying various poetry and drama’s. Athletic competitions began on the fourth day, which consisted of foot races, boxing, wrestling, and pentathlon. The fifth day of the festivals revolved around the chariot and horse races. The winners of these competitions would receive a laurel wreath, made by the boy who played Apollo in the reenactment (Miesfeldt, n.d.). These games helped establish Delphi as the center place prior to the Olympic games (Miesfeldt, n.d.).

The Olympic games were held in Olympia based on the theory that Zeus began the games to celebrate the victory of his father, Comus, who ruled the world. Another theory states that Pelops won a chariot race against King Oenomaus and was to marry his daughter, Hippodamia (Crane, n.d.). While the origin of the Olympic games is unknown, the first recorded games began in 776 B.C at Olympia. The events that were included were horse races, running, jumping, and chariot races. However, over time various events were added (Crane,

Common similarities current society and Ancient Greek society share is the socioeconomic status, geographic areas, and sport relating to religion. Socioeconomics in the Greek society was shown through freeborn men were allowed to participate in games, while others did not. Many freeborn men could not participate in events because they did not have the ability to afford it (Crane, n.d.). For example, any freeman could participate in the chariot races, but without being able to afford a chariot or horse you could not participate. The geographic areas of the athletes affected their training, location of their facilities, and the specific events they could compete in. (Crane, n.d.). This is present in today’s society based on the surrounding areas of athletes and what is commonly participated in. Lastly, sport in Greece was created to honor the gods. Many professional and amateur athletes use religion to balance their lives and explain winning and losses (Coakley, 2014). These ancient festival and events are still practiced in some form today. Many of the Greek philosophies about strength and the human body are practiced today (Miesfeldt,