Romano, D. G., The Ancient Stadium- Athletes and Arete,

Estação Científica (UNIFAP), 2019

A Companion to Greek Architecture, 2016

P. Christesen and D. Kyle, Companion to Sport and Spectacle in the Greek and Roman Worlds, 2014

2009

T oday, as in the past, the distinction between sport and en tertainm ent is not alw ays a clear o r unam biguous one. T heatrical events, for example, are classed as entertainm ent since this implies an audience that is seated within an area suited for this purpose, and that views actors presenting the play before it.1 Sport activities on the o ther hand, are related above all to the com petitors themselves. Sportsm en can carry out their activities w ithout an audience, but the G reeks, who were the first to institutionalize both the various kinds o f theatrical events and spo rt events, provided them from the very ou tset with a wellorganized and competitive framework. The m ain sport events in which the Greeks engaged were not numerous: running, throw ing the discus and javelin, long jum ps, professional wrestling and boxing, and finally chariot races.2 Sport events, like theatrical events, were conducted within a municipal fram ework, financed by the polis for the benefit o f i...

2015

"The sporting field appears to be an excellent miniature of Greek society. The ideals are high, the attitudes devout, but the competition is stiff. The rules are the same for all, although some succeed in stretching their limits better than others. Cunning is admired, just as are strength or speed. Champions become heroes—glorified individuals in the midst of a communal culture. They are immortalized in statues and poetic verse, and their reputations endure through the millennia. Religion is also strongly manifest in ancient sport. The gods cannot help but interfere in humanity's affairs. No one can best their favourite, and the competition of the ungodly is cut short. The audience loves unexpected plot twists. But even if the gods and goddesses of Olympus do follow the contests, women and slaves are not seen on the field or on the sidelines. The stadiums where the Hellenes competed give modern humanity an idea about the importance of sport in the world of antiquity. Their silence makes these shrines to sport imposing. The gravel does not tell its memories, nor do the stone benches of the stands speak. But even barren and empty they convey the feeling that drew people to follow the games year after year. It is left to the imagination to contemplate what the mood must have been in the glory age 2,500 years ago, when an audience of thousands goaded the best athletes of their time with their shouts. Records of ancient sport have been preserved, besides the monumental places of performance, in archaeological artefacts and in literature. Admired athletes were a popular subject in art. Archaeologists have found hundreds of items of pottery that depict the different sports. Rich Greeks and Romans often had their homes decorated with sport-themed statues or mosaics. The athletic sculptures of Myron, Polykleitos and Lysippos, which belong to the pearls of ancient sculpture, were copied enthusiastically even centuries later. In Greek and Roman literature one encounters sport in the most surprising contexts. The great philosophers of Athens appear to have spent a great deal of their time near the sporting grounds. In lyric, hymns of praise to athletes were considered a natural part of high literature. In geographical guidebooks each city’s stadium and sporting history is bestowed much attention. Nevertheless, it is good for the reader to keep in mind that parts of the history of sport in antiquity are also made up of myths and oral tradition. Events have been coloured by those telling them, and not everything written can be considered absolutely true. Temporally, antiquity extends from the birth of the Greek city-states in the second millennium B.C. to the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 A.D. Geographically, the culture of antiquity comprehends half of Europe in addition to the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. Our purpose is not to offer an inclusive account of ancient sport in this one volume. In this work we will concentrate on basic questions: How did sport begin? Why did people engage in sport? How did the nature of sport change over the centuries? What sports and competitions were there in antiquity? What sort of foundation has antiquity created for modern sport? Sport is not just about centimetres and seconds. Especially in antiquity sport was a central part of the popular culture of the time. Simple lists of victors or descriptions of events are just the outward surface. The concept of sport deepens considerably when it is considered as a part of society. Points of contact can be found with ancient national history as well as social, economic and cultural history and a significant number of stories, myths, beliefs and religions. Next to cultural interconnectedness, another basic idea of our book is the broadest possible use of original sources. The conception of sport in antiquity is conveyed to the reader most authentically through pictures and text fragments. There is nevertheless reason to remember that the literature that has been preserved reflects only the view of the male upper class. We know the ideas of women, children and slaves about sport in only a very limited fashion. Our book is divided into three sections: In the first part we investigate sport as a part of Greek and Roman society. In the second part we tell about the different sports and training methods. In the third part we present sporting events from traditional competitions all the way up to the most spectacular chariot races. A look into the continuation of the sporting tradition of antiquity is also included. Those seeking additional information may find it using the bibliography at the end. We wish you all a phenomenal trip from the fields of Olympia to the arenas of Rome! 5.3.2004 The Authors"

2015

The power of sports to unite people of all races, religions and ethnic backgrounds has gained utmost importance in our world today. In the wake of the terrorist acts of September 2001 which has trigerred a war and panic amongst nations with totally different cultures and backgrounds, we now need sports morc than ever. Sports has that magical ability to bring people of all nations together in the most friendly and exciting atmosphere since ancient times. The five Olympic rings intersecting with each other and symbolizing the unification of all continents has been adopted as the logo of the International Olympic Committce, for this particular reason. Anatolia, the heart of Turkcy, whcre civilizations of very great importance have flourished since ancient times has witnessed and still bears some of the most important sport sites of antiquity. During my long research into this subject. it becamc obvious that to better understand why and how these particular sport sites were built, one h...

The fields of ancient Greece were organised in a familiar way: strips of land in which a plough could prepare land for arable planting. Known in various languages as furlong, runrig, journel, machen etc, in Greece there was a nominal length for arable strips of 600 feet called a stadia. The length of foot used was systematically varied from the foot we use today, using highly disciplined variations (called modules); each module a numeric ratio to the Greek module; whose root foot was the English foot [Neal, 2000]. These modules are found employed throughout the ancient world, lengthening or reducing lengths such as the stadia, to suit geometrical problems; such as the division of land into fields