© 2008 mcgraw-hill higher education all rights reserved. ch. 7 sport in the ancient world and our...

© 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education All rights reserved.

CH. 7 SPORT IN THE ANCIENT WORLD AND

OUR EUROPEAN HERITAGE


EARLY CULTURES Egypt (prehistoric – 332 B.C.)

Warriors trained for hunting…Dancing was valued in religion

China 1500 B.C. (prehistoric – 1200 A.D.)Only the military class valued

physical developmentLiterary studies & moral and

religious training were valued most

India 300 B.C. (prehistoric – 500 A.D.)Yoga, a system of meditation and

regulated breathingHinduism advocated asceticism


Egyptians, Chinese, and Indians engaged minimally in physical activities.

The Greeks were really the first civilization to openly stress physical prowess.

Greeks also had the earliest recorded athletic or sports activities.

This progressive society evolved through four eras:


1. The Homeric era – prehistoric to 776 B.C. (first recorded Olympic Games)

2. The Spartans

3. The Early Athenians

4. The Late Athenians


HOMERIC ERA (prehistoric time to 776 B.C.) Homeric era named for Greek

poet Homer, who wrote the Iliad, and Odyssey which included the earliest records of athletic competitions.

The philosophy that developed was known as the “Greek Ideal” which stressed the “man of action” and the “man of wisdom”. This all-around mental, moral, and physical excellence was called ARETE and was believed to be personified by the Greek gods.


SPARTAN ERA

Greeks had 2 small government units known as city-states, Sparta & Athens.

Boys if strong at birth were spared, if not were left outside to die.

State controlled life and educationGirls were trained at home in

gymnastics—to bear healthy children

Boys were raised at home until age 7 and trained by mothers.


Ages 7-20, males stayed in barracks training for military; discipline was severe.

Ages 20-30, were in the military. At 30 males became citizens and

married. 30-50, males trained boys. Narrow-minded society, focus only

on physical prowess and not on intellectual development.

The Olympic Games were dominated by the Spartans during this time.

Spartans never multiplied because of strict practices, which led to the end of their domination.


EARLY ATHENIAN ERA

Athens totally different that Sparta

Greek Ideal became the Athenian Ideal to develop boys for both physical and mental abilities.

Lower class boys were as uneducated as girls because fathers had to pay for education

Girls stayed at home and received no training, once married lived secluded.


Upper Class Boys from 7 to 14-18 formally educated at private schools.

2 schools, for arithmetic, lit. and music and the other for physical training.

The Palaestra was for physical training, sometimes called a wrestling school (the teacher was called a paidotribe)

Practiced wrestling, boxing, jumping, and dancing.


Males could become citizens at 18 years.

Between ages 18-20, males were subject to military service (always had to be ready for war).

After 20 did not work but spent their days at the “gymnasium” to stay ready for war, but also learned intellectual education.


LATE ATHENIAN ERA Military successes in the Persian Wars

led to freedoms, individualism, and self-confidence which led to de-emphasis of physical aspects.

“Golden Age” (443 B.C. to 429 B.C.)—cultural explosion as Man of Wisdom was stressed and Man of Action ignored

Loss of interest in physical development Decline of Athenian military interest and

involvement (no longer soldiers) and therefore conquered by the Macedonians in 338 B.C.


PAN-HELLENIC FESTIVALS

Pan-Hellenic – “for all Greeks” festivals. OLYMPIC GAMES greatest contest of all.

Held every 4 years at Olympia, in honor of Zeus, the chief Greek god. (776 B.C. to 400 B.C.) Lasting 5 days.

Athletes had to be male, and Greek born and not a slave. Required to train for 10 months.

Had to take an oath of fair play, and received an olive wreath to the winners.

Women were usually not allowed because men competed in the nude. See P. 214


EVENTS OF OLYMPICS Stade Race – footraces, first

Olympics, the length of the stadium.

Wrestling—the winner must throw his opponent to the ground twice before being thrown twice

Boxing Chariot racing Horse racing Pancratium—combination of

boxing and wrestling (loser had to give up)


PENTATHLON—Winner, all-around athlete (708 B.C.)

1. Race of 1 or 2 stades

2. Javelin—8-10 feet to test both distance and form

3. Long jump

4. Discus—using 1-foot diameter and 4-5 pound stone thrown from a fixed position

5. Wrestling—always the deciding event


Two developments ended the era of Olympic games, but not forever.

1. Intellectual curiosity and a search for knowledge replaced the Greek Ideal for physical development.

2. Professional athletes won expensive prizes which led to cheating, corruption, and bribery.

Although Roman decree ended the Olympics approx 400 A.D. the Olympics had lost their values much earlier.


ROMAN REPUBLIC (from 500 B.C. to 27 B.C.)

Moral and military training—superior to intellectual attainment

Goal was to become a citizen-soldier Military camps—training for military

(running, jumping, swimming, javelin, fencing, archery, riding, marching)

Ages 17 to 47—could be drafted for war

Roman women were more highly respected and socially active than Athenian women.

Romans did not participate in athletic contests or dance, but watched gladiator contests, and chariot races.


ROMAN EMPIRE (27 B.C. to 476 A.D.)

Poorer citizens from the Roman Republic eventually migrated to Rome and lived on welfare. Loss of individual freedoms; no more interest in military.

Games and festivals were plenty (maybe as frequently as 250 days of the year)

Staged for spectator entertainment with political overtones

Professional athletes and gladiators competed for lucrative prizes

Chariot races and Thermae or baths to place

R.E. ended because of lack of physical dev.


Medieval Europe 500-1500 a.k.a. Middle Ages/Dark Ages

After Roman Empire, church leaders spoke out against dancing and gladiatoral contests and get back into, the church and proper learning.

Peasants toiled in the field, but vassals, or people who owned land trained their children.

Until 7 years—training at home Page, 7 to 14 yrs. Squire, 14 to 21 yrs. Knight, 21 years During this time, no social interaction, so to

fill the void, tournaments with jousting etc. Invention of gunpowder towns into trade

centers


RENAISSANCE (1400-1600)REFORMATION (1500s)

Intellectual development is revered Back to “Greek Ideal” of sound

body/mind Protestant Reformation brought

widespread religious and cultural change. (Martin Luther/John Calvin)

De-emphasized physical development as a distraction from religion.

Throughout Renaissance education valued for boys, but not girls.


THE ENLIGHTENMENT (1700s) The Age of Enlightenment brought

insights into how to educate a child, laying the foundation for European gymnastics programs.

2 philosophers in this era John Locke wrote about upper-class

boys requires a sound mind in a sound body.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, book, Emile, stressed “naturalism”, or everything according to nature.

By readying a child through nature should dictate when he’s ready for knowledge.


GERMAN GYMNASTICS 1700sAlthough the French were not receptive to Rousseau’s teachings the Germans were.

Johann Basedow allotted 3 hrs./day to physical fitness, i.e. gymnastics, sports, games, fencing, dancing, riding, and vaulting.

Johann Friedrich Simon – first physical education teacher hired to direct Basedow’s program introduced Greek gymnastics consisting of jumping, running, throwing, and wrestling.


GERMAN GYMNASTICS 1800s Friedrich Jahn – German educator believed in

“NATIONALISM” rather than naturalism. Established first “turnplatz” (outdoor

exercise area) where boys known as “turners” trained using balance beams, ropes and ladders, high-jumping, horizontal bars, pole vaulting etc.

Jahn promoted patriotic speeches, songs, for the defense of Germany.

This unified nation was viewed as threatening and banned turner gymnastics. WHY?

There were still underground programs and turner gymnastics returned being legal in 1840


OTHER NATIONALISTIC PROGRAMS DANISH GYMNASTICS – first private gym in

Copenhagen, the first of its kind. This first school program under government

financed was the first normal school for physical education. (Where students were educated to be teachers)

The program was formalized exercises on command, with no individual expression allowed.

SWEDISH GYMNASTICS – mostly for military training but promoted medical, educational, and aesthetics. More soothing exercises than the German or Danish which was adopted by the U.S.

See p 231 table 7-4, p. 232, and p. 233


ENGLISH SPORTS 1800s The British Amateur Sport Ideal was

“playing the game for the game’s sake” (not for monetary gain)

This influenced Frenchman PIERRE DE COUBERTIN, who founded the modern Olympic Games in 1896.

This movement was for upper class boys

Cricket, rowing , soccer, t & f, rugby, and field hockey became popular at Oxford and Cambridge Universities despite faculty disfavor.

British sports and games with emphasis on morals values laid the foundation for PE and sport programs in the U.S.

© 2008 mcgraw-hill higher education all rights reserved. ch. 7 sport in the ancient world and our...

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