Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks

258 Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks
antiquity, festivals would have provided the principal excuse to
put down tools.
ATHLETICS AND THE CULT OF PHYSICAL FITNESS
Few peoples have attached so much significance to the cult of
physical fitness as the Greeks. The notion of physical perfection was
so central to their sense of selfhood that they seem to have been
almost incapable of conceiving of themselves in any other terms.
Greek art is saturated with images of perfectly formed men and
women—so much so that it is tempting to conclude that the people
who produced such impressive works were physically superior not
only to their contemporaries but to every other race that has ever
existed. Of course, this was far from being the case. To comprehend
their deeply ingrained narcissism, it may be instructive to remember
that theirs was a culture that made no distinction between what was
kalos (beautiful) on the one hand and agathos (good) on the other.
The adoration of the human body found many outlets. Greek
art, especially sculpture, gave it uninhibited expression. It was the
Greeks who first identified the naked human body as the primary
object of artistic attention. No less important, physical perfection
was exemplified through competitive athletics, which occupied
a central place at a number of major festivals. The assumption
was that the gods, who themselves exemplified physical perfection
on the divine plane, took delight in observing their human
counterparts.
Every athlete aspired to win a simple crown of leaves that was
awarded at the most prestigious games—the olive wreath at the
Olympic Games, the laurel wreath at the Pythian Games, the celery
wreath at the Nemean Games, and the pine wreath at the Isthmian.
Nothing, however, quite equaled becoming an Olympic victor or
Olympionikês. In the Hellenistic Period, when the number of games
that were held proliferated and cities vied with one another to attract
the biggest sporting stars, cash prizes were offered as inducements,
as well as gold and silver crowns.
Keeping Fit
Some form of athletic training was vital for boys from almost
every social background, because one’s ability to serve in the military
was dependent on one’s physical fitness. Many sports were, in
fact, devised as a way of training for war, including javelin throw-