Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World

The second edition of Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World provides an updated introduction to over 2,000 years of ancient history on this topic. Author Donald G. Kyle takes readers from the early civilizations of the Ancient Near East, through Greek and Hellenistic times, and up to the waning days of the Roman Empire. Kyle continues to challenge traditional scholarship in the field, supporting his claims with new research and new interpretation of ancient sources. Featuring more illustrations and a larger, more accessible format, the second edition is updated with the most recent scholarship and features an all–new chapter highlighting sport and spectacle during the Late Roman period. This edition also provides summaries of new discoveries such as bull–jumping mosaics in the Nile Delta, and insights into Greek athletic festivals from letters by the Roman emperor Hadrian. Clear and engaging, Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World, Second Edition is an invaluable resource for students and readers of all levels.  

Preface and Acknowledgments List of Figures List of Maps List of Tables Introduction: Ancient Sport History Why Sport History? Word Games: Conceptualizing Sport and Spectacle Challenges: Evidence, Chronology, and Modernism Sports and Spectacles as Cultural Performances Greece and Rome: Positive and Negative Classicism Sports as Spectacle, Spectacles as Sport 1. Origins and Essences: Early Sport and Spectacle Mesopotamian Combat Sports and Running Egypt: Hunting and Sporting Pharaohs Royal Hunts as a Near Eastern Tradition States and Sports, Empires and Spectacles 2. Late Bronze Age Minoans, Hittites, and Mycenaeans Minoan Performances: Rites, Contests, or Spectacles? Hittite Contests? Mycenaean Contests? A Sporting Mediterranean World 3. Sport in Homer: Contests, Prizes, and Honor Funeral Games for Patroklos: Prizes and Reconciliation The Odyssey: Sport and Returning Home Epic Sport as Spectacle 4. Archaic Greece: Athletics in an Age of Change Athletic Festivals: Types and Terms Factors and Features in the Growth of Athletics Gymnasiums, Hoplites, and Society Nudity, Status, and Democracy Men, Boys, and Erotic Pursuits The Coming of Age of Greek Sport 5. In Search of the Ancient Olympics The Olympics of Allusion and Illusion Modern Myths and Invented Traditions The Quagmire of Olympic Origins: Explanations and Excavations 6. Ancient Olympia and its Games The Physical Context: Sanctuary and Facilities The Olympic Festival: Operation and Administration The Program of Contests Olympia and Spectacle: Politics, Problems, and Performances 7. Panhellenic Sacred Crown Games and More Pythian Games Isthmian Games Nemean Games Variations: Local or Civic Games 8. Athens: City of Contests and Prizes The Panathenaic Games: Sacred and Civic Athletics More Athletic Festivals and Athletic Facilities The Sociopolitical History of Athenian Sport Contestation, Critics, and Popular Attitudes 9. Spartan Sport and Physical Education Physical Education: Building the Body Politic Spartan Athletics Kyniska: Gender, Politics, and Racing Chariots at Olympia Not So Strange Greeks 10. Athletes in Greek Society: Heroes, Motives, Access Athletic Stars and Stories Pindar on Victory and Glory Athletes, Social History, and Democratization 11. Females and Greek Sport Early Greece: Epic and Myth Spartan Female Sport Athenian Girls? Races or Rites The Heraia at Olympia The Olympic Ban on Women Hellenistic Females and Competition Female Athletics in the Roman Empire 12. Macedon and Hellenistic Sport and Spectacle Philip II: Proclaiming Greekness through Games Alexander the Great: Conquests and Spectacular Games Hellenistic Sport and Spectacle The Hellenistic Legacy 13. Early Roman Festivals, Celebrations, and Games Etruscan Sport and Spectacle: Ethnicity, Greek Gifts, Roman Roots? Roman Festivals and Entertainments Chariot Racing at Rome Triumphs: Spectacles of Military Victory Hunts and Beasts: Conquests and Games Gladiators: Roman Rites and Combats Early Romans and Greek Sport Roman–Hellenistic Spectacular Discourse 14. Late Republic and Augustus: Spectacles, Popular Politics, and Empire The Meaning of Gladiatorial Combat: Infamy and Virtue Sulla, Pompey, and Caesar: Magnificence and Munificence Augustus: Consolidation and Imperial Rule through Shows 15. Spectacle, Sport, and the Roman Empire Emperors, Spectacles, and Scandals Days at the Track: Chariot Racing Imperial Triumphs Gladiators, Arenas, and Empire Beast Hunts: Nature and Empire Spectacular Executions: Criminals, Beasts, and Social Order Greek Games in the Roman Empire Professional Athletes: Guilds, Prizes, and Hadrian Assimilation and Accommodation 16. Later Sports and Spectacles: Romans, Christians, and Byzantines Christian Opposition to Pagan Spectacles Roman Reactions to Christians The Waning of Institutionalized Shows in the West Chariot Racing in the Christian Byzantine Empire Conclusion: Ancient Sport and Spectacle Index

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).