Scribd
Upload
18 views2 pages

Crete and Greece

Uploaded by

roseannep089
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
18 views2 pages

Crete and Greece

Uploaded by

roseannep089
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

Crete and Greece

Since Minoan script still baffles scholars, it is uncertain whether images


of Cretan boys and girls testing their acrobatic skills against bulls depict
sport, religious ritual, or both. That the feats of the Cretans may have
been both sport and ritual is suggested by evidence from Greece, where
sports had a cultural significance unequaled anywhere else before the
rise of modern sports. Secular and religious motives mingle in history’s
first extensive “sports report,” found in Book XXIII of Homer’s Iliad in the
form of funeral games for the dead Patroclus. These games were part
of Greek religion and were not, therefore, autotelic; the contests in
the Odyssey, on the other hand, were essentially secular. Odysseus was
challenged by the Phaeacians to demonstrate his prowess as an athlete.
In general, Greek culture included both cultic sports, such as the
Olympic Games honouring Zeus, and secular contests.

The most famous association of sports and religion was certainly


the Olympic Games, which Greek tradition dates from 776 BCE. In the
course of time, the earth goddess Gaea, originally worshiped at Olympia,
was supplanted in importance by the sky god Zeus, in whose honour
priestly officials conducted quadrennial athletic contests. Sacred games
also were held at Delphi (in honour of Apollo), Corinth, and Nemea.
These four events were known as the periodos, and great athletes, such
as Theagenes of Thasos, prided themselves on victories at all four sites.
Although most of the events contested at Greek sacred games remain
familiar, the most important competition was the chariot race. The
extraordinary prestige accorded athletic triumphs brought with it not
only literary accolades (as in the odes of Pindar) and visual
commemoration (in the form of statues of the victors) but also material
benefits, contrary to the amateur myth propagated by 19th-century
philhellenists. Since the Greeks were devoted to secular sports as well as
to sacred games, no polis, or city-state, was considered a
proper community if it lacked a gymnasium where, as the
word gymnos indicates, naked male athletes trained and competed.
Except in militaristic Sparta, Greek women rarely participated in sports
of any kind. They were excluded from the Olympic Games even as
spectators (except for the priestess of Demeter). The 2nd-century-
CE traveler Pausanias wrote of races for girls at Olympia, but these
events in honour of Hera were of minor importance.

The sun at the center of the triangle - has eight rays representing the
the eight provinces
Three important reasons to remember
Independence Day
To remember the sacrifices of our heroes and appreciate sovereignty

To spread awareness of our Filipino Culture

To show our love to our country

You might also like