Hey all of you people! This is my final post for my unit in ancient greece. My subject to focus on is the history of the olympics and sports. Sports are a big part of our world today. We have many leagues and games that all of us play everyday. But where and how did these games originate? The truth is that most games came from Greece, the biggest country of their time. They created the Olympics, games that were meant for entertainment, and to show who was the stronger person. Olympics today are for athletes of the top level, at the time of Greece, anyone could participate, and whoever won got glory and fame. The olympics today are to show who is the stronger country, from athletes, to smartness and cunningness to make the best equipment for their athletes. Discus was one of the six events in the pentathlon. Discus was one of the biggest sports around. They discus itself was made of stone, but later changed to bronze, lead, or iron. They were as big as 17cm by 35cm and weighed from 2.5km to 0.5km. The only more important sports around the time in ancient Greece were the 100-meter dash, and the chariot race.
Greece flourished from 1000 B.C.E. to 330 B.C.E. In those time periods, Greece invented the Olympics, created further colonies, conquered different islands, and expanded their land to about all of the mediterranean land, part of Asia, and Africa. Greece was one of the greatest civilizations of all time, but the real question is, what happened to them? Their language is a dead one, and there are very few people who are actually Greek. The answer is that they were completely swept away by the Romans. Rome, after the Greek golden age, was the greatest civilization of all the land. After Greece fell to the power of Alexander the Great, he seized total domination and controlled almost all of the known land. Romans thought of the rituals that the Greeks played, such as the olympics were terrible, so they banned the festivals until they were played again in 1894. The Greeks liked to play six main sports. The six were in the pentathlon, and in those events, included jumping, discus throwing, wrestling, boxing, pankration, and equestrian events. Those were very important to the competitors because it showed who was stronger and more “manly.”
The main sports played in ancient Greece were boxing, equestrian events, chariot racing, riding horses, pankration, pentathlon, discus, javelin, jumping, running, and wrestling. As of today, all of these sports are played daily. The olympics also consists of these events, along with many others. The history of the Olympics started 3,000 years ago. The first winner of the only event was a cook named Koroibos, who won the 192-meter footrace. After the fall of Greece, The Romans were disgusted by the Olympics, who ended the festivals of the Olympic tradition after about 12 centuries. The modern Olympics didn't start over again for another 1,500 years until the French brought it back. The man to do so was a physical education Baron named Pierre de Coubertin. Sometimes I look at the five different colored rings of the olympics symbol, but I never really noticed what it meant. Then I noticed that the rings symbolize the continents. North and South America, Asia, Africa, Europe, and Australia, each continent a different color. Back in the ancient olympics, there was no symbol to show what the ancient olympics meant. It was just named the olympics, and was festive every four years. We today share the tradition as the ancient Greeks did thousands of years ago.
Today, cultures that the Greeks believed in are the same ones we believe now. People still believe of gods and goddesses, even the Greek ones. We still use the inventions created by the greeks, such as the bathroom, plumbing, irrigation, houses, farming skills, vending machines, the Pythagorean theorem, and many other inventions. The greeks were amazing at war, (remember the battle of Troy) and could use anything to their advantage. Sports equipment, rocks, sword and shields, spears, bow and arrows, hatchets, and chariots. They were so smart that they could beat the Persians, the strongest and biggest civilization of that time, who conquering almost all of Asia, Africa, Europe, and many different islands.
Over this trimester, the main focus is about Greece. For about two and a half months now, I have been learning as much as I can of how they lived, different religions, sports, architecture, battles and war, the arts, and their language. The blog project has been my favorite project of this year, and I hope to use this blog for later on in my personal life, not just for school. Thank you, whoever is reading my blog, for giving me a reason to write all of this information.
Greece flourished from 1000 B.C.E. to 330 B.C.E. In those time periods, Greece invented the Olympics, created further colonies, conquered different islands, and expanded their land to about all of the mediterranean land, part of Asia, and Africa. Greece was one of the greatest civilizations of all time, but the real question is, what happened to them? Their language is a dead one, and there are very few people who are actually Greek. The answer is that they were completely swept away by the Romans. Rome, after the Greek golden age, was the greatest civilization of all the land. After Greece fell to the power of Alexander the Great, he seized total domination and controlled almost all of the known land. Romans thought of the rituals that the Greeks played, such as the olympics were terrible, so they banned the festivals until they were played again in 1894. The Greeks liked to play six main sports. The six were in the pentathlon, and in those events, included jumping, discus throwing, wrestling, boxing, pankration, and equestrian events. Those were very important to the competitors because it showed who was stronger and more “manly.”
The main sports played in ancient Greece were boxing, equestrian events, chariot racing, riding horses, pankration, pentathlon, discus, javelin, jumping, running, and wrestling. As of today, all of these sports are played daily. The olympics also consists of these events, along with many others. The history of the Olympics started 3,000 years ago. The first winner of the only event was a cook named Koroibos, who won the 192-meter footrace. After the fall of Greece, The Romans were disgusted by the Olympics, who ended the festivals of the Olympic tradition after about 12 centuries. The modern Olympics didn't start over again for another 1,500 years until the French brought it back. The man to do so was a physical education Baron named Pierre de Coubertin. Sometimes I look at the five different colored rings of the olympics symbol, but I never really noticed what it meant. Then I noticed that the rings symbolize the continents. North and South America, Asia, Africa, Europe, and Australia, each continent a different color. Back in the ancient olympics, there was no symbol to show what the ancient olympics meant. It was just named the olympics, and was festive every four years. We today share the tradition as the ancient Greeks did thousands of years ago.
Today, cultures that the Greeks believed in are the same ones we believe now. People still believe of gods and goddesses, even the Greek ones. We still use the inventions created by the greeks, such as the bathroom, plumbing, irrigation, houses, farming skills, vending machines, the Pythagorean theorem, and many other inventions. The greeks were amazing at war, (remember the battle of Troy) and could use anything to their advantage. Sports equipment, rocks, sword and shields, spears, bow and arrows, hatchets, and chariots. They were so smart that they could beat the Persians, the strongest and biggest civilization of that time, who conquering almost all of Asia, Africa, Europe, and many different islands.
Over this trimester, the main focus is about Greece. For about two and a half months now, I have been learning as much as I can of how they lived, different religions, sports, architecture, battles and war, the arts, and their language. The blog project has been my favorite project of this year, and I hope to use this blog for later on in my personal life, not just for school. Thank you, whoever is reading my blog, for giving me a reason to write all of this information.