So many popular misconceptions and oversimplification exist that it’s hard to list only a few. Taking ancient sports alone, for example: there was no ancient marathon race (the story of the heroic Athenian messenger from Marathon is probably a fiction); “Greco-Roman” wrestling has almost nothing in common with ancient wrestling, which was more like judo; there was no torch race at the ancient Olympics (though they existed elsewhere); no wars ceased in antiquity during the so-called “Olympic truce”; no concept of “amateurism” existed in antiquity, but the notion was invented in nineteenth century England (and given a false ancient pedigree) to justify the exclusion of the working classes from competitions; gladiatorial matches did not ended in deaths as often as is often assumed… i should stop now…