DOI Artikel:
No. III: The influence of athletic games upon greek art
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11444#0438
4-02
APPENDIX.
[III.
athletic games became really elevated to the important position which
they occupy in our mind, and which they did not always hold; that in
this period the palaestrae or athletic schools became real national
institutions, thoroughly organised all over Greece.
As with art and most higher manifestations of human thought and
culture, the early stages are almost always essentially religious in
character, so the athletic games in earlier times were either associated
with some worship of god or hero or were part of the funeral ceremony,
thus partaking of an essentially religious character. Towards the close
of the sixth century the great games, such as those of Olympia, partake
more and more of a national and political character. They become the
central point of peaceful union for all Greek states. The increase of
their national importance sprang from the growth of the feeling of
Panhellenic unity which preceded the Persian wars; yet they no doubt
reacted strongly upon this feeling, and served to bring together the
people of the various states, and to make them feel the common bands
which bound them together. The political importance of the great
games, especially those of Olympia, can hardly be over-estimated. This
political importance was, no doubt, felt by Peisistratos, who, along with
Pericles, was the greatest of Athenian statesmen. He appears to me to
have foreseen the greatness of the future of Greece, and above all, of
Athens. On the model of the Olympian games he revived the Athenian
games, and as there he traced the growth of Panhellenic feeling, so here
he wished to create a real Panathenaic feeling. He added new games
to the old ones, gave greater splendour to them, and, as the Olympian
games recurred at periods of four years, determining the computation of
time for the whole of Greece, so he introduced the Greater Panathenaic,
recurring every four years and determining the computation of time for
Athens. It is a noteworthy fact that every great political leader in
Athens marked his political activity by some addition to the Panathenaic
festival. After Peisistratos, with the Peisistratidae and with Pericles, the
games were further enriched and obtained still greater influence. Fur-
thermore, we must attach the greatest importance to the development of
the palaestrae or athletic schools during this period. By degrees these
institutions are established or rendered more systematic in their
organisation throughout the whole of Greece, and become the schools for
the physical training of the Greek youth destined to provide strong and
active warriors to defend their native country. Nay, they become the
home for general education, where even intellectual training is carried
on, and the philosophers form their circles of eager learners. As I have
said before, it is here that the artists studied the human form in rest and
APPENDIX.
[III.
athletic games became really elevated to the important position which
they occupy in our mind, and which they did not always hold; that in
this period the palaestrae or athletic schools became real national
institutions, thoroughly organised all over Greece.
As with art and most higher manifestations of human thought and
culture, the early stages are almost always essentially religious in
character, so the athletic games in earlier times were either associated
with some worship of god or hero or were part of the funeral ceremony,
thus partaking of an essentially religious character. Towards the close
of the sixth century the great games, such as those of Olympia, partake
more and more of a national and political character. They become the
central point of peaceful union for all Greek states. The increase of
their national importance sprang from the growth of the feeling of
Panhellenic unity which preceded the Persian wars; yet they no doubt
reacted strongly upon this feeling, and served to bring together the
people of the various states, and to make them feel the common bands
which bound them together. The political importance of the great
games, especially those of Olympia, can hardly be over-estimated. This
political importance was, no doubt, felt by Peisistratos, who, along with
Pericles, was the greatest of Athenian statesmen. He appears to me to
have foreseen the greatness of the future of Greece, and above all, of
Athens. On the model of the Olympian games he revived the Athenian
games, and as there he traced the growth of Panhellenic feeling, so here
he wished to create a real Panathenaic feeling. He added new games
to the old ones, gave greater splendour to them, and, as the Olympian
games recurred at periods of four years, determining the computation of
time for the whole of Greece, so he introduced the Greater Panathenaic,
recurring every four years and determining the computation of time for
Athens. It is a noteworthy fact that every great political leader in
Athens marked his political activity by some addition to the Panathenaic
festival. After Peisistratos, with the Peisistratidae and with Pericles, the
games were further enriched and obtained still greater influence. Fur-
thermore, we must attach the greatest importance to the development of
the palaestrae or athletic schools during this period. By degrees these
institutions are established or rendered more systematic in their
organisation throughout the whole of Greece, and become the schools for
the physical training of the Greek youth destined to provide strong and
active warriors to defend their native country. Nay, they become the
home for general education, where even intellectual training is carried
on, and the philosophers form their circles of eager learners. As I have
said before, it is here that the artists studied the human form in rest and