Sports - History, Health Policy, General & Miscellaneous Health Policies, Olympics, Athletics - General & Miscellaneous

Ancient Greek Athletics

Name: Ancient Greek Athletics
Author: Stephen G. Miller
ISBN: 9780300115291

by Stephen G. Miller

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Overview

The earliest Olympic games began more than twenty-five-hundred years ago. What were they like, how were they organized, who participated? Were ancient sports a means of preparing youth for warfare? In this lavishly illustrated book, a world expert on ancient Greek athletics provides the first comprehensive introduction to the subject, vividly describing ancient sporting events and games and exploring their impact on art, literature, and politics. Using a wide array of ancient sources, written and visual, and including recent archaeological discoveries, Stephen Miller reconstructs ancient Greek athletic festivals and the details of specific athletic events. He also explores broader themes, including the role of women in ancient athletics, the place of amateurism, and the relationship between athletic events and social and political life. Published in the year the modern Olympic Games return to Athens, this book will be a source of information and enjoyment for anyone interested in the history of athletics and the origins of the world's most famous sporting event.

Synopsis

This lavishly illustrated book presents a comprehensive survey of sports in ancient Greece. It vividly describes ancient sporting events and games, considers the role of women and amateurs in ancient athletics, and explores the impact of these games on art, literature, and politics.

About the Author, Stephen G. Miller

Stephen G. Miller, professor of classical archaeology at the University of California, Berkeley, directs the excavations at Nemea in Greece, one of the major sites of ancient games. He is the author of many books, including Arete: Greek Sports from Ancient Sources.

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Editorials

The New Yorker

This exhaustive survey by a Berkeley archeologist covers not only the Olympic Games but the related festivals at Delphi, Isthmia, and Nemea (where Miller is in charge of excavations), and uses evidence from vase painting, statuary, and the remains of ancient stadiums to elucidate such details as halteres (special weights used by long jumpers) and the hysplex, a complicated gate intended to prevent false starts. By our standards, many of the events were brutal; an unfortunate boxer named Kreugas had his intestines ripped out in a bout at Nemea. But Miller identifies a specifically Greek ideal in the fact that the athletes, regardless of social standing, competed on equal footing and would even submit to flogging if they fouled. This is a far cry from the behavior of the Roman Emperor Nero, who breezed through Greece in A.D. 67, winning some eleven hundred events; at Olympia, he fell out of his chariot and failed to finish the race but was still awarded the victory crown.

Library Journal

As pointed out by Miller (classical archaeology, Berkeley; director, excavations, ancient Nemea, Greece), "Plato spends long discussions on the place of athletics in education and society, yet modern books on such topics as ancient Greek history and Athenian democracy can be completely silent about athletics." In his work, intended as a handbook for all interested readers, Miller employs his impressive knowledge of both textual and material evidence to present us with a multifaceted view of athletics in ancient Greek society, including cross references to texts from his 1979 work, Arete: Greek Sports from Ancient Sources (also forthcoming in a 2004 edition). Hundreds of illustrations, many of Greek vase paintings, as well as visual evidence from statues, architecture, and sites, allow readers to see athletics as a central aspect of Greek culture. Among the book's many highlights are the attention given to the specifics of the games held at Olympia, Delphi, Isthmia and Nemea, and other locations; the nature of the sports themselves; the training process; and the evidence for women's athletics. Written with clarity and grace, Miller's work exemplifies arete, the excellence or virtue that the ancient Greeks sought to embody. For lay readers and scholars alike.-Joan W. Garland, Detroit P.L. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.