Sprinter on a vase from Rhodes and a bronze running girl
About this video
A vase from East Greece shows a sprinter in the 'windmill' pose that ancient artists used to show speed. The sprint was the most important Olympic race, and a small bronze running girl reminds us that women had their own contests at Olympia.
You'll be able to
- explain how ancient artists showed speed in a painted figure.
- explain why the sprint was so important at the ancient Olympics.
- describe the place of women in the ancient Olympic Games.
Key words
- sprint
- A short, very fast running race.
- Olympiad
- A single celebration of the ancient Olympic Games, held every four years.
- antiquity
- The ancient past, especially the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans.
- bronze
- A metal made mostly of copper and tin, used for small statues.
Transcript
this file shows a sprinter we know he's a sprinter because of the way his arms and legs are going furiously to and fro and this kind of windmill pose was what was conventionally used to show speed in antiquity the vars was made in East Greece between about 515 525 BC the sprint was the most important race in the Olympics in fact it was the only event for the first 13 Olympiads and it was so important that the Greeks kept their calendar based on the names of the winners in that race on the other side of the rowers there's another runner and a similar pose so they're actually chasing each other endlessly around the pot this is a little of bronze figure of a running girl and it's interesting and
important because women were not allowed to compete at the ancient Olympics and in fact for some of the history of the games they weren't even allowed to watch but women did actually have their own contests at Olympia but at a different time of year
Video © Khan Academy, used under CC BY-NC-SA. Watch on Khan Academy. Puzzicle is not affiliated with Khan Academy.