PHYSICAL EDUCATION IN ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS

PHYSICAL EDUCATION IN ANCIENT EGYPT

Egypt is a country that is well-situated on the Nile Valleys and the River Nile has provided water for the irrigation of Egyptian farms from ancient times. If you look at the map of Africa you will see this site of an ancient civilization which flourished as a kingdom of Pharaoh many years before Christ was born.

Although physical education was not prominent in the ancient Egyptian system of education, activities were done mainly for recreation and as vocation.

For example, swimming, hunting, wrestling, acrobatics, ball games, and dancing were practised. The children of noble men were taught swimming by highly placed slaves. Hunting was done by noble men and soldiers while some commoners learnt to become acrobats. Dancing was engaged in for religious purposes while wrestling was learnt as an art. Children’s games included the playing of tops, hoop and ball games.

 

PHYSICAL EDUCATION IN ANCIENT GREECE

The greatest legacy in physical education came from ancient Greece. The Olympic Games and many of the athletic events which we now participate in were ancient Greeks’ activities which were done during religious festivals similar to those organized in some Nigerian villages.

The Greeks lived in City States on islands in the Mediterranean Sea and the position of their States contributed to their development in culture, trade, education, and government. Their position kept them in touch with civilization in Asia, and the climate on the Mediterranean islands was very favourable to the development of outdoor activities.

As a result of its favourable position and climate, Greece produced the greatest philosophers, athletes, poets, educationists, artists, and governments of its time.

The education of a Greek citizen was in two parts – gymnastics and music. Gymnastics was another term for physical education in Greece while music represented arts, literature, knowledge of the sciences, philosophy, and government.

From the period of Homeric Greece, far back into history, to the time of the first Olympic Games in 776 B.C ., there was evidence that the Greeks loved a sound mind in a sound body and encouraged all citizens to participate in exercises for body building and for sports competitions. From the story of Iliad and the Odyssey written by Homer and read by Greeks as their history, the citizens were trained to acquire two great qualities – action and wisdom. The physical education programme produced a man of action while the music and other programmes produced a man of wisdom.

There were several City States and all of them promoted physical education, while some of them promoted the two aspects of education. Two City States – Athens and Sparta represented two types of States with different objectives in their education.

While Athens trained her citizens so that they would have a sound mind in a sound body, Sparta concentrated on training her citizens so that they would have sound bodies for service to the State in the battlefield. Weak children were thrown away on Mount Taygetus to die. Boys were given military training while the girls were given exercises which made them strong and sturdy.

 

PHYSICAL EDUCATION IN ATHENS

Children between the ages of 1 and 6 years were trained at home like most Nigerian children. They played hide and seek games and other games. They also learned to recite rhymes on their history and to obey family rules. From the age of 6, the child attended two types of schools – Palaestra (wrestling school) and Didascaleum (music school). In the wrestling school, the child was taught exercises and athletic skills by a physical education teacher called Paidotribe while in the music school, he learned music, literature, art, and arithmetic.

At the age of 18, the youth became qualified as an adult and could now go on to the gymnasium for his advanced physical education training which prepared him for major competitions during religious festivals. There were four important Religious Festivals celebrated by the Greeks – Olympic Games, Pythian Games, Isthmian Games and Nemean Games.

The Olympic Games Festival, which was established in 776 B.C ., was celebrated every four years in honour of Olympian Zeus in Athens. Events for the festival included swearing in ceremonies, running, throwing, jumping, pentathlon, wrestling and chariot races. This festival was banned by a Roman Emperor, Theodosius, in 394 A.D ., because he felt that there was corruption in the Games.

The Pythian Festival was celebrated in honour of Apollo and events included music and athletics.

The Isthmian Festival was celebrated in Corinth every two years in honour of Poseidon, God of the Sea. Swimming activities were the main events of this festival.

The Nemean Festival was organized every two years in honour of Nemean Zeus in Argolis.

The Greeks developed a high standard of good sportsmanship and the training given to Athenian Greeks developed their personality. The celebration of the Olympic Festival brought peace and joy to participants and spectators. However, only male spectators were allowed to watch the events of the games.

Victorious athletes were usually given a triumphant reception by their cities just as Nigeria honoured the Golden Eaglets when they won the World Junior Football Cup in 1985. It was the spirit of good sportsmanship which was enhanced by the Olympic Festival among ancient Greeks that motivated a French noble man, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, to revive the Olympic Games after many centuries. The first modern Olympic Games took place in Athens in 1896. Since then, this great world sports festival has continued to take place every four years except in 1916, 1940 and 1944 during the First and Second World Wars.

 

PHYSICAL EDUCATION UNDER THE ROMAN EMPIRE

A small tribe located near the River Tiber became the most powerful force in Italy and brought all other Italian settlements under her control. This was the beginning of the Roman Empire which spread to Sicily, Corsica, Sardina, and Spain, all within the Mediterranean Sea. The only profession for a Roman adult was military service. Rome built up a very strong army. She carried her conquests to the Eastern Mediterranean and eventually conquered the Greek City States in 146 B.C.

The Romans were trained to fight as soldiers but they did not practise some of the good activities of the States they conquered. The Roman system of education was like that of Sparta. All the training of the citizen, from his childhood to adulthood, prepared him for military service. They loved to watch bloody sports such as gladiatorial shows where two persons fought with spears in an arena till one died to the amazement of the Roman spectators. They also enjoyed sports involving a fight between an animal and man. For example, a lion would fight an unarmed slave in an area until the man was torn to pieces while spectators shouted in excitement and cheered the lion.

The Romans had baths where they exposed their bodies in an obscene manner.

The bloody show and the Roman baths were hated and condemned by Christians.

The Romans did not make any significant contributions to the development of physical education. When in 476 A.D ., the Roman Empire fell, the glory of the Olympic and other Greek Games had been forgotten. During the reign of the Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, physical education was popularized in the writings of Claudius Galen, a Roman physician, who believed that it was valuable in the maintenance of health. Galen designed many exercises which could be done with balls. Unfortunately, his writings went with the fall of Rome.