Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Poor Sportsmanship in the Ancient World



Evidently John McEnroe did not invent the childish tirade during a sporting contest...and Mike Tyson's ear nibbling seems tame considering this Classical era jerk seemingly killed a bunch of innocent kids because he lost a boxing match:

Cleomedes of Astypalaea, 492 BC. A strange story about this athlete who went crazy after a decision by the chief judges of the Games. At the Festival previous to this it is said that Cleomedes of Astypalaea killed Iccus of Epidaurus during a boxing-match. On being convicted by the umpires of foul play and being deprived of the prize he became incensed and returned to Astypalaea. He attacked a school there pulling down the pillars which held up the roof. This fell upon the 60 children in attendance.
Cleomedes,was pelted with stones by the citizens and took refuge in the sanctuary of Athena. He hid in a chest in the sanctuary. The Astypalaeans toiled in vain to open the chest. At last, however, they broke open the hiding place, but found no Cleomedes. So townspeople sent envoys to Delphi to ask what had happened to Cleomedes. The response given by the Pythian priestess was reportedly as follows: "Last of heroes is Cleomedes of Astypalaea; Honour him with sacrifices as being no longer a mortal."
Some hero...this is what you get when you take advice from a supposed fortune teller who pokes around in the entrails of dead birds with a pointed stick to make her predictions.

A bizaare incident in Ancient Sports...a boxer kills his opponent,is disqualified, and his response is to cause a cave-in on some school kids in his home town...nice work you Greek wanker.

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