2024 Summer Olympics

[pbehn]

Tennis Golf and Cricket are a complete waste of grass, they should be banned on environmental grounds with the bars and cafes preserved to remind people what decadence leads to.

 

[GrauGeist]

Yeah...the opening ceremony was too weird.

It was supposed to be a nod to Dionysius, but completely lacked anything Greek.

Now, if you want to honor the spirit of the Greek games, have Greek Hoplites enter the stadium in full gear like they did back in the day: Athenians, Spartans, Laodiceans, Thebians, etc.

Now that would be really cool.

 

[SaparotRob]

"Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?"

 

[GrauGeist]

"Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?"

The age of the Gladiators was long after the sun set on the Hoplites.

 

[SaparotRob]

Don't bother me with facts.

 

[GrauGeist]

Don't bother me with facts.

Well, perhaps these facts might help:
Gladiators were often poorly armed and had various pieces of obsolete armor (if they were given any).
Their weapons were subgrade and often specialized for arena combat and certainly not military grade.

Actual trained Gladiators were often pitted against weaker opponents who had little or no protection and armed with only a trident or old sword.
Captured prisoners of war were often pitted against professional Gladiators, but they were not afforded their armor or weapons, so there was an intended handicap to insure they would lose.

To be honest, there was nothing glorious about gladitorial combat - Hollywood makes it out to be much more spectacular than it really was.

 

[Snautzer01]

Well, perhaps these facts might help:
Gladiators were often poorly armed and had various pieces of obsolete armor (if they were given any).
Their weapons were subgrade and often specialized for arena combat and certainly not military grade.

Actual trained Gladiators were often pitted against weaker opponents who had little or no protection and armed with only a trident or old sword.
Captured prisoners of war were often pitted against professional Gladiators, but they were not afforded their armor or weapons, so there was an intended handicap to insure they would lose.

To be honest, there was nothing glorious about gladitorial combat - Hollywood makes it out to be much more spectacular than it really was.

I think you might want to dig deeper.
Romans set up games cancelling out the advantage one had, with a handicap.