Plato's Sports Philosophy & Ancient Olympic Events
Immortalist
city who are more than ten years old, and by taking possession of the
children, who will thus be protected from the habits of their parents"
(540). We cannot build Utopia with young people corrupted at every turn by
the example of their elders. We must start, so far as we can, with a clean
slate. It is quite possible that some enlightened ruler will empower us to
make such a beginning with some part or colony of his realm. (One ruler did,
as we shall see.) In any case we must give to every child, and from the
outset, full equality of educational opportunity; there is no telling where
the light of talent or genius will break out; we must seek it impartially
everywhere, in every rank and race. The first turn on our road is universal
education.
For the first ten years of life, education shall be predominantly physical;
every school is to have a gymnasium and a playground; play and sport are to
be the entire curriculum; and in this first decade such health will be
stored up as will make all medicine unnecessary. "To require the help of
medicine because by lives of indolence and luxury men have filled themselves
like pools with waters and winds, . . . flatulence and catarrh-is not this a
disgrace? . . . Our present system of medicine may be said to educate
diseases," to draw them out into a long existence, rather than to cure them.
But this is an absurdity of the idle rich. "When a carpenter is ill he asks
the physician for a rough and ready remedy-an emetic, or a purge, or
cautery, or the knife. And if anyone tells him that he must go through a
course of dietetics, and swathe and swaddle his head, and all that sort of
thing, he replies at once that he has no time to be ill, and that he sees no
good in a life that is spent in nursing his disease to the neglect of his
ordinary calling; and therefore, saying good-bye to this sort of physicians,
he resumes his customary diet, and either gets well and lives and does his
business, or, if his constitution fails, he dies and has done with it"
(405-6). We cannot afford to have a nation of malingerers and invalids;
Utopia must begin in the body of man.
But mere athletics and gymnastics would make a man too one-sided. "How shall
we find a gentle nature which has also great courage?-for they seem to be
inconsistent with each other" (375). We do not want a nation of
prize-fighters and weight-lifters. Perhaps music will solve our problem:
through music the soul learns harmony and rhythm, and even a disposition to
justice; for "can he who is harmoniously constituted ever be unjust? Is not
this, Glaucon, why musical training is so powerful, because rhythm and
harmony find their way into the secret places of the soul, bearing grace in
their movements and making the soul graceful?" (401; Protagoras, 326). Music
moulds character, and therefore shares in determining social and political
issues. "Damon tells me-and I can quite believe it-that when modes of music
change, the fundamental laws of the state change with them." [Of. Daniel
O'Connell: "Let me write the songs of a nation, and I care not who makes its
laws."]
Music is valuable not only because it brings refinement of feeling and
character, but also because it preserves and restores health. There are some
diseases which can be treated only through the mind (Charmides, 157) : so
the Corybantic priest treated hysterical women with wild pipe music, which
excited them to dance and dance till they fell to the ground exhausted, and
went to sleep; when they awoke they were cured. The unconscious sources of
human thought are touched and soothed by such methods; and it is in these
substrata of behavior and feeling that genius sinks its roots. "No man when
conscious attains to true or inspired intuition, but rather when the power
of intellect is fettered in sleep or by disease or dementia"; the prophet
(manlike) or genius is akin to the madman (manike) (Phcedrus, 244).
...With minds so freely growing, and bodies made strong by sport and outdoor
life of every kind, our ideal state would have a firm psychological and
physiological base broad enough for every possibility and every development.
But a moral basis must be provided as well; the members of the community
must make a unity; they must learn that they are members of one another;
that they owe to one another certain amenities and obligations. Now since
men are by nature acquisitive, jealous, combative, and erotic, how shall we
persuade them to behave themselves? By the policeman's omnipresent club? It
is a brutal method, costly and irritating. There is a better way, and that
is by lending to the moral requirements of the community the sanction of
supernatural authority. We must have a religion.
The Story of Philosophy
The Lives and Opinions of the Great Philosophers of the Western World by
WILL DURANT
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0671739166/
-----------------------------------------
Play and Education in Plato's Republic
Arthur A. Krentz
Luther College, University of Regina
kre...@leroy.cc.uregina.ca
ABSTRACT: This paper focuses on the connection between play (paidia) and
education (paideia) in Plato's Republic. The dialogue presents two opposing
pedagogical approaches to the education of political leadership: first, the
approach of a Socratic-like lover of wisdom, who seeks to "free" citizens through
philosophical play for lives of excellence (arete) and for the application of
their leadership skills to the construction of a just society for the public
good; and second, the approach of tyrannical sophists who educate and rule in the
city by coercive force for private advantage and the enslavement of citizens for
a ruler's own personal ends. Plato's Republic aims to show that philosophical
"play" is the best pedagogical means to educate a just citizenry and to prepare
philosophical leaders to govern.
http://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Educ/EducKren.htm
Immortalist
Immortalist
* Boxing
* Equestrian events
- Chariot racing
- Riding
* Pankration
* Pentathlon
- Discus
- Javelin
- Jump
- Running
- Wrestling
* Running
* Wrestling
The ancient Olympics were rather different from the modern Games. There were
fewer events, and only free men who spoke Greek could compete, instead of
athletes from any country. Also, the games were always held at Olympia instead of
moving around to different sites every time.
Like our Olympics, though, winning athletes were heroes who put their home towns
on the map. One young Athenian nobleman defended his political reputation by
mentioning how he entered seven chariots in the Olympic chariot-race. This high
number of entries made both the aristocrat and Athens look very wealthy and
powerful.
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Boxing
Ancient boxing had fewer rules than the modern sport. Boxers fought without
rounds until one man was knocked out, or admitted he had been beaten. Unlike the
modern sport, there was no rule against hitting an opponent when he was down.
There were no weight classes within the mens' and boys' divisions; opponents for
a match were chosen randomly.
Instead of gloves, ancient boxers wrapped leather thongs (himantes) around their
hands and wrists which left their fingers free.
Plato makes fun of boxers' faces, calling them the "folk with the battered ears."
Plato, Gorgias 515e.
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Equestrian events
- Chariot racing
There were both 2-horse chariot and 4-horse chariot races, with separate races
for chariots drawn by foals. Another race was between carts drawn by a team of 2
mules. The course was 12 laps around the stadium track (9 miles).
- Riding
The course was 6 laps around the track (4.5 miles), and there were separate races
for full-grown horses and foals. Jockeys rode without stirrups.
Only wealthy people could afford to pay for the training, equipment, and feed of
both the driver (or jockey) and the horses. As a result, the owner received the
olive wreath of victory instead of the driver or jockey.
Aristophanes, the comic playwright, describes the troubles of a father whose son
has too-expensive tastes in horses: "Creditors are eating me up alive...and all
because of this horse-plague!" (Aristophanes, Clouds l.240ff.)
--------------------------------------
Pankration
This event was a grueling combination of boxing and wrestling. Punches were
allowed, although the fighters did not wrap their hands with the boxing himantes.
Rules outlawed only biting and gouging an opponent's eyes, nose, or mouth with
fingernails. Attacks such as kicking an opponent in the belly, which are against
the rules in modern sports, were perfectly legal.
Like boxing and wrestling, among others, this event had separate divisions for
both men and boys.
The poet Xenophanes describes the pankration as "that new and terrible
contest...of all holds" (Xenophanes 2)
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Pentathlon
This was a 5-event combination of discus, javelin, jumping, running and
wrestling.
Aristotle describes a young man's ultimate physical beauty: "a body capable of
enduring all efforts, either of the racecourse or of bodily strength...This is
why the athletes in the pentathlon are most beautiful." (Aristotle, Rhetoric
1361b)
- Discus
The ancient Greeks considered the rhythm and precision of an athlete throwing the
discus as important as his strength.
The discus was made of stone, iron, bronze, or lead, and was shaped like a flying
saucer. Sizes varied, since the boys' division was not expected to throw the same
weight as the mens'.
- Javelin
The javelin was a man-high length of wood, with either a sharpened end or an
attached metal point. It had a thong for a hurler's fingers attached to its
center of gravity, which increased the precision and distance of a javelin's
flight.
- Jump
Athletes used lead or stone jump weights (halteres) shaped like telephone
receivers to increase the length of their jump. The halteres were held in front
of the athlete during his ascent, and forcibly thrust behind his back and dropped
during his descent to help propel his body further.
Jump weights also doubled as weight lifting equipment during training.
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Running
There were 4 types of races at Olympia. The stadion was the oldest event of the
Games. Runners sprinted for 1 stade (192 m.), or the length of the stadium. The
other races were a 2-stade race (384 m.), and a long-distance run which ranged
from 7 to 24 stades (1,344 m. to 4,608 m.).
And if these races weren't enough, the Greeks had one particularly grueling event
which we lack. There was also a 2 to 4-stade (384 m. to 768 m.) race by athletes
in armor. This race was especially useful in building the speed and stamina that
Greek men needed during their military service. If we remember that the standard
hoplite armor (helmet, shield, and greaves)weighed about 50-60 lbs, it is easy to
imagine what such an event must have been like.
The Phaiacian nobles entertain the hero Odysseus by competing in athletic games:
"A course was marked out for them from the turning point, and they all sped
swiftly, raising the dust of the plain, but among them noble Clytoneus was far
the best at running...he shot to the front and the others were left behind."
(Homer, Odyssey 8.121ff.)
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Wrestling
Like the modern sport, an athlete needed to throw his opponent on the ground,
landing on a hip, shoulder, or back for a fair fall. 3 throws were necessary to
win a match. Biting was not allowed, and genital holds were also illegal. Attacks
such as breaking your opponent's fingers were permitted.
In one of Aristophanes's comedies, one character recommends that another rub his
neck with lard in preparation for a heated argument with an adversary. The
debater replies, "Spoken like a finished wrestling coach." (Aristophanes, Knights
l.490ff.)
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/sports.html
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/
http://duke.usask.ca/~porterj/CourseNotes/gkgames.html
Immortalist
According to legend, the ancient Olympic Games were founded by Heracles (the
Roman Hercules), a son of Zeus. Yet the first Olympic Games for which we still
have written records were held in 776 BCE (though it is generally believed that
the Games had been going on for many years already). At this Olympic Games, a
naked runner, Coroebus (a cook from Elis), won the sole event at the Olympics,
the stade - a run of approximately 192 meters (210 yards). This made Coroebus the
very first Olympic champion in history.
The ancient Olympic Games grew and continued to be played every four years for
nearly 1200 years. In 393 CE, the Roman emperor Theodosius I, a Christian,
abolished the Games because of their pagan influences.
Approximately 1500 years later, a young Frenchmen named Pierre de Coubertin began
their revival. Coubertin is now known as le Rénovateur. Coubertin was a French
aristocrat born on January 1, 1863. He was only seven years old when France was
overrun by the Germans during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Some believe that
Coubertin attributed the defeat of France not to its military skills but rather
to the French soldiers' lack of vigor.* After examining the education of the
German, British, and American children, Coubertin decided that it was exercise,
more specifically sports, that made a well-rounded and vigorous person.
Coubertin's attempt to get France interested in sports was not met with
enthusiasm. Still, Coubertin persisted. In 1890, he organized and founded a
sports organization, Union des Sociétés Francaises de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA).
Two years later, Coubertin first pitched his idea to revive the Olympic Games. At
a meeting of the Union des Sports Athlétiques in Paris on November 25, 1892,
Coubertin stated,
Let us export our oarsmen, our runners, our fencers into other lands. That is
the true Free Trade of the future; and the day it is introduced into Europe the
cause of Peace will have received a new and strong ally. It inspires me to touch
upon another step I now propose and in it I shall ask that the help you have
given me hitherto you will extend again, so that together we may attempt to
realise [sic], upon a basis suitable to the conditions of our modern life, the
splendid and beneficent task of reviving the Olympic Games.**
His speech did not inspire action. Though Coubertin was not the first to propose
the revival of the Olympic Games, he was certainly the most well-connected and
persistent of those to do so. Two years later, Coubertin organized a meeting with
79 delegates who represented nine countries. He gathered these delegates in an
auditorium that was decorated by neoclassical murals and similar additional
points of ambiance. At this meeting, Coubertin eloquently spoke of the revival of
the Olympic Games. This time, Coubertin aroused interest.
The delegates at the conference voted unanimously for the Olympic Games. The
delegates also decided to have Coubertin construct an international committee to
organize the Games. This committee became the International Olympic Committee
(IOC; Comité Internationale Olympique) and Demetrious Vikelas from Greece was
selected to be its first president. Athens was chosen for the revival of the
Olympic Games and the planning was begun.
1896 - Athens, Greece
The very first modern Olympic Games opened in the first week of April 1896. Since
the Greek government had been unable to fund construction of a stadium, a wealthy
Greek architect, Georgios Averoff, donated one million drachmas (over $100,000)
to restore the Panathenaic Stadium, originally built in 330 BCE, with white
marble for the Olympic Games.
Since the Games were not well publicized internationally, contestants were not
nationally chosen but rather came individually and at their own expense. Some
contestants were tourists who happened to be in the area during the Games.
Athletes wore their athletic club uniform rather than a national team one.
Pole vaulting, sprints, shot put, weight lifting, swimming, cycling, target
shooting, tennis, marathon and gymnastics were all events at the first Olympics.
The swimming events were held in the Bay of Zea in the Aegean Sea. Gold medalist,
Alfred Hoyos Guttmann described it: "I won ahead of the others with a big lead,
but my greatest struggle was against the towering twelve-foot waves and the
terribly cold water." (Guttmann, pg. 19) Approximately 300 athletes participated,
representing thirteen countries.
* Allen Guttmann, The Olympics: A History of the Modern Games (Chicago:
University of Illinois Press, 1992) 8.
** Pierre de Coubertin as quoted in "Olympic Games," Britannica.com
Retrieved August 10, 2000 from the World Wide Web:
http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/2/0,5716,115022+1+108519,00.html
http://history1900s.about.com/library/weekly/aa081000a.htm
Tim
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