Who did it affect? What role did it play in Greek society? How did it develop?
Sports were very important throughout all the periods of Ancient Greece, although it is not until 776BC that they decided to begin the Olympic Games. Sports started as an activity that men enjoyed to do for their own entertainement; they would gather at a gymnasium (which most cities had) and would compete against each other. Greeks preferred individual sports as oppose to team sports because they liked to determine the alpha male of the crew. The Olympic Games included : long jump, throwing the discus and javelin, wrestling, boxing, chariots races, horse races, and even poetry and drama competitions. Also, there was a more gruesome fighting sport called Pankration which was a mix between wrestling and boxing, the only forbiden tactics were eye-gouging and biting.
The Olympic Games were directly aimed towards men, woman were not only banned from competing in the games, they were also banned from watching the competitions. Consequently, they had their own type of competitions that took place at Olympia in the honnor of the goddess Hera. Furthermore, the men who watched the Olympic Games were part of the higher social classes of Greece, considering this event only happened once every four years; the wealthy were the only ones priviledged enough for entertainement.
These competitions played such a strong role in Greek society that they forbidded war between city-states or any other type of conflict to ensure the safety of fans and athletes traveling from far away to attend the Olympics.
The Olympic Games were directly aimed towards men, woman were not only banned from competing in the games, they were also banned from watching the competitions. Consequently, they had their own type of competitions that took place at Olympia in the honnor of the goddess Hera. Furthermore, the men who watched the Olympic Games were part of the higher social classes of Greece, considering this event only happened once every four years; the wealthy were the only ones priviledged enough for entertainement.
These competitions played such a strong role in Greek society that they forbidded war between city-states or any other type of conflict to ensure the safety of fans and athletes traveling from far away to attend the Olympics.