Sport and spectacle in the ancient world / Donald G. Kyle.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kyle, Donald G.

Series:

Ancient cultures (Malden, Mass.)

Ancient cultures

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sports--History.

Sports.

History.

Physical Description:

xv, 403 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Malden, MA ; Oxford : Blackwell Pub., 2007.

Summary:

This work by a well-published scholar and award-winning teacher provides an introduction to the history of sport and spectacle in the ancient world from the Ancient Near East through Greek and Hellenistic times and into the Roman Empire. The book introduces readers to ancient sport history as a growing and exciting field in which scholarly advances and controversies abound. Drawing on archaeological and art historical evidence and on approaches from anthropology and social history, the author goes beyond the traditional focus on the Greek Olympics and the Roman Colosseum to examine the origins, nature and meaning of sport, the sporting activities and spectacles of earlier Mediterranean peoples, local sport and unusual contests, and much more.

Contents:

Origins and essences : early sport and spectacle

Late Bronze Age Minoans, Hittites, and Mycenaeans

Sport in Homer : contests, prizes, and honor

Archaic Greece : athletics in an age of change

In search of the ancient Olympics

Ancient Olympia and its games

Panhellenic sacred crown games

Athens : city of contests and prizes

Spartan sport and physical education

Greek athletes : myths, motives, and mobility

Females and Greek athletics

Macedon and Hellenistic sport and spectacle

The Roman Republic : festivals, celebrations, and games

Late Republic and Augustus : spectacles, politics, and empire

Spectacle, sport, and the Roman Empire.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [377]-388) and index.

ISBN:

0631229701

063122971X

OCLC:

63116432

Publisher Number:

9780631229704

9780631229711