>Common people had almost no sports, no games (beyond precursors to Bocce or backgammon), no literature!*

They had tons of fan of several forms, including fabulous festival seasons, and public holidays, complete with dancing, drunkdness, singing and music, and several other things besides...

The idea of those "pour people" comes from lorded over overworked peasants in feudal societies, a small part of global history.

Even so, the same poor people post industrialization had it worse -- for one, they were forced in many ways (including laws destroying their lands and livelihood) to work in factories, didn't chose it as a lifestyle improvement. And many put up a great fight in the process too