| Gambling In The Ancient Middle East |
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 Pablo Edronkin
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In remote times, both sports and gambling enjoyed some serious developments in that region now characterised by turmoil. Gambling has always been present all thorough the history of humankind, and despite the fact that some people see this as an immoral activity, multitudes have been and continue to be attracted to the glory and riches that games, gambling and betting deliver, because indeed, people get rich. Even in ancient times, as the first empires on Earth battled their way into power and history, gambling was an established way to increase the fortune of any individual, even very poor ones, destitute people or socially rejected individuals. Assyria was a nation of warriors, one of the first civilisations of our world that in the Middle East of ancient times carved itself an empire based on war chariot, bows and arrows; Assyrians valued very much those who were able to get what they wanted despite the perils along the way. The Assyrians perfected their tactics and created the first armies that could exploit their competitive advantages and at the same time, minimise risks: in a way, they bet their own skin and existence and so conquered almost the whole world they knew then. From Nineveh, in Iraq, to the Mediterranean sea, they crushed all resistance against them. And everyone there, in Assyria was bold, that was part of the nature of their brutal society and the warfare-oriented folklore of that nation yet, it allowed for some movement between social ranks: The priestesses of the cult of Ishtar, the goddess of love and the equivalent to the Phoenician Baalit or the Greek goddess Aphrodite, started out as very, very low and despised prostituted and ended up being the first millionaires in the history of our world, and they achieved that indeed, by selling fun of all sorts. This simple historical fact proves that no matter where and no matter when, gambling does deliver a fortune for those bold enough to hunt for it. Within this context, those exercises designed to improve battle skills divided into two: pure military work and entertainment. Good warriors, chariotmen and so were highly appreciated and they enjoyed showing off their skills. Naturally, military needs and the requirement of secrecy for war preparations rapidly made those events off limits for the population and the ancestors of the bookies, which were the betting auctioneers; then the public as well as the bookies and other interested parties turned their heads towards the entertaining shows and competitions, and that's how essentially the sports scene was born. |
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