such instances women were banned from attendance. The abundance of slaves in fifth Century Greece did much of the real work, leaving the Athenian citizens free, and therefore leisure was seen as an essential part of life, especially sporting activities which were regarded as necessary for good health. Sports were also seen as a method of training for warfare as well as a means of honouring gods. An excellent example of this is the Olympic games. Music and dance was popular with Greeks from all classes, not only as a past time but also a religious festival. Musicians often accompanied plays at the theatre or performed with dancers at private banquets. Most Greek cities also had an amphitheatre at their centre in which plays or enactments of stories of gods and legendary heroes were presented for entertainment. It was through such means as sports, music and dance that ancient Greek citizens found entertainment at their leisure.The Ancient Greeks were extremely racist people and referred to all non-Greeks as barbarians, meaning not speaking, simply an adjective representing the sound of incomprehensible speech. It was originally used in referral to the Persians, but because their empire covered so many of the foreign people in question, for example the Egyptians, Phoenicians, Phrygians and Thracians, it was soon extended to all non-Greeks. This reflected and boosted the Greeks sense of their own superiority and it is obvious through records that they were often portrayed as the opposite of the ideal Greek. There are few references to the different physical appearance of barbarian characters except in the case of blacks, their skin supposedly darkened by the sun. It was argued that colour determine not only physiology, but also temperament and political behaviour. In issues such as these the Greeks were very set in their ways and anyone with a contradicting opinion was often rejected from society and sometimes even ostracised....
