Sports have been a dominate part of modern society and provide entertainment, employment and competitive excitement for a variety of people. The first sports can be traced to some of the earliest forms of civilization. Judging from the history of world sports, human beings have always possessed a keen interest in sport and competition.
Early Origins
A consensus suggests that simple games such as throwing and running, and measuring a winner, date to the beginning of civilization. Some table games and activities can be traced to Egypt and Mesopotamia in 3000 B.C. However, the first organized team sports occurred, according to Sport History, with Egyptian games in 2000 B.C. Wall paintings in an Egyptian tomb have pictures of wrestling matches with a clear winner and loser. These paintings are traced to 1850 B.C. at the tomb of Beni Hasan.
Moving to Greece
Not until Greece developed competitive activities did modern sport begin to take hold. The Greek admiration for physical activity and the human body has been well-documented. The organized system of Greek athletics developed in the 8th century B.C. It became Greek tradition for the most important social events to engage in a series of races. This determined the fastest man, and ultimately the best man in the eyes of Greeks. These events progressed to the Games of Olympia, established in 776 B.C. and held once every four years. That morphed into the modern Olympics.
Substantial Year
The 6th century B.C. was marked as a year from which several team sports evolved, including the origins of polo and hockey. Where most sports prior to this time involved individual competition, team sport was developed in which a host of competitors formed two teams competing for a goal against each other. The modern game of hockey was started with six men holding curved sticks, which as a sculpture in Athens attests. Polo started in Persia and was essential in the training of the Persian cavalry.
Progressing Onward
Boxing took hold in Rome in the first years A.D., and the sport developed a popularity among the people. Greek boxers also continued to develop the sport with hard fists. Romans took the matches to an extreme, using hard gloves with metal spurs attached to the end. Roman boxing matches became a fight to the death, and were quite the spectacle at public festivals for over a century.
Member Comments