Wednesday 1 June 2016

David Gianulias Studies Ancient Greece

As a man of Greek heritage, David Gianulias explores ancient Greek history as a pastime. He has learned many interesting facts about the noted era of history and enjoys sharing his discoveries with family and friends. Here are a few of his favorite ancient Greek factoids.
David Gianulias
The Mycenaean civilization is often believed to be the start of ancient Greek culture. This civilization, which lived nearly four thousand years ago, was located near Athens.

If an ancient Greek grew up in Sparta, they were subjected to a different set of standards from the rest of the known world. Many of the young men in Sparta were born and bred to become warriors of an altogether higher level. Those who were afforded this privilege were known as Spartiates.

Speaking of Sparta, the Spartiates who were sent to war were only given two possible outcomes, they would be victorious in their endeavors or they would die in battle. The option of being defeated and returning home alive was simply not a given choice to any Spartan. This is why mothers would tell their Spartan sons to return wearing their shield or being carried atop it.

The pentathlon was the ancient Greek Olympic event which was thought to determine the finest heroes and athletes from the rest of society. David Gianulias explains that a pentathlon consisted of five events, including wrestling, javelin throwing, discus throwing, high jumping, and a foot race.