Sports in the Ancient Greek period

Sports, which in early ages were based on struggles such as hunting and catching in order to survive, have become one of the indispensable elements of human life. Hunting, which has been observed since the primitive societes, emerged as the most principled of sporting activities. The earliest of physical activities in the ancient period were seen in the Far East. The wall paintings of 3000 BC also proves the traces of sports in Mesopotamia. Anatolia, in which numerous civilizations have inhabited throughout the centuries, has been home to many activities for developing skills like spearing and shooting arrows. Intended to exhibit personal and pyhsical strength, such activities have followed one another among civilizations. Organized sport activities in ancient times emerged with the Greek civilization. It is known that the sports came to Greek culture with the Cretan civilization. Ancient Greek, where sports took place in social life, is the civilization with the oldest written documents on this subject. The concept of sports in ancient Greek society is in line with the Greek education system. Greek children, particularly males, would take reading, writing, counting, music, literature lessons, as well as physical education after they 7 years old. The aim here is to generate rightous and virtuous citizens. In Ancient Greece, the city states organized games on behalf of the Olympos Gods that they believed in. In other words, they competed with each other in the name of Gods. Since each contest was seen as a manifestation of honour, each attendant athlete competed for their own city state in a zealous fashion. Competitions were held according to certain rules and there were preconditions for joining the races. The most famous of these games was Olympic Games which started in 776 BC. Furthermore, there were some other games held by different city states with Holy and Crown awerded. Besides serving divine purposes in ancient Greece, sports also took place in daily life and architectural venues were built for sports activities. Becoming an integral part of Greek social life, sports were reflected in the artworks of the period as well. All things considered, it is evident that the sporting activities are of great importance for the world of Ancient Greeks. In addition to the ancient monuments and relics gathered so far, the archeological findings that might also be discovered in the future will hep us shed more light on this subject. Keywords: Ancient Greek Period, Sport, Education, Olympic