THE LEGENDS BEHIND THE GAMES
Oinomaos
(Oenomaus) was a legendary king of Pisa (an area not far from the western part
of Greece. Just picture Greece with money, that was Pisa). His daughter Hippodameia had many suitors with whom Oinomaos was
not too happy about. In specific, the kingdom’s
oracle had warned Oinomaos that he would die at the hand of his son-in-law, so
naturally, the whole “welcome to the family, son” thingy escaped him.
Of
considerable talent, did Oinomaos have in chariot-racing; Hence, Oinomaos
issued a legendary challenge. He would determine the worth of any potential
son-in-law by testing his racing skills. If the king failed to overtake any of
his daughter's suitors in a chariot race between Olympia to the Isthmus of
Corinth, the victorious racer could marry Hippodameia. However, if any suitor lost the race, he
would surely die. So, the king actually got a two-fur, thwarting the swarms of suitors with the threat of death, while
getting to show off his chariot racing skills.
The king's plan was working like a charm. Many suitors
had already lost their heads to his sword while keeping his chariot skills in check. The king thought he would never lose. Then love interfered.
Desiring to
marry one of the handsome suitors, Pelops; Hippodameia approached her father's
charioteer, Myrtilus (Myrsilos), who by the way had the "hots" for Hippodameia as well, with a devious plan. If her father's chariot
were missing a linchpin from one of its wheels, she could fix the outcome of
the race between her father and her suitor.
Myrtilus, agreed to betray the king. He loosened the linchpin
so the wheel would break free from the axle.
With Oinomaos
holding the reins of his horses, attempting to overtake the speeding chariot in
front of him, his chariot wheels fell away and the king was caught in the reins and was dragged around like a rag doll to his eventual death.
Pelops won the
day, the bride, and now the Kingdom, Yeah! Wow, isn't it great when goodness and honor prevail. Oh well, as the new conspirator, or I mean King, he set out and conquered nearby Apia and
Pelasgiotis, and named the entire region after himself, another big surprise. The southern part of the
Greek mainland is called the Peloponnese (or Peloponnesus, meaning Island of
Pelops) to this day.
To honor Zeus and to celebrate the life of Oinomaos, the man he murdered by sabotaging his chariot, subsequently, not only taking his daughter, but his kingdom, and his life, awesome. Pelops organized a commemorative linch pin, no just kidding, actually, games to be held in Olympia. It was the
beginning of a thousand-year tradition in the ancient Greek world, and the invention of locking linch pin (badabump). So let's hear it for the Olympics, started by a backstabbing, pretty boy, weasel.
Beaten by the Crowd
Cleitomachus,
216 BC. “He was nearly an invincible boxer, and his fame had
spread over the whole world, well at least what is now known as Europe and Northern Africa. Meanwhile, back in Egypt, King Ptolemy IV, ambitious to destroy the Greek Cleitomachus' reputation, trained a boxer Aristonicus,
a man who seemed to have a remarkable natural gift for this sport. Upon this
Aristonicus arriving in Greece and challenging Cleitomachus at Olympia. The local crowd, as it is today, likes to root for the underdog seem to revel in the idea. Apparently delighted to see that someone, or rather anyone willing to pit himself
against Cleitomachus. As the fight continued, Aristonicus appeared to be Cleitomachus's match, for once or twice landed huge telling blows accompanied by thunderous clapping
of hands as the crowd in it's excitement, cheered on
Aristonicus.
At this time they say that Cleitomachus, after withdrawing for a
few moments to recover his breath, turned to the crowd and asked them what they
meant by cheering on Aristonicus and backing him up all they could. "Are you not entertained!" Did they
think he himself was not fighting fairly, or were they not aware that
Cleitomachus was now fighting for the glory of Greece and Aristonicus for that
of King Ptolemy? Would they prefer to see an Egyptian conquer the Greeks and
win the Olympian crown, or to hear a Theban and Boeotian proclaimed by the
herald as victor in the men's boxing-match? When Cleitomachus had spoken thus,
they say there was such a change in the sentiment of the crowd that now all was
reversed, and Aristonicus found no support for his actions, which seemed to play a toll on his spirit; hence, was beaten by the crowd, if not by Cleitomachus.“
A Technicality…
To the Victor goes the Spoils...
Ok, this story
is old, so we will tell it as best we can.
There were two kingdoms on the border of the Egyptian and Nubian
lines. To appease the two sides and
avoid bloodshed, the two kingdoms agreed that every four years they would have
a champion wrestling match where great treasures would be offered to the
winner, thus avoiding the need to attack each other for such spoils. Well, it was twelve years since the Nubian
side had won, but this year they had it locked with Montu, a South African boy,
who followed a long line of wrestlers in his family. Exceptionally talented, he grew up with the
stories of his great grandfather making the championship match and winning,
where he was hoisted on the shoulders of his fellow citizens and approach the
wall of their kingdom where they would ceremoniously smash a hole in the wall
in his honor, for no gate was worthy for such a hero. Then the ceremonious consumption of great
quantities of drink would commence till all was unconscious from revelry. Montu, heard this story a hundred times if not
once.
Setepnere, was
of particular distraught the morning of the Championship match, he looked at his
leather like hands and twisted his torso back and forth feeling the aching
muscles each turn listening to his vertebrae perform the familiar popping
sounds as he stretched. Battle scarred and worn, Setepnere was fit,
and was ready as usual; however, this match was of particular concern for him. Not only was his trick knee giving him signs
of vulnerability, but the local magistrate had been pressuring him to perform
beyond expectation this year. He didn’t
like pressure about his performance from anyone, let alone some weasel
magistrate with his head up the Pharaohs backside. This new mandate was especially unwelcome this match, for the Nubian
challenger, this time, was a head taller and pound for pound matched his size, and from
what the Egyptian spies had acquired, his skills as well. To make things worse, if Setepnere did not
perform beyond the call of duty, per the weasel, the Pharaoh would put to death
his family. This was never the spirit of
these games, so the whole thing was distressing.
It was the
morning of the match the two Champions facing each other, both suppressing the
fear of the others lore that preceded them.
The weight to perform for their kingdoms looming above their heads,
while trying to draw upon their years of experience that could only amount to
the equivalent of body chess.
The horn was
blown, and the two bodies collided with a loud clap of muscle and bone. Moves were made and a great thud into the
dirt went both wrestlers. Setepnere was
impressed with Montu’s moves, many times Setepnere was in trouble with Montu’s
strength and speed, but Setepnere’s experience and skill saved him from these
debilitating moves.
Montu had made
a move that Setepnere did not expect and had not seen and suddenly Setepnere
was on the ground with his arm wrapped behind his back. He was in trouble. However, as he looked down desperately trying
to concentrate on how he would get out of this hold let alone survive this with
all his extremities intact, he noticed that Montu had made an error in judgment;
his knee was too close to Setepnere’s other arm. Not wasting anytime Setepnere grasp behind
Montu’s knee and yanked with all his might flipping the both of them, immediately
placing Montu on his back, Montu desperate to get out of that position flipped around
to cover his exposed midriff. This is
something that Setepnere not only anticipated, but waited for, for it allowed
Setepnere to wrap his arm around the neck of Montu. In his motion to turn on his stomach, Montu
fed right into Setepnere’s gripping neck hold.
Montu knew as he felt the anaconda like grip, that this was the end, the
man was too strong, and as it was, too experienced for Montu. 
The
festivities carried on through the night where story after story was told of
Montu’s life and victory over the great “god-like” opponent Setepnere. Wine flowed endlessly through the night,
Montu could hardly see, let alone think, but Setepnere’s words haunted him, why
proclaim victory and make such a beginner move? Nevermind, tomorrow he would
ponder it, for how great was Montu restoring the kingdoms pride and strength
over the Egyptian kingdom? They drank
till all was happily subdued to slumber.
Setepnere folded
his robes that morning, swearing to never wrestle again, for the politics of
war polluted what little reverence he had for the sport. A knock at the door came, where Setepnere
could see the back of the weasel walking down the road. A handsome reward was left on his door from
the little weasel with a card that said, “For Performance beyond the call of duty...” Setepnere, looked at down at the stipend and
said, “Performance, yes, exactly, it was a performance…”
So what is the IT Professional's take away from these stories?
So what is the IT Professional's take away from these stories?
- Don't become an obstructionist, cuz someone will off you...
- Be careful who you cheer for, you may be cheering for your own demise...
- Don't confuse winning with victory...
Source(s):
- http://www.awesomestories.com/sports/ancient-olympics/used-and-recommended-sources
- Polybius , the Histories, Fragments of Book XXVII
- http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Bios/Pausanias.html
- (Info from Betsy Carpenter: The First Olympics, U.S. News 1/8/04.)
So “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;”
____________________________________________________________
About Rick Ricker
An IT professional with over 20 years experience in Information Security, wireless broadband, network and Infrastructure design, development, and support.
For more information, contact Rick at (800) 333-8394 x 689
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for your input, your ideas, critiques, suggestions are always welcome...
- Wasabi Roll Staff