Ancient Olympic Games

In 776 BC, all of the known world began getting together to see who was the very best athlete among them.  Every four years all of the cities that made up Greece would put aside wars, disputes and essentially everything else to travel to Olympia to celebrate.  This went on for just over a 1,000 years finally concluding in 393 AD.  During this time many stories and even legends began to be told from the games... My favorite was about an old man looking for a seat.

In those days, the games were held in a grass area with a stone and sod amphitheater surrounding it by three sides.  Crowds from all over Greece would come early to find the best seats to view the athletes.  The event lasted all week and consisted of many ceremonies to honor the athletes and religious services to worship the many Greek gods.  Most would not only celebrate in their spot but eat and, in some cases, sleep.  One day after the event had gone on for several days an older man wandered into the arena.  Since several days had passed every spot was taken.  The old man walked the outside of the field looking up and down the arena for a place to sit.  After walking passed thousands of individuals he found himself standing in front of a group from Sparta.  At that instant, one young man stood up and moved out of his spot in the front of the group.  As he moved, the entire group stood up and squeezed together to make room for the young man higher up on the hill.  The old man, without saying a word, slid into the newly vacated spot and took a seat.  As the large group of Spartans took their seats the rest of the crowd began to jeer.  Whispers and even mocking began to erupt the amphitheater: "Who was this man", "Why would they move for him", "But why would they move for an old man?".  Just then, the old man stood back up and waved his arms to calm the crowd.  As the arena quieted he began to speak: "All Greeks know the right thing to do... BUT ONLY SPARTANS DO IT!!"

It wasn't that the man was a king or "important".  It was that he was worthy of respect as a old man in the spartan community and thus a seasoned warrior.  Everyone in the arena knew the right thing to do, show respect and move but the small nation of Sparta raised their residents to always honor no matter the sacrifice.