Ancient Greek Running/Running In Ancient Greece

Running played a major role in ancient Greece. You just didnt have running in contest only, you needed it for everything. It was like a necessity, something that people had to do. Ancient Greek running was needed in all of the sports, it was a requirement when it came to honoring the gods and if you also wanted to have self honor, you had to run properly.

Now, let's start with running in battle. This was a very important part of all the battles. Now usually it would be used to attacking and also for retreating in battle, but then it was also used in order to send messages over. If an army needed reinforcements because they lost some men, they would need messengers to run back to the city and pass the message over.

If the enemy was close by then they would send trained, cross country runners with the message for reinforcements. Also after a battle, if there was a victory, people would have to run back to the respective city to spread the news. Then came ancient Greek running in sports.

Now everyone had heard about the Olympic Games which were held in Olympia once in a year. Now there would be athletes from all the different parts of Greece, coming to take part in this. Now there were no money prizes, the winners would only get an olive wreath.

As mentioned before, a way of honoring ones self would be by running. If a male won an Olympic game (in running) then he could erect a statue just of himself, in the middle of his town. He was allowed to make a short quote, the details of his win and his name on the statue.

Finally, ancient Greek running was required as a form of exercise. This is apt especially for the Spartans, who needed to be physically very fit since it was a military city. The athletes who would take part in the Olympics would train the entire year so that they would be fit young to attend the game.

Information on: Ancient Greece Running, Running in Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek Life History / Ancient Greece Facts for Kids

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