Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World

Front Cover
John Wiley & Sons, Dec 31, 2014 - History - 384 pages

The second edition of Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World updates Donald G. Kyle’s award-winning introduction to this topic, covering the Ancient Near East up to the late Roman Empire.

• Challenges traditional scholarship on sport and spectacle in the Ancient World and debunks claims that there were no sports before the ancient Greeks

• Explores the cultural exchange of Greek sport and Roman spectacle and how each culture responded to the other’s entertainment

• Features a new chapter on sport and spectacle during the Late Roman Empire, including Christian opposition to pagan games and the Roman response

• Covers topics including violence, professionalism in sport, class, gender and eroticism, and the relationship of spectacle to political structures

 

Selected pages

Contents

Conceptualizing Sport and Spectacle
7
Sports and Spectacles as Cultural Performances
14
Early Sport and Spectacle
22
Late Bronze Age Minoans Hittites and Mycenaeans
37
Contests Prizes and Honor
53
Athletics in an Age of Change
70
In Search of the Ancient Olympics
91
Ancient Olympia and Its Games
107
Heroes Motives Access
190
Females and Greek Sport
209
Macedon and Hellenistic Sport and Spectacle
222
Festivals Celebrations and Games
243
Spectacles Popular
268
Spectacle Sport and the Roman Empire
289
Romans Christians and Byzantines
329
The Waning of Institutionalized Shows in the West
335

Panhellenic Sacred Crown Games and More
132
City of Contests and Prizes
147
Spartan Sport and Physical Education
175
Ancient Sport and Spectacle
343
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World
Donald G. Kyle
Limited preview - 2014

Common terms and phrases

Achilles Alcibiades Alexander amphitheater amphoras Ancient Greece Ancient Olympics ancient sport Ancient World Archaic arena aristocratic Athenian Athens athletic contests athletic festivals Augustus beasts boxers boxing Bronze bull bull-leaping century Chapter chariot race Christesen and Kyle Christians Circus civic Classical compete competition Crowther cult cultural Delphi depictions early Elis elite emperors Empire entertainments Etruscan female footraces funeral games gladiatorial combats gladiators Greek and Roman Greek Athletics Greek sport gymnasium Hellenistic Homer honor hunting imperial inscriptions Isthmia king later male military Miller Minoan modern Mycenaean Nemea Nikephoros nude nudity Odysseus Olympia Olympic Games Olympic victor Oxford Panathenaia Panathenaic Panathenaic amphoras Panathenaic Games Panhellenic Panhellenic games pankration participation Paus Pausanias performances perhaps physical Pindar Pleket Plut political prizes probably rituals Roman spectacles Rome Rome’s sanctuary Scanlon scenes shows social Spartan spectacular spectators Sport and Spectacle Sport History Stadion stadium status suggests traditions triumph wrestling Zeus

About the author (2014)

Donald G. Kyle is Professor, former Chair of History, and Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Arlington. He is the author of Athletics in Ancient Athens (1987), Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome (1998), Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World (Wiley-Blackwell 2007); and co-editor (with Paul Christesen) of A Companion to Sport and Spectacle in Greek and Roman Antiquity (Wiley-Blackwell 2014).

Bibliographic information

TitleSport and Spectacle in the Ancient World
Ancient Cultures
AuthorDonald G. Kyle
Edition2, illustrated
PublisherJohn Wiley & Sons, 2014
ISBN1118613562, 9781118613566
Length384 pages
Subjects ›  › 

History / Ancient / General
History / General
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