Siklódi Csilla szerk.: Tradicionális sportok, népi játékok (A Sportmúzeum Kincsei 2. Budapest, 1996)

Tradicionális sportok, népi játékok (Siklódi Csilla)

the winner counts in a game, even though their names are rarely remembered. In folk games, the best performances are preserved in local legends , but never in a metrical form, and thus they can alter and change according to recollection in the course of time. However, there are also exceptions to this rule and even the basic assumption can be challenged, considering that one of the most important modern sports events, the Olympic Games, has the word 'game' in its name. We know that at the contests organized by the ancient Greeks at Olympia, Delphi and Nemea — which are the ancestors of the modern Olympic Games — only the names of the winners were recorded. Their performances were not measured, and neither was the name of the second and third runner-up recorded. Were these, then, games or sports? In order to answer this question we must know whether these contests were part of folk culture or whether they were merely a leisurely pastime pursued by a particular social group, most often the aristocracy. There can be no doubt that the Olympic Games, held every four years, were one of the most significant events of the ancient Greek world, this being the basis of their calendar. It has been shown that the social stratification of the contestants participating in the Olympic Games generally corresponded to the social conditions of the given period. In the earliest period, the contests described in the Homeric legends — the chariot race, the running and other contests organized on the occasion of Patroclus' funeral feast — was organized by Achilles, one of the military leaders, who also offered the prizes. At first, most of the contestants at Olympia had an aristocratic background. With the advent of a democratic social order, however, the number of 'simple citizens' from the poorer classes participating in the Games grew perceptibly. The reason for this should be sought not only in the decline of the aristocracy, but also in the fact that education in a gymnasion, the Greek school, became available to increasingly more people. A great emphasis was laid on both spiritual and physical education: beside education in literature, philosophy, music and other arts, the young men studying here were also trained for the contents by trainers paid by the city. It is therefore not mere coincidence that poetic and/or musical competitions were also an important part of the Pan Hellenic Games held at Olympia, Delphi, Nemea and Isthmia. (2. picture) These schools played a vital role in the over one thousand years long survival of these games, which would today be called sports or sporting events. These games were inextricably linked with Greek culture and even when Greece lost her political importance and became one of the provinces of the Roman empire, the Olympic Games remained one of the most important events of the ancient world. Participation in the Games was a matter of honour not only for the Greeks, but also for the Romans raised on Greek philosophy and culture. Even Nero entered as a 'simple citizen' (although it was practically unimaginable that he should not have won the coveted laurel wreath).