The Organized Greek GamesThen as Opposed to Now
In his introductory remarks to William Baker's essay on the early"Organized Greek Games" of the classical era, one of the editors of TheWestern Experience, Steven Golden, writes that sports are not merely a kindof sideshow to a nation or a society but a mainstream component of thatsociety's particular set of cultural attitudes. (Golden, 1999) In otherwords, the attitudes of a society towards sports and its athletes mirrorthe values of the larger society. This is the reason that even today, theOlympic games have been resurrected and continue in the form of a comingtogether of various people from different nations, languages and tribesfrom all over the world. The principle of unity and harmony between humanbeings, however tenuous and difficult in a divided land or world, is still The ancient games exemplified the tension between the desire for Greekunity of city-states, which gloriously overcame the autocratic Persians,according to Herodotus' Histories, during the Persian Wars, and the desireto affirm the excellence of individual athletes and states. (The WesternTradition, Chapter 2, 2004) After all, athletics are exhibitions ofathletic glory are individual in nature, and athlet
(Peruses Project, 2004) The games showed the young men's ability to engagein acts of individual physical prowess, by and large, as there were no teamsports, so to speak, and the races and games were similar to the attributesand physical demands an individual might utilize during a time of war, anearly constant threat even during times of relative unity between theGreek city states. Still, in a nod to Greece as the foundation of the Western tradition of thegames, the games have been awarded once again to that nation, despite acertain level of historical controversy if they ever existed as wecurrently envision them in our historical imagination. Rather, ClassicalGreece was a morass of constantly warring city-states, despite the unitythat was honored regarding the defeat of Persia and the establishment ofthe peninsula's independence. es represented theircities, and their cities systems of values, as well as themselves. Still, beforesuch divisions were rife, some commonality was evidently instituted betweenthe city-states, however tenuously as the existence of the gamessimultaneously reaffirmed individual and city athletic excellence as wellas the ability of different polis to put aside their differences. 5, located on the Peruses Project website, "AthletesStories," 2004) Another boxer was claimed by his native Rhodians to be theson of the god Hermes. "Such legends were a common means of explaining howmortal men could perform "super-human" athletic achievements. " The games werethus important socially, as individuals strove to prove their prowess atdifferent events, and also culturally. But the divisive situation of our own era and that of ancient Greeceis quite parallel. The competitors were also all male and Greek speaking. According to the Peruses Project's "FAQ" about the games,this city was chosen because of its ease to reach via ship, and alsobecause it was the oldest religious center of the Grecian world. Thetension between Greece as a country and Greece as a fractious union of self-governing polis was thus embodied in the form of the "Early Games. One Athenian was noted for braggingabout his performance over the course of his participation in theequestrian events, while specific Athletes were commended poetically astheir gifts were seen as exhibitions of Greek and human prowess, as well ashonoring their cities. Of the evidence that exists regarding how the games were structured,and how frequently they took place, archeologically it suggests that thegames were far narrower than the current spate of games offered, largelyalong the lines of track events such as running and the javelin, andequestrian events in the form of chariot racing.
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Acceptance Essays
