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The Ancient Olympic Games
In this revised and enlarged edition of her indispensable guide to the ancient Games, Judith Swaddling traces their mythological and religious origins, and describes the events, the sacred ceremony, and the celebrations that were an essential part of the Olympic festival. A large, detailed model based on modern research and excavation reconstructs the site of ancient Olympia, where alongside religious and civic buildings there grew an elaborate sports complex with a stadium for 40,000 spectators, indoor and outdoor training facilities, hot and cold baths, a swimming pool, and a race course. Later chapters cover the diet and medical treatment of athletes, sponsorship, patronage, propaganda, and revivals of the Games. The last additional chapter on the modern Games is written in collaboration with Stewart Binns, an expert in this field who has worked closely with the International Olympic Committee over many years. Eleven additional archival photographs chart the major landmarks in the Olympics over the last hundred years.
120 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1980
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
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July 16, 2020The county Council shut down its libraries a couple of weeks before the national corona virus lockdown began. It was only this week that they begun to reopen in a limited manner - you had to scour the catalogue online, order the books you wanted and then collect them once you had been given an approved time slot by the librarian.
Naturally I was greatly relived at this part reopening, but once I had chosen The Awakening and other stories and the wolf Border I could not think of any other titles that I was eager to read off the top of my head - this particular branch of the library has only a small stock - so I spat on my hands, applied a couple of filters to the online catalogue and began to look for non-fiction titles. The two which caught my eye were this one, and Art History, a very short introduction. So lets be clear, I may have only have only have read this because it's title in the catalogue began with the letter A.
It is a nice, colourful brochure, printed in a larger format full of pictures of Greek pottery and close ups of a large model of Olympia as it may have looked at its height.
Swaddling offers up chapters on the Olympic games since 1896, Death and rebirth , politics, Scandal and Propaganda, Prize-giving and celebrations, the events, The Programme, Preparation and training, records and regulations, the Site, and Where and why the Olympic games.
It seems in the beginning that the games were a fertility festival, possibly dedicated to Hera. These earliest games featured only one event: a 180 meter foot race, there was and always remained a parallel set of games for married women in which the only event was a 160 meter foot race. At some stage Zeus muscled out Hera as patron of the men's games and once the Games were formally established in 776 BC they gained events - at first rapidly and then more slowly; a double length foot race, the Pentathlon, chariot racing, a race wearing armour and so on.
The Olympic games were part of a circuit of four games which were very prestigious, but which offered only symbolic prizes; a wreath of olive leaves at Olympia, fresh celery at Corinth, and at Nemea, not to be out done, dried celery. There were also other athletic competitions with more valuable prizes (though there is nothing wrong with a nice bunch of celery). In Ancient Greece there was no coming second or third - you either won, or you slunk home in disgrace. The athletes competed naked, the spectators stood, sunstroke was a real danger. Swaddling suggests the practise of rubbing the body with olive oil offered some protection from the sun, I have never tried it as a means of protection, but it strikes me as more likely that if they also rubbed in a bit of salt and a handful of rosemary as well, the athletes might have smelt like Sunday dinner.
By modern standards the athletics were probably pretty unimpressive - 30 metres was a record discus throw for instance, but in one respect the Ancient Games were completely different to the modern ones in that the intention seemed to be to make the competition as hard as possible - which was probably why they performed naked in the middle of summer at midday. The games were preceded by a compulsory ten month training period, at least the last month of which took place at the town of Elis, from where all the competitors marched the 58 kilometres from Elis to Olympia over two days before the competition began.
The Spartans did not compete in the boxing, as the competition went on until one person died or surrendered - and surrendering was not compatible with the Spartan brand.
Trainers were liable to be whipped for certain fouls - whipping was a punishment reserved for slaves, athletes were treated in a more dignified manner and only beaten with sticks.
Wrestlers also smeared themselves with olive oil - they were meant to then powder themselves so the opponent could get a grip, but apparently the unscrupulous would oil over the powder.
With the exception of the case illustrated in Asterix at the Olympic Games cheating by means of drugs was undetected, but there were cases of bribery, and persuading athletes to change the city they were affiliated with.
Women were allowed to watch the games, if they were unmarried or the Priestess of Demeter Chamyne , :one other married woman is known to have gained admittance to the Games. She was called either Kallipetra or Pherenike, and she was the daughter of Diagoras, the famous boxer from Rhodes. As her husband was dead, she disguised herself as a trainer and brought her son Pisirodos to Olympia to compete. Pisirodos won, and in her excitement the mother leapt over the barrier of the trainer's enclosure and in doing so exposed herself. But the authorities let her go unpunished out of respect for her father, brother and son,all of whom had won olympic victories. As a precaution, however, they passed a law that in future the trainers, like the athletes, must be naked when they came to be registered. (p.43)
This nice story is typical of many around the Games in sounding like a just so story to explain the custom of nakedness - among trainers at the swearing in ceremony this time. Among athletes there were similar stories along the lines of once someone tripped over their loincloth and lost their race therefore everybody competes naked.
I found this quite a funny book, but I assume the author was not aiming for laughs despite the flatulent gladiators, gorgeously illustrated.
Naturally I was greatly relived at this part reopening, but once I had chosen The Awakening and other stories and the wolf Border I could not think of any other titles that I was eager to read off the top of my head - this particular branch of the library has only a small stock - so I spat on my hands, applied a couple of filters to the online catalogue and began to look for non-fiction titles. The two which caught my eye were this one, and Art History, a very short introduction. So lets be clear, I may have only have only have read this because it's title in the catalogue began with the letter A.
It is a nice, colourful brochure, printed in a larger format full of pictures of Greek pottery and close ups of a large model of Olympia as it may have looked at its height.
Swaddling offers up chapters on the Olympic games since 1896, Death and rebirth , politics, Scandal and Propaganda, Prize-giving and celebrations, the events, The Programme, Preparation and training, records and regulations, the Site, and Where and why the Olympic games.
It seems in the beginning that the games were a fertility festival, possibly dedicated to Hera. These earliest games featured only one event: a 180 meter foot race, there was and always remained a parallel set of games for married women in which the only event was a 160 meter foot race. At some stage Zeus muscled out Hera as patron of the men's games and once the Games were formally established in 776 BC they gained events - at first rapidly and then more slowly; a double length foot race, the Pentathlon, chariot racing, a race wearing armour and so on.
The Olympic games were part of a circuit of four games which were very prestigious, but which offered only symbolic prizes; a wreath of olive leaves at Olympia, fresh celery at Corinth, and at Nemea, not to be out done, dried celery. There were also other athletic competitions with more valuable prizes (though there is nothing wrong with a nice bunch of celery). In Ancient Greece there was no coming second or third - you either won, or you slunk home in disgrace. The athletes competed naked, the spectators stood, sunstroke was a real danger. Swaddling suggests the practise of rubbing the body with olive oil offered some protection from the sun, I have never tried it as a means of protection, but it strikes me as more likely that if they also rubbed in a bit of salt and a handful of rosemary as well, the athletes might have smelt like Sunday dinner.
By modern standards the athletics were probably pretty unimpressive - 30 metres was a record discus throw for instance, but in one respect the Ancient Games were completely different to the modern ones in that the intention seemed to be to make the competition as hard as possible - which was probably why they performed naked in the middle of summer at midday. The games were preceded by a compulsory ten month training period, at least the last month of which took place at the town of Elis, from where all the competitors marched the 58 kilometres from Elis to Olympia over two days before the competition began.
The Spartans did not compete in the boxing, as the competition went on until one person died or surrendered - and surrendering was not compatible with the Spartan brand.
Trainers were liable to be whipped for certain fouls - whipping was a punishment reserved for slaves, athletes were treated in a more dignified manner and only beaten with sticks.
Wrestlers also smeared themselves with olive oil - they were meant to then powder themselves so the opponent could get a grip, but apparently the unscrupulous would oil over the powder.
With the exception of the case illustrated in Asterix at the Olympic Games cheating by means of drugs was undetected, but there were cases of bribery, and persuading athletes to change the city they were affiliated with.
Women were allowed to watch the games, if they were unmarried or the Priestess of Demeter Chamyne , :one other married woman is known to have gained admittance to the Games. She was called either Kallipetra or Pherenike, and she was the daughter of Diagoras, the famous boxer from Rhodes. As her husband was dead, she disguised herself as a trainer and brought her son Pisirodos to Olympia to compete. Pisirodos won, and in her excitement the mother leapt over the barrier of the trainer's enclosure and in doing so exposed herself. But the authorities let her go unpunished out of respect for her father, brother and son,all of whom had won olympic victories. As a precaution, however, they passed a law that in future the trainers, like the athletes, must be naked when they came to be registered. (p.43)
This nice story is typical of many around the Games in sounding like a just so story to explain the custom of nakedness - among trainers at the swearing in ceremony this time. Among athletes there were similar stories along the lines of once someone tripped over their loincloth and lost their race therefore everybody competes naked.
I found this quite a funny book, but I assume the author was not aiming for laughs despite the flatulent gladiators, gorgeously illustrated.
December 29, 2011
Efficient little study of the Original Olympic Games, a distillation of what we about the site, the participants and the events. Tries hard not to get bogged down in the archeological detail, which makes it perfectly accessible for the general reader. Some nice anecdotes about the games too: my favourite being how Emperor Nero delayed the games for two years from 65 -67AD, then turned up to participate in the four horse chariot race with a chariot pulled by ten horses. As if this was not unfair enough, he fell off, did not complete the course but was declared the winner anyway because he surely would have won if he had finished. Priceless! Sport corrupted by wealth and power? Who would have thought it possible?
July 7, 2016
This is a pretty solid read if you are looking for a not too heavy introduction to the ancient olympics. It is quick and covers a lot of the points the average person would ask an expert with as good a backing as one could provide on a 2,000+ year old subject.
January 2, 2016
An excellent resource for the controlled assessment part of OCR's Classical Civilisation GCSE. Helpfully organised in a clear style with all the information needed.
February 17, 2018
I really enjoyed reading this book. The Olympics are on, and I love the Olympics. This book was great because it explained when and how the Olympics were first created. How competitions were held. Where they were held. The buildings, the site, the rituals, etc. Not to mention there were a ton of pictures, and for a subject like this, the pictures were invaluable.
To sum this up, the Olympics were started in 776 BC and went on for about a thousand years. The games were held in Olympia, Greece in honor of Zeus. In fact, one of the seven ancient wonders of the world was there, the 13-meter high gold and ivory statue of Zeus (sadly the statue was taken many years later and ultimately destroyed). Another factor in the games was to create a truce from all the civil wars.
The book explains how the ancient site was discovered and subsequently excavated. So much has been discovered and learned about these ancient Olympic games from what was found at the site. The book provides not only a map of the site, but pictures of models of what the site would have looked like.
By using written records, pottery, statues, architecture, etc experts have a very good understanding of what each of the buildings was for, and how the people at the times participated. A few things that I thought were interesting is that women were banned from the games (there were two exceptions, and virgins were also possible exceptions) and the men performed naked. Just some of the sports that took place were wrestling, boxing, javelin, discus throw, running, chariot racing and others. Also, only winners counted. There were no 'silver' or 'bronze' places. You either won or you lost.
Anyway, just a very interesting read about how the Olympic Games came to be. I really enjoyed this book.
To sum this up, the Olympics were started in 776 BC and went on for about a thousand years. The games were held in Olympia, Greece in honor of Zeus. In fact, one of the seven ancient wonders of the world was there, the 13-meter high gold and ivory statue of Zeus (sadly the statue was taken many years later and ultimately destroyed). Another factor in the games was to create a truce from all the civil wars.
The book explains how the ancient site was discovered and subsequently excavated. So much has been discovered and learned about these ancient Olympic games from what was found at the site. The book provides not only a map of the site, but pictures of models of what the site would have looked like.
By using written records, pottery, statues, architecture, etc experts have a very good understanding of what each of the buildings was for, and how the people at the times participated. A few things that I thought were interesting is that women were banned from the games (there were two exceptions, and virgins were also possible exceptions) and the men performed naked. Just some of the sports that took place were wrestling, boxing, javelin, discus throw, running, chariot racing and others. Also, only winners counted. There were no 'silver' or 'bronze' places. You either won or you lost.
Anyway, just a very interesting read about how the Olympic Games came to be. I really enjoyed this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 2, 2025
I’m not a sports fan, or a fan of watching the modern Olympics (even for the spectacle), so I wasn’t sure how I’d take this book. But I do have a huge interest in Ancient Greece, and found this immensely interesting for its depiction of everyday life, and the various excellent reproductions and explanations of artifacts in the British Museum’s collection!
スポーツとモダンのオリンピックにあまり興味ない、けど古代なギリシャ歴史すごい興味ある。始めた時、どんな感想かなーと思ったけどこれめっちゃよかった！色んな古代なギリシャの日常と残り物情報、後色んな大英博物館のすごい物の写真
スポーツとモダンのオリンピックにあまり興味ない、けど古代なギリシャ歴史すごい興味ある。始めた時、どんな感想かなーと思ったけどこれめっちゃよかった！色んな古代なギリシャの日常と残り物情報、後色んな大英博物館のすごい物の写真
July 17, 2022
A fantastic overview!!
July 23, 2024
A great read for anyone who wants a quick refresher on the history of the Olympics before the 2024 games begin!
June 2, 2025
Great illustrative imagery and to the point without being blunt or boring
June 1, 2014
I found it most interesting
May 10, 2016
It's all on the blog...
https://unklethan.wordpress.com/2016/...
https://unklethan.wordpress.com/2016/...
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews