The ancient Greeks believed that keeping their citizens strong and healthy would help strengthen the city-states. The only men allowed to participate would be Greek speaking. Women were not allowed to compete and married women were not even allowed to attend the games. Ancient Olympics started as a time to honor Zeus. Zeus was the father of all the Greek gods and goddesses.
In this time they were held for a religious event to honor the gods. The “Games” were held in order to honor Zeus, the father of all gods and goddesses. Only free males that spoke Greek were allowed to compete, unlike the games of our modern age in which they’re composed of different national teams. The events were held at Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece and also said to be the home of the gods. They began in 776 B.C.
Also, the Games were an attractive means of getting men fit. Another factor in the traditional Greek view was that the gods championed a winner, so by creating a competition aimed at producing supreme winners, they declare the power and influence on humans of the highest god, Zeus. No women were allowed to watch or participate in the games and only Greek nationals could participate. One of the ancient wonders was a statue of Zeus at Olympia, made of gold and ivory by a Greek sculptor Pheidias. This was placed inside a Temple, although it was a towering 42 feet high.
As distant as 800 B.C., when the Olympics were first played in Greece, the athletes all paid homage to the Greek God Zeus. Sports were started as a religious ritual and the athlete was considered a demi-god, representing both the fans and the gods. In Roman times 2,000 years ago, athletes represented the state during the gladiator games and chariot races. They were seen as soldiers who reassured the citizen that the nation was strong. Today, athletes are not considered to be religious figures but possess great material wealth, privilege, and fame.
Levinson (2006) writes, “the citizens of Athens, the "demos," consisted of a privileged class that excluded women, slaves, farmers, and those who worked by the sweat of their brow,” (p. 1). They also had a difference, Athens had no king, but Sparta had two kings, their educational systems were also different, Sparta adopted the Agoge compulsory education system, while Athens male citizens " studied arithmetic, rhetoric geometry, drawing, and music in the morning and gymnastics in the afternoon," (Farah & Karls, 1999, p. 123), an educational system that encouraged architectural grandeur and democratic
The Spartan King ruled supremacy over his one hundred Spartan bodyguards. In fact, being part of the Kings squad held great honor and meant that they were as what they would call a true Spartan. During a war, only one of the kings went into battle while the other stayed in Sparta. This is evidently told by Herodotus as he states that this ‘conflict between Kings Cleomenes and Demaratus is what finalized this decision in a time around 507 BC. Following on, the King would generalize and plan out military campaigns.
Describe and discuss the Political, Social and Economic long term impacts that hosting the 2012 Olympic Games will have on the city of London in relation to the Event Industry. Total words: 1550 INTRODUCTION The Olympic Games begun at Olympia in Greece in 776 BC. The Greek calendar was based on the Olympiad, the four-year period between games. The games were staged in the wooded valley of Olympia in Elis. Here the Greeks erected statues and built temples in a grove dedicated to Zeus, supreme among the gods.
Plays were only presented at City Dionysia festival. Athens was the main center for these theatrical traditions. Athenians spread these festivals to its numerous allies in order to promote a common identity. At the early Greek festivals, the actors, directors, and dramatists were all the same person. After some time, only three actors were allowed to perform in each play.
Acropolis, one of the oldest sites in Greece, literally translates to “the highest point in town.” The Parthenon and Mars Hill exist as the two historically important sites on the Acropolis that have impacted the history. In honor of Athena, the citizens of Athens built the Parthenon. Since then, Greeks have carefully preserved the remains impressively. In Ancient Greece, Mars Hill or Areopagus, “hill of Ares,” existed as an important meeting place. In Acts 17:16-34, Paul stood on Mars Hill to tell the Athenians about their “unknown god.” I had trouble navigating Mars Hill because the rocks consisted of marble so one could easily slip and fall.
The opening ceremony is an Olympic tradition, of which has been upheld for 114 years. In honor of the original games held in ancient Greece, the Olympic athletes of Greece march into the stadium first. The athletes of the other countries then follow in alphabetical order by country, according to the spelling in the language of the host country. The athletes of the host country enter last. For the first time ever in the Summer of 1956 Olympics, during the Closing Ceremony athletes from all nations entered the stadium in unity, rather than marching in one nation at a time.