Nicholas Palatucci
Professor Spar
World Civ.
12 December 2014
Ancient Greek Olympic Games Throughout the history of human civilization, various peoples around the world have developed their own games and contests where they compete with one another. No such contests were as interesting or well documented as the Olympic Games that occurred in ancient Greece. While visiting the MET, I discovered the Terracotta Panathenaic Prize Amphora. This is a vase that is from the Greek period at about 500 B.C. This vase shows multiple muscular male figures running without clothes on. This is an accurate depiction of an Olympic event as well as a Panathenaic event. Seeing this inspired my interest to research the Olympic Games of ancient Greece. According to Mary B. Moore, a professor of art history at Hunter College of the City University of New York, “the Panathenaic amphora has an echinus-shaped mouth that is flat on top and …show more content…
However, the truce did not mean “the cessation of all Greek wars” (Crowther). In fact, “the truth is that wars continued during the truce, which was more of an armistice than a general peace” (Crowther). Even though this was not a total success in being a halt of conflicts, it did show intent and the importance of the games in the overall view of Greek society. That wars would be postponed for a competition of athletics shows the true importance these games. Once the Greeks were under Roman rule, the Greek peace became unnecessary because “the Roman armies brought peace to the Mediterranean” (Crowther). All Greek states were required to obey this Roman peace and when one nation did not they were banned from the competition and fined. The most important of these bans was against the state of Sparta and they ended up being banned from competition for twenty years (Crowther). This is evidence of the supreme authority any Olympic official
Professor Spar
World Civ.
12 December 2014
Ancient Greek Olympic Games Throughout the history of human civilization, various peoples around the world have developed their own games and contests where they compete with one another. No such contests were as interesting or well documented as the Olympic Games that occurred in ancient Greece. While visiting the MET, I discovered the Terracotta Panathenaic Prize Amphora. This is a vase that is from the Greek period at about 500 B.C. This vase shows multiple muscular male figures running without clothes on. This is an accurate depiction of an Olympic event as well as a Panathenaic event. Seeing this inspired my interest to research the Olympic Games of ancient Greece. According to Mary B. Moore, a professor of art history at Hunter College of the City University of New York, “the Panathenaic amphora has an echinus-shaped mouth that is flat on top and …show more content…
However, the truce did not mean “the cessation of all Greek wars” (Crowther). In fact, “the truth is that wars continued during the truce, which was more of an armistice than a general peace” (Crowther). Even though this was not a total success in being a halt of conflicts, it did show intent and the importance of the games in the overall view of Greek society. That wars would be postponed for a competition of athletics shows the true importance these games. Once the Greeks were under Roman rule, the Greek peace became unnecessary because “the Roman armies brought peace to the Mediterranean” (Crowther). All Greek states were required to obey this Roman peace and when one nation did not they were banned from the competition and fined. The most important of these bans was against the state of Sparta and they ended up being banned from competition for twenty years (Crowther). This is evidence of the supreme authority any Olympic official