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Sport in the Greek and Roman Worlds: Volume 1

Early Greece, The Olympics, and Contests

Thomas F Scanlon editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Oxford University Press

Published:31st Jul '14

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Sport in the Greek and Roman Worlds: Volume 1 cover

From the Minoan bull-leaping to the ancient Olympics and the enigmas of their contests, this first volume of Sport in the Greek and Roman Worlds contains nine articles and chapters of enduring importance to the study of sport in ancient Greece, a field located at a crucial intersection of social history, archaeology, literature, and other aspects of Greek culture. The studies have been updated with addenda by the original authors, and two of the articles that were originally published in German or French have been translated into English here for the first time. The studies, selected for breadth and importance of historical topics, include: Greek sport in its epic, heroic, and Bronze Age origins; the ancient Olympics in its relation to religion, politics, and diversity of competitors; Greek events in track and field and equestrian events. A companion second volume complements this one with studies on the social and economic aspects of Greek sport, the role of Greek sport in the Roman era, and forms, functions and venues of Roman spectacles. The articles in both volumes offer an excellent starting point to inspire newcomers to the study of ancient sport, and to give students and scholars an informative set of models for present knowledge and future research.

These volumes assemble a notable array of scholarly treatments ranging across a great many aspects of ancient sport, and they are valuable for what they reveal about the past. But perhaps their greater value is less explicit: despite the disparities, the very continuation of sport and competition through the long centuries demonstrates the continuities of human nature lurking beneath cultural and historical differences. The desire to strive, to compete, and to triumph has been common to all ages. * Justin D. Lyons, Sport Literature Association *
Scanlon's collection is a welcome addition to existing offerings then, especially as it collects, updates and synthesizes important scholarship by all the heavy-hitters in the field, articles which undergraduates would be hard-pressed to locate in their original, relatively obscure journals or to read in foreign languages ... Scanlon's collection -- as the latest entrant into the increasingly crowded field of sport history texts -- is a winner. * Sinclair Bell, The Classical Journal Online *
a fine collection of articles and an excellent contribution to our teaching materials. * Onno van Nijf, L'Antiquite Classique *

ISBN: 9780199215324

Dimensions: 216mm x 142mm x 21mm

Weight: 436g

352 pages