One paradox of the study of ancient Greek athletics is that the epinikian odes of Pindar remain a prime source for us, despite revealing so little about the specifics of the events they celebrate. Much of what the poet does tell us comes by way of a highly stylized art… Read more
The many identities of agonistic victors “The 120th Olympiad. Pythagoras the Magnesian, stadion. Wrestling, Keras the Argive (who tore the hooves of a cow).” [1] The Olympiad list copied by Eusebius identifies a long series of Olympic victors—in this case two victors from the year… Read more
S’inscrivant dans le prolongement de l’épopée homérique, Apollonios ne peut manquer d’avoir à l’esprit une tradition de héros qui se sont notamment illustrés dans les épisodes fameux des jeux funèbres en l’honneur de Patrocle ou des jeux de divertissement chez les Phéaciens. [1] Or il… Read more
The Gymnasticus, written in the third century CE by the Athenian sophist Philostratus, is one of our latest, most important, but also most underappreciated texts on ancient athletic training. [1] Earlier scholars had largely dismissed the text as incoherent and encyclopedic. [2]… Read more
[[Originally published in The Olympic Games in Antiquity: Bring Forth Rain and Bear Fruit, eds. M. Kaila et al. (Athens: Atrapos, 2004) 61–91]] Sports are by definition public events, events of the stadium, and thus events which in some ways serve as a mirror for activity in the public sphere… Read more
In the National Museum in Athens can be seen an Athenian red-figure vase made in the middle of the fifth century, on which appears a sequence of five injured athletes, executed by a painter of limited ability. On one side, to the left, one athlete holds his foot while a… Read more
Definitions The term “archaic” in the title refers to a period in the history of Greek-speaking people that extends from the eighth century to the second half of the fifth century BCE, to be followed by the so-called classical period. The term “epic” here refers to the primary representatives of… Read more
Though not widely studied as such, there are several highly memorable and quotable instances of ancient “sports writing” to be found at the pivotal moments of Athenian drama. In Sophocles’ Electra, for example, Orestes’ paidagogos gives a riveting—though fake—account of a Pythian chariot race that ends in a magnificent wreck… Read more
As Ada Cohen remarks, “The selectivity of the Greek imagination—with its emphases as well as its exclusions—is one of its most interesting aspects, and it is relevant to the study of both mythological narrative and landscape description.” [1] Following Cohen, I address here Pindar’s geographic… Read more
The topic for this volume on Greek poetry and sport was at the suggestion of Gregory Nagy and it arose in part from his and my recent work on sport in Homer. Many studies on Pindar, Homer, and other poets have discussed the specific uses of sport in each context,… Read more
