Text A Sport culture in ancient Athens and Sparta
1-1 Castor and Pollux
Athens is one of the oldest named cities in the world，having been continuously inhabited for at least 5，000 years.Situated in southern Europe，Athens became the leading city of Ancient Greece in the first millennium BC，and its cultural achievements during the 5th century BC laid the foundations of western civilization.The Greeks loved competition，musicians and poets，as well as athletes，were pitted against one another in contests，and even dramatic plays were staged as tournaments with the winner being selected by a jury.There were also competitions for drinking，singing and male beauty.Socrates1 believed that arts and sports were the most important factors in man's development.There were also associations with the gods.Castor and Pollux，the twin sons of Zeus2，were the gods of boxing，wrestling and equestrian sports.
Ancient Sparta3，famous for its mighty warriors，its dominance around 650 BC and its unique social hierarchy and system.Sparta itself was a city state in Greece throughout ancient times，and moved through various levels of success，failure，dominance，kings and eventually destruction.Sparta and its Spartan warriors are famous for their bravery，battle skills and advanced battle formations and tactics.A subject the Spartans were intrigued with was of course sport.The Spartans literally lived for their physical exercise，and their prowess and perforce was truly testament to that.With huge success at the Olympic Games of ancient Greece the Spartans had many great champions like Chion is who would only further serve to enthuse their interest in physical sports and exercises.
Athletics had been around before original Olympics.Homer describes chariot races，wrestling，weigh throwing and running events sponsored by Achilles to honor a Patroclcus.While the Greeks had the Olympics，the Romans had gladiator contests.For the Greeks there was an aesthetic，even sexuality，to sports.“Each age has its beauty，”Aristotle wrote.“In youth，it lies in the possession of a body capable of enduring all kinds of contest…while the youngman is himself a pleasant delight to behold.”