Part of this funeral is a set of seven competitions in which the war heroes at Troy compete as athletes rather than warrior. The Iliad is an important source of information on the games because it serves as a cultural sponge. It soaked up many of the customs, history, people, and stories and concentrated them in one source. Competition was important to the Greeks. George Orwell has a quote which is quite helpful in explaining why competition was so important.
Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play.
It is bound up with hatred, boastfullness, disregard of all rules, and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence. Behind those games there are very strict rules of competition so that there are equal terms for everybody. This sense of fairness is the basic principle of the Olympic games.