古希腊奥林匹克赛会考

Olympic Games of Ancient Greece

奥林匹克竞技会(Olympic games)以及另外三个后起的泛希腊竞技会(Pytho、Isthmus、Nemea)是希腊文化的一大瑰宝,体现了古希腊人高度重视身心调适和健全体魄的训练。希腊人借助宙斯、阿波罗、波赛冬诸神赋予体育竞赛神圣的性质,确保体育竞赛的公正原则,激励公民们积极进取,以自己的体力、毅力、耐力、敏捷和技巧取胜,从而为城邦争光。这是运动员、裁判员和观众一致认同的竞技会的精神支柱。由于竞技会体现的是英雄时代的荣誉观,因此,希腊城邦制和哲学形成之后,发生了关于德智体美关系、激情与理性、体育与城邦关系的大辩论。关于奥林匹克竞技会,近现代有不少猜测和讨论,我们必须严格区分神话传说与历史事实,切忌将神话传说作为史实来引证,更不能把哲学家毕达哥拉斯、柏拉图认为是奥林匹克竞技会获奖者。

The Olympic Games, together with three other Pan-Greek games （i. e., Pytho, Isthmus,Nemea）, are one of the greatest treasures of Greek culture. Aimed at strengthening and perfecting the body and emphasizing strongly the harmony between mind and body at the same time, the Olympic Games are the symbol of the Greek ideal. Ancient Greeks attributed the sanctity and fairness of the games to the guard of the Olympian gods. Greek citizens are stimulated to keep forging ahead, to strive for victory and therefore to win glory for their city-states with their strength, willpower, stamina, agility and skills. It is the spirit pillar of the games shared by the athletes, judges and spectators. The laurels of wild olive twigs are much heavier than the golden garland. ＂The gold in the soul is the purest treasure. ＂ As the games reflected the values of the Heroic Age, great discussions and disputes have taken place since the establishment of the city-state systems and the emergence of philosophy. These discussions and disputes mainly concern the connections among virtue, wisdom, strength and beauty, the relationship between passion and reason and the ties between sports and city-state. Some of the discussed problems and the relevant viewpoints are still valuable in our times. There are various conjectures and opinions put forward by modern scholars about the Olympic Games. The author maintains that the mythical legends and the historical facts should be distinguished strictly. We should be careful to avoid misquoting mythical legends as historical facts, and not to mistake the philosophers, e.g. Pythagoras and Plato, for the prizewinners of the Olympic Games.