Sport in the Ancient World

Ancient Greece

Many of the sports played in Greece, were Olympic sports. They had the Sprint, javelin toss, disc toss, and long jump. They were similar to how these sports are played today, except with the sprint if you false start, instead of being disqualified, they were beaten and still had to raise. The winner got large amounts of money, and if there was a tie, they would wrestle to see who the winner is. Unlike the Romans, they did not fight to the death, depending on how well the loser fought, something can be awarded to him as well. In the long jump, they jumped with weights in their hands, and today jumpers just jump. For the javelin toss, there was leather wrapped around the stick to allow a better grip for longer tosses. In the discus event, the thrower did not spin before throwing the disc, they stood still.

Sports was something that everyone except women took part in. This was a way to see who was stronger and better, which family bread winners. They did a lot of worshiping to the Gods, before and after the events. The Gods even worshiped themselves, because of their great bodies, and their strength. For the crowd it is entertainment, and they enjoy seeing the competition. The participants in the games were generally men with great bodies, and in shape. The Olympic sports were seen as a job and were well respected.

Ancient Rome

On the other hand, in Ancient Rome, they had Gladiators. Romans loved to fight to the death, for many men in these fights, these are there first and last fight. The crowd cheers them on to hit each other in the weak spot and end the battle. Most fighters were slaves and were fighting for their freedom, but many failed. The uniform that was worn was to protect your face depending on the level fighter the fighter was. Even though there was some uniform, gladiators could not be fully shielded, so this made the fights interesting. The gladiators winner or loser were lusted after from the women in the community and they had that same motto we have now winner takes all and the loser is just forgotten.