A Visitor's Guide to the Ancient Olympics bookcover

A Visitor's Guide to the Ancient Olympics

4.9/5.0
21,000+ Reviews
Bookshop.org has the highest-rated customer service of any bookstore in the world

Description

An essential book for the 21st-century citizen who seeks a lively guided tour of the ancient Greek Olympics

What was it like to attend the Olympics in 388 B.C.? Would the experience resemble Olympic festivals as we celebrate them today? This remarkable book transports us back to the heyday of the city-state and classical Greek civilization. It invites us to enter this distant, alien, but still familiar culture and discover what the Greeks did and didn't do during five thrilling days in August 2,400 years ago.

In the Olympic Stadium there were no stands, no shade--and no women allowed. Visitors sat on a grassy bank in the searing heat of midsummer to watch naked athletes compete in footraces, the pentathlon, horse and chariot races, and three combat sports--wrestling, boxing, and pankration, everyone's favorite competition, with virtually no rules and considerable blood and pain. This colorfully illustrated volume offers a complete tour of the Olympic site exactly as athletes and spectators found it. The book evokes the sights, sounds, and smells of the crowded encampment; introduces the various attendees (from champions and charlatans to aristocrats and prostitutes); and explains the numerous exotic religious rituals. Uniquely detailed and precise, this guide offers readers an unparalleled opportunity to travel in time, back to the excitement of ancient Olympia.

Product Details

PublisherYale University Press
Publish DateMay 01, 2012
Pages272
LanguageEnglish
TypeBook iconPaperback / softback
EAN/UPC9780300159073
Dimensions8.4 X 5.0 X 0.8 inches | 0.9 pounds

About the Author

Neil Faulkner is research fellow at the University of Bristol, fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and codirector of several field projects. A freelance archaeologist and historian, his previous books include Apocalypse: The Great Jewish Revolt against Rome and Rome: Empire of the Eagles. He lives in Herts, UK.

Reviews

"A Visitor's Guide to the Ancient Olympics (Yale University Press)[offers], a funny, fascinating way of learning about ancient Greece, its religious and social attitudes, the thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat. It is jauntily written as a true guidebook, with hints on how to get the most out of your visit, so this is history written in an amusing and accessible form. "--Rob Hardy, The Columbus Dispatch

--Rob Hardy "The Columbus Dispatch" (6/16/2002 12:00:00 AM)

Earn by promoting books

Earn money by sharing your favorite books through our Affiliate program.sign up to affiliate program link
Become an affiliate