Sports and the Olympics
The Olympics were invented by the Greeks in order to honor their gods. They were held at Olympia, located South- West of Greece, which happened every four years. The Ancient Olympics began around early 700 BC, in honor of Zeus.Women weren't allowed to watch the games and only Greek's were allowed to participate. The games evolved over time, in length and events.The order of the competitions are not known exactly, but the first day was mainly sacrifices. Then on the middle day of the festival, 100 oxen were killed for a god. Competitors made their own sacrifices as well.
The second day was the main event, the foot-races, and took place in a stadium. The games had 4 different types of races; the stadion (1 stade, 192m), 2-stade race (384 m.), long run (7-24 stades, 1,344-4,608 m), and the 2-4 stade race (384 -768 m.) where contestants wore armor.
For the other days, there was wrestling, boxing, and pancratium, a combination of the two.
As time went on, boxing became increasingly brutal. The participants started putting things on their hands that would harm the opponents when they punched.
Horse racing was also a sport, though mainly reserved for the rich since money was needed to be able to maintain the animal. The course was 6 laps around. Whoever won was not given the award of the Olive wreath but the owner of the horse would. There were also Chariot races, the only sport that women could do. There were 2 and 4 wheel chariot horses. Not just people did it, but animals too!
After the horse-racing is the pentathlon, series of five events; sprinting, long-jumping, javelin throwing, discus-throwing, and wrestling.
When athletes did the long jump, they used metal or lead weights to help themselves. These weights were called 'halters'. During the jump, it was held in front and swung to the back on the drop down. The intention was to propel the man forward.
There were five city-states that competed:
Sparta did not have a city-state in particular that it allied with, but did anything to sabotage the Athenians. They lied and cheated to win at all costs.
Athens’ arch rival was Sparta. It worked as a team to win and always tried to display their knowledge.
If Megara couldn’t win, it allied with Corinth and Argos. Even then, if it was only Athens and Sparta left, they cheered with Sparta.
Argo mainly wanted to reverse its bad reputation. They were honest, fair, and tried to win as many events as they could. It tried preventing Athenian and Spartan victory and allied with Megara and Corinth if it couldn’t win.
Corinth tried to win, with honesty. If they couldn’t win, they allied with Megara and Argos to stop Athens and Spartan victory.
The second day was the main event, the foot-races, and took place in a stadium. The games had 4 different types of races; the stadion (1 stade, 192m), 2-stade race (384 m.), long run (7-24 stades, 1,344-4,608 m), and the 2-4 stade race (384 -768 m.) where contestants wore armor.
For the other days, there was wrestling, boxing, and pancratium, a combination of the two.
As time went on, boxing became increasingly brutal. The participants started putting things on their hands that would harm the opponents when they punched.
Horse racing was also a sport, though mainly reserved for the rich since money was needed to be able to maintain the animal. The course was 6 laps around. Whoever won was not given the award of the Olive wreath but the owner of the horse would. There were also Chariot races, the only sport that women could do. There were 2 and 4 wheel chariot horses. Not just people did it, but animals too!
After the horse-racing is the pentathlon, series of five events; sprinting, long-jumping, javelin throwing, discus-throwing, and wrestling.
When athletes did the long jump, they used metal or lead weights to help themselves. These weights were called 'halters'. During the jump, it was held in front and swung to the back on the drop down. The intention was to propel the man forward.
There were five city-states that competed:
- Athens
- Sparta
- Megara
- Argos
- Corinth
Sparta did not have a city-state in particular that it allied with, but did anything to sabotage the Athenians. They lied and cheated to win at all costs.
Athens’ arch rival was Sparta. It worked as a team to win and always tried to display their knowledge.
If Megara couldn’t win, it allied with Corinth and Argos. Even then, if it was only Athens and Sparta left, they cheered with Sparta.
Argo mainly wanted to reverse its bad reputation. They were honest, fair, and tried to win as many events as they could. It tried preventing Athenian and Spartan victory and allied with Megara and Corinth if it couldn’t win.
Corinth tried to win, with honesty. If they couldn’t win, they allied with Megara and Argos to stop Athens and Spartan victory.