The Victor's Crown: A History of Ancient Sport from Homer to Byzantium PDF
Preview The Victor's Crown: A History of Ancient Sport from Homer to Byzantium
The Victor’s Crown This page intentionally left blank The Victor’s Crown A History of Ancient Sport from Homer to Byzantium David Potter 1 3 Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further Oxford University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam First published as a hardcover original in Great Britain by Quercus 21 Bloomsbury Square, London WCIA 2NS Copyright © 2012 David Potter First published as a paperback Original by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Potter, D. S. (David Stone), 1957– The victor’s crown : a history of ancient sport from Homer to Byzantium / David Potter. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-0-19-984275-9—ISBN 978-0-19-984273-5 1. Sports—History. 2. Greece—Civilization. 3. Byzantine Empire—Civilization. I. Title. GV573.P67 2011 796'.09—dc22 2011008813 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper Contents List of Illustrations ix Maps xii Preface xv Then and Now xvii PART 1: ASHES, LINEN AND THE ORIGINS OF SPORT 1: Introduction 3 2: Homer and the Bronze Age 13 3: Homer and Sport 24 PART 2: OLYMPIA 4: From Myth to History 37 5: Olympia in 480 BC 49 6: The Olympic Games of 476 BC 55 7: The Festival Approaches 62 8: Winning 67 The equestrian events 67 The pentathlon and the foot races 73 Nudity 76 Pain and suffering 78 9: Remembering Victory 89 v contents The athlete as hero 93 10: The Emergence of the Panhellenic Cycle 98 PART 3: THE WORLD OF THE GYMNASIUM 11: Sport and Civic Virtue 109 12: Beroia 127 13: Getting in Shape and Turning Pro 137 PART 4: ROMAN GAMES 14: Greece Meets Rome 163 15: Kings and Games 169 16: Rome and Italy 179 17: Actors and Gladiators 186 18: Caesar, Antony, Augustus and the Games 209 PART 5: IMPERIAL GAMES 19: Watching 225 20: The Fan’s Experience 229 21: Expectations 233 22: Crowd Noise 237 23: Dreaming of Sport 242 24: Images of Sport 246 25: Women’s Sports 252 26: Gladiators 258 Life as a gladiator 259 Training and ranking 262 Dying 264 Choosing to be a gladiator 269 27: Charioteers 273 vi contents 28: Athletes 278 Athletic guilds 279 Cheating 286 29: Running the Show 288 Administration 292 Athletics 300 Epilogue: The Long End of an Era 308 Bibliography 321 Classical Sources 350 Notes 359 Index 407 vii This page intentionally left blank List of Illustrations 1. Evans’ reconstruction of the Taureador fresco. 2. Marinatos’ reconstruction of the Taureador fresco. 3. Terracotta image of a charioteer and horses from Olympia. © Olympia Archaeological Museum 4. Hoplitodromos. © Indiana University Museum 5. Panathenaic amphora with discus thrower and teacher by Euthymides, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples, Italy. © Scala / Ministero Beni e Att. Culturali 6. Amphora with black figures engaged in a stadion race by Kleophrades, 500 - 490 BCE, Paris, Musée du Louvre. © Scala / White Images 7. Amphora depicting the end of a boxing match. © National Archaeological Museum, Athens 8. Two wrestlers. Hellenistic Bronze statuette from Alexandria, 2nd century BCE, Paris, Musée du Louvre. © akg-images / Erich Lessing 9. Wrestler about to drop his opponent on his head. Hellenistic Bronze statuette from Alexandria, 2nd century BCE, Paris, Musée du Louvre. © akg-images / Erich Lessing 10. Reconstruction of the Olympic site as it was in 476. © Matthew Harrington 11. The judge’s box in the stadion at Olympia. © Matthew Harrington ix
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