Transcript No Slide Title

Chapter 7
Early
Cultures
• PE in US borrowed from
development of Europeans from
prehistory to 1800s.
• Included survival skills:
running, jumping, wrestling,
swimming, climbing, throwing.
• Tribal/family leaders taught
skills through imitation.
•Egyptians
–Warrior class used weapons,
chariots
–Dancing for ceremony &
entertainment
–Tomb painting illustrate
acrobatics, hop & jump, ball
games, and wrestling.
•Chinese
–Military class
used defensive
skills
•India
–deemphasized
physical aspects
•Greece
–Birthplace of Western
civilization
–4 periods: Homeric,
Spartan, Early Athenian
& Late Athenian
•Before 776 BC
•Named for Greek Poet
–Iliad & Odyssey
•Greek Ideal
–Arete
–mental, moral, physical
excellence
"Always excel, and be
preeminent above
others, and not bring
shame on the line of
my ancestors..."
Iliad 6.207-11
•776-371 BC
•leading city-state
•agoge
–controlled by government
–boys conscripted 7-30
–strict discipline
•776-480 BC w/ democratic
framework
•education
–private 7-18
–palaestra & paidotribes
•adult males
–military 18-20
–Upper class in gymnasiums
•480-338 BC
•Victory over Persia lead to
expansion
–emphasis on individual
needs instead of state
•fell to Macedonia in 338
The Ancient
Olympics
From 776 BC, the
Games were held
in Olympia every
four years for
almost 12
centuries.
The first recorded Olympic
Games took place in 776 BC.
There was just one event, a
race over a distance called a
stade. A stade was about 180
meters, nearly the length of the
stadium at Olympia. The race
was won by a young cook,
Coroebus, from Elis.
•Part of a major religious
festival honoring Zeus; chance
to assemble
•Discussions of political issues;
form alliances.
•Also scene of political
rivalries
– instituted by the city-state of Elis
– announced by heralds sent out to
all corners of the Greek world to
announce the approaching Olympic
festival
– also announce Truce, which
protected athletes, visitors,
spectators and official embassies
who came to the festival.
Chariot race of the funeral games
of Patroklos: our first glimpse of
organized Greek athletics where
prizes are awarded. Note the
cauldron and the tripod as prizes.
•Today’s Games are the world's
largest pageant of athletic skill
and competitive spirit.
•They are also displays of
nationalism, commerce and
politics.
•This conflict has been noted since
ancient times.
In one of Aristophanes's
comedies, one character
recommends that another rub
his neck with lard in preparation
for a heated argument with an
adversary. The debater replies,
"Spoken like a finished
wrestling coach." (Aristophanes,
Knights l.490ff.)
•Sotades at the ninety-ninth
Festival was victorious in the long
race and proclaimed a Cretan, as
in fact he was.
•But at the next Festival he made
himself an Ephesian, being bribed
to do so by the Ephesian people.
•For this act he was banished by
the Cretans.
•Sculptors were commissioned to
create statues of victorious
athletes
•Statues set up in the Sanctuary of
Zeus at Olympia were idealistic
images of athletes.
•Only if an athlete won three
Olympic victories could a realistic
likeness of the athlete appear in
the Sanctuary.
Model of the Sanctuary of
Zeus at Olympia
• fifteen kilometers from
the Ionian Sea.
• built on a grassy plain,
north of the Alpheios
River and south of
forested hills.
• The buildings of Olympia
formed a small "V" around
Kronos Hill.
• The most prominent
structures of Olympia were:
–the gymnasium
–stadium (for the footraces)
–hippodrome (for horse
races).
•Boxing
•Equestrian
–chariot
–riding
•Pankration
•Pentathlon
–discus
–javelin
–jump
–running
–wrestling
•Running
•Wrestling
Boxing added in 688 BC
• Boxers fought until they either collapsed
or admitted defeat.
• The boxer wore leather thongs on their
hands as a sort of boxing glove.
• With time, gloves became harder.
• If no one went down or gave up, the
boxers often agreed to exchange blows
until one collapsed.
Trainer Watching Wrestlers
Tethrippon (4 horses)
• Racers in outside lanes had a longer
distance, but a mechanical device opened
the gates in sequence.
• The owners of the horses were rarely the
ones racing them.
• They would hire someone to race, but if
the racer won, the owner would be
proclaimed winner.
• The horse-race was added
at the thirty-third
Olympiad.
• The rider was usually paid
by the owner.
• Jockey rode bare-back on
one horse.
• grueling combination of
boxing and wrestling
• rules outlawed only biting
and gouging an opponent's
eyes, nose, or mouth with
fingernails
• had separate divisions for
both men and boys
• Xenophanes describes the
pankration as "that new and
terrible contest...of all holds"
• Discus contestants were given five
throws
• The best throws were counted.
• There were not many records of
discus.
• One, however, states that a famous
athlete had a throw of 30 meters.
• The current world record is
67.5meters.
Javelin Technique
• The javelins were usually made from
light wood and a leather thong was
used as a grip.
• In competition, an athlete would run
with the javelin horizontal to his ear.
• When he reached the measurement
line, he would throw the javelin.
Halteres
• Halteres were hand weights that looked
like telephone receivers.
• The jumper would swing them as far
forward as he could during take-off
and swing them backwards as he
landed.
• Jumping was often accompanied by a
flute.
Races at Olympia
–1 stade (192 m.)
–2-stade race (384 m.)
–long-distance run which
ranged from 7 to 24 stades
(1,344 m. to 4,608 m.).
–2 to 4-stade (384 m. to 768
m.) race by athletes in armor
also known as...
Hoplitodromos
Competitors wore
• helmet
• greaves (armor for the legs)
• rounded shield
The races were
run in heats, and
the last racer
remaining was
the winner.
Wrestling
• Blows were not allowed.
• Tripping was permitted.
• No biting or gouging was
allowed.
• There was no weight
distinction.
Wrestlers were anointed
with olive oil then dusted
with powder to make
them easier to grasp. The
competition took place in
the "keroma", or beeswax,
a muddy and sticky arena!
•Only free men who spoke
Greek could compete.
•Married women were barred
on penalty of death from the
Sanctuary of Zeus on the days
of the athletic competition for
boys and men.
MILO
With five victories at Olympia, perhaps
the most famous and successful of
Olympic wrestlers was Milo. When
attempting his sixth Olympic victory at
forty years old, he was finally beaten by
a younger man.
Mr. Fingertips
A famous pankriatist named
Sostartos was nicknamed "Mr.
Finger-tips," because he
would break his opponents
fingers early in the match to
make them surrender.
•ancient athletes regularly
received prizes worth
•the word athlete is an ancient
Greek word that means "one
who competes for a prize"
•related to two other Greek
words, athlos meaning
"contest" and athlon meaning
"prize."
Cities which sent competitors to the Olympics
in the 5th century B.C.
• Interest in books and the
arts
• Conquering Romans
turned to different forms of
“sport”
• Early Christians were against the
Olympics because they were a
celebration for the gods.
• One of the first Christian emperors
of Rome, Theodosius the Great,
discontinued the Games indefinitely
in 394 A.D., after 320 Olympiads
and after about 1200 years.
Websites used in this
presentation:
•http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/sports.html
•http://www.he.net/~archaeol/9607/abstracts/
olympics
http://www.hickoksports.com/history/olancient.html
•http://library.thinkquest.org/20622/the.htm
•http://devlab.cs.dartmouth.edu/olympic/
•http://www.ausport.gov.au/anc.html
•htmlhthttp://www.upenn.edu/museum/Olympics/
olympicintro.html
•http://www.ecnet.net/users/gemedia3/Olympics/olym
pics.html