Greek Athletics

by Jason König (Editor)

Athletic training and athletic competition were key features of ancient Greek life for more than 1,000 years, from the foundation of the Olympic festival in the eighth century BC into the Roman period. Recent years have seen an enormous growth in scholarship on the subject, and in undergraduate teaching, but many seminal articles remain inaccessible, especially to English-speaking readers. This volume brings together for the first time a collection of important pieces and extracts on core themes, covering gymnasium education, festival competition and victory, the role of athlectic activity in conceptions of ancient identity, and the reception of the ancient athletic heritage in the modern world. • Five of the twelve pieces are translated for the first time from French and German • contains an extensive introduction covering key issues for study and research• brief editorial discussions of each of the articles are included.

352 pages, Hardcover

First published April 30, 2010

About the author

From University of St. Andrews website:

"My current work is focused broadly on the Greek literature of the Roman Empire and on the Greek and Roman novel. My new book Saints and Symposiasts: The Literature of Food and the Symposium in Greco-Roman and Early Christian Culture, is forthcoming with CUP. I am working particularly on Philostratus; also on a new project on landscape in ancient culture and literature."
Interests include: Greek literature and culture of the Roman Empire, including the Greek and Latin novels and early Christian narrative literature; ancient athletics; the literature and culture of the symposium; ancient miscellanistic and technical writing.