Advantage Of Ancient Spectators

The Olympic Games have always been a popular event around the world. Even in the ancient world, spectators from different parts of Greece would travel to Olympia to watch the games. Considering the spectators’ reasons for attending the event and what they got out of the games, the sporting aspect, the cultural and religious aspect and also the aspect of practicality, I agree that the ancient spectators’ experience of the Olympic Games was different from that of a modern spectator, but I would not say it was “completely different”.
First and foremost, most spectators of the modern games go for the sporting aspect of the games. People from different countries set out to support individual athletes, their respective countries, or both – “Seeing an athlete perform their best…” was what they want from the games. A sense of pride also comes along with being an Olympic spectator – they can boast about having seen history made and records broken first-hand as opposed to watching it on live broadcasts. …show more content…
In modern Olympic, there are more events resulting in longer schedule, and with events spreading out in specialised arenas necessitating the spectators to move between arenas, it is unlikely that they can watch all the events. In contrast, the schedule of the ancient games was compact and the events were concentrated within one stadium. This means the spectators were present at every event, accounting for the strong impact that the games had on the spectators. Further, modern games have more participating countries and competitors, including female competitors. This brings about a larger range of competitors as opposed to the limited number and variety in the ancient games when only Greek-speaking men could take part. The modern spectators will be able to appreciate the cultural diversity whereas the ancient spectators would only be in contact with their own