They Loved Sovereignty and Liberty Most
“And the Lacedæmonians offer sacrifices to Love before they go to battle, thinking that safety and victory depend on the friendship and those who stand side by side in the battle array. And the Cretans, in their line of battle, adorn the handsomest of their citizens, and employ them to offer sacrifices to Love on behalf of the state, as Sosicrates relates. And the regiment among the Thebans which is called the Sacred Band, is wholly composed of mutual lovers, indicating the majesty of the God, these men prefer a glorious death to a shameful and discreditable life. But the Samians (as Erxias says, in his History of Colophon), having consecrated a gymnasium to Love, called the festival which was instituted in his honour the Eleutheria, or Feast of Liberty; and it was owing to this God, too, that they Athenians obtained their freedom.” ~ Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae
Greeks knew that rapt successes are the best,
Whether they are triumphs of the mind or
The triumphs of the body. In the quest
For total victory Greeks knew that war
Was utmost. The Olympics worshipped this
The clearest doctrine of their ways. To wear
The laurel crown there on that field was bliss.
To win a prize was greater than a prayer,
No matter if the laurels were for ode
Or tragedy. The losers slunk away
But champions invoked the highest code,
Respect, loud as Bucephalus’s bray.
..Most royal of the gods is Nike. Keen
….Victory is king and freedom his queen.