Discussion: "Ancient Greece and Athletics"

Respond to the following, using sources under the Explore heading as the basis of your response:

• Describe the ancient Greek competitive character, and compare the ancient Olympics (as a festival featuring athletics) to the Olympics today, identifying any major differences. Explain what the Olympic rules regarding females and evidence, such as the "running girl" artifact, reveal about female status and Greek athletics in particular Greek city-states.

Explore

Ancient Greek Athletics and Female Status

• Chapter 4 (p. 118), Olympics. Chapters 4 (pp. 113-114), women in Sparta; For Athens later, see pp. 137-8.

• British Museum's Running Girl artifact.

• Philadelphia's Penn Museum on Women and Greek athletics.

The Competitive Character of the Ancient Greeks

• Why do you think the competitive nature of the Greeks was so important for their success as a people and culture?

• What are some of the advantages of being very competitive?

• Greece was very small compared to all her neighbors (like Persia and Egypt) so why was being competitive a big advantage for Greece?

The Ancient Olympics vs The Modern Olympics

• Talk about the fact that Greek male athletes competed nude versus today (imagine how that would play out with modern television, lol)

• Discuss the sheer scope of the modern games with so many nations versus the smaller number of Greek cities

• Are the Olympics today more about ‘the athletes' or the ‘nations'?

Women in the Olympic Games

• Check out page 116 for information on did women watch the games? Did they participate?

Women's roles in Greek society

• After looking at the role women played in both watching and participating in the Olympic Games, what do think the role of women was in Greek society? Were they valued? Did they have a voice in society?