A Cultural History of Sport in Antiquity covers the period 800 BCE to 600 CE. From the founding of the Olympics and Rome’s celebratory games, sport permeated the cultural life of Greco-Roman antiquity almost as it does our own. Gymnasiums, public baths, monumental arenas, and circuses for chariot racing were constructed, and athletic contests proliferated. Sports-themed household objects were very popular, whilst the exploits of individual athletes, gladiators, and charioteers were immortalized in poetry, monuments, and the mosaic floors of the wealthy. This rich sporting culture attests to the importance of leisure among the middle and upper classes of the Greco-Roman world, but by 600 CE rising costs, barbarian invasions, and Christianity had swept it all away.
The 6 volume set of the Cultural History of Sport presents the first comprehensive history from classical antiquity to today, covering all forms and aspects of sport and its ever-changing social, cultural, political, and economic context and impact. The themes covered in each volume are the purpose of sport; sporting time and sporting space; products, training and technology; rules and order; conflict and accommodation; inclusion, exclusion and segregation; minds, bodies and identities; representation.
Paul Christesen is Professor at Dartmouth College, USA. Charles Stocking is Associate Professor at Western University, Canada.
Volume 1 in the Cultural History of Sport set General Editors: Wray Vamplew, Mark Dyreson, and John McClelland
VOLUME 1: A CULTURAL HISTORY OF SPORT IN ANTIQUITY EDITED BY PAUL CHRISTESEN, DARTMOUTH COLLEGE, USA, & CHARLES H. STOCKING, WESTERN UNIVERSITY, CANADA 1. The Purpose of Sport, Paul Christesen and Rose MacLean 2. Sporting Time and Sporting Space, Sofie Remijsen 3. Products, Training and Technology, Christian Mann 4. Rules and Order, Sarah C. Murray 5. Conflict and Accommodation, Zinon Papakonstantinou 6. Inclusion, Exclusion and Segregation, Peter J. Miller 7. Bodies and Identities, Charles Stocking 8. Representation, Nigel Spivey
Paul Christesen is William R. Kenan Professor of Ancient Greek History in the Department of Classics at Dartmouth College. His recent publications include A New Reading of the Damonon Stele (2019). Charles Stocking is Associate Professor in the Department of Classical Studies at Western University. His recent publications include The Politics of Sacrifice in Early Greek Myth and Poetry (2017).
Reviews for A Cultural History of Sport in Antiquity
The whole book with its thoroughly researched and argued conclusions is a mine of interesting and thought-provoking details and discussions ... [T]his scholarly volume is to be highly commended. * Classics for All *
