The importance of sport in the Greek world, as an expression of panhellenic unity over the city particularism and as model of a perfect and complex organi- zation, is stated by the institution of the four big games and by other less impor- tant feasts, but significant ones like the Panatheneans.
In Ancient Greece, swimming was never considered as one of the traditional games (although, it is possible that the Isthmian Games were swimming competitions in the Sea of Corinth, in the true competitive Greek spirit). Among the Greeks, the Athenians and, above all, the Delians from Delos were the best swimmers. Their ability is well-known.
An example of the archaeological record’s value in reassessing the inherent prejudices of the ancient literary record can be seen in the instance of the archaic-era Ionian Greek colony of Massalia.
Spectacles of death were not only relatively normal events in ancient Rome, but were looked forward to by both the peasant and aristocratic classes and men and women alike.
What this paper intends to establish is the exploration of the role of ritual human sacrifice among the Maya with particular reference that this ritual possessed in the context of the ballgame.
Every Greek, wheever he may be, is interested in discovering his roots and this not in order to feel more Greek, of this he is certain, but to be able to refute not only historically but also scientifically antihellenic opi- nions of some people and others who have designs on our Greek heritage.
