Sports Pages #4--Sport in the Ancient World

In ancient Greece, the sports played were mostly the olympic sports of today. Discus throwing, wrestling and track and field were some of the major events. The Greek athletes were very highly regarded and competed in the nude to show off their impressive physiques. The spectators thought very highly of the athletes, almost as gods, and almost anybody could compete provided you had the ability. Most of the events were not contact sports, however, and in that they differed from the Romans.
The Romans engaged in much more brutal and violent sport. They fought to the death and the emphasis was less on physique and more on killing ability. Romans also liked to race their chariots, but even those contests could get violent. Ultimately, both the Greeks and Romans placed high value on winning and triumph.
The rules of the sports were very different between Greeks and Romans. Greeks were controlled, rule-oriented and precise. There were set rules for each sport and the audience and athletes alike new them and followed them. There was much more structure in Greece, an ordered timeline of things. In Rome, it was more about win or die. The public would show up to the arena and people would fight to the death--those were about the only rules.
In Greece, sport functioned as a much more religious institution than in Rome. The Greek athletes were competing to show respect for Zues and the other Greek gods. Out of reverance for them, their athleticism was an attempt to show the gods that they've been using the bodies given to them well. In Rome, however, the games were much more for the entertainment of royalty and commoners alike. Also, Roman games probably served a political function as a great spectacle to behold and a forum for lots of political compromise much like the golf course serves business today.
The participants in Greek games were males of any age. Women were generally not allowed to play. The Romans used mostly slaves or captives as gladiators. They were forced to keep athletic bodies and train and were treated badly because their ultimate fate was death. They were also mostly men, but there's evidence women competed sometimes.