... expresses the ideals of a society, so the religious games express these ideals. Only men were allowed to compete (the games of Hera, with only one event perhaps show the inferiority of women in Greek society). They also expressed ideals of physical beauty and perhaps mathematical and rational thought. "[the artist] seems concerned with the physical beauty of the human beings as an end in itself. Polycleitus...allies aesthetics with mathematics...he suggested the perfect human body... reflected ideal mathematical proportions" 1 The games expressed (if only officially) the Greek ideals of modesty, and the avoidance of ???????The prizes of olive crowns were simple yet symbolic. The crowns came from the sacred olive tree allegedly planted by Herakles. Olympic victory was believed to mean divine approval. Pindar describes victory as "when God sheds a brightness" 2. Alcibiades even used his Olympic victories to support an argument in the Athenian assembly. The religious root shows ...

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