A History Of Competitions
If there is one thing that we can say about humans, it’s that we just love to compete. It’s true, and naturally we love competitions more than most, being an online competition platform and all.
It got us thinking, what does the history of competitions actually look like? To win competitions has got to be one of the most historically exciting things available for us, but how long has this actually been a thing for? Turns out competitions are a lot older than you might think…
Competitions in the Bible
Competitions were being run as far back as biblical times, with there being various mention of lottery and raffle style competitions in the Old Testament. Back in these times, however, competitions were used with a lot more serious intent, forming the basis of property rights, assigning unpopular jobs and even setting legal disputes.
For instance, Jonah (from the legendary story of Jonah and the whale) was thrown overboard because chance revealed him to be responsible for an approaching storm. Funnily enough in today’s world Jonah would have won a neat prize, but back then he was made to walk the plank… Funny how things go, isn’t it?
Competitions in the Ancient Roman world
The Ancient Romans sowed the seeds for many different things in the modern world, and as it turns out competitions are part of this too. It was here that competitions were first used more out of leisure than necessity, as emperors such as Augustus would give out gifts to his guests by means of a lottery style system.
Later on the infamous Emperor Nero conducted huge lottery competitions with thousands of entrants. Online paid competitions and free to enter competitions can have their roots traced all the way back to here, so perhaps we all owe Emperor Nero some thanks!
Competitions in the 16th century
There were various types of competition going on between the Ancient Roman era and the 16th century, but it was here that the modern lotto-style of competitions was truly born. Interestingly in Genua five of the most important political positions were filled from 90 senators through a lottery competition, something that the general public would end up betting on.
If you’ve ever wondered where the modern style of lottery comes from, this is exactly it!
Modern day competitions
Competitions are absolutely everywhere in the modern day, and they are used in various different ways, from school fete tombolas, all the way through to online competitions. Unfortunately this latter usage has become somewhat adulterated by fake competition platforms who are just after your data, people that we aren’t fans of at all over at Winzum.
Winzum online competitions truly could not be further from this, as we really do value the connection between customer, brand and ourselves. After all, with Winzum everyone’s a winner, so what are you waiting for! You can read a guide on how to enter Winzum competitions here [step by step guide on how Winzum competitions work]. Happy days!