Crowther offers a fascinating look at the role of sport as
practiced in several important civilizations in the ancient world.
He not only probes the games themselves, but explores the ways in
which athletics figured into cultural arenas that extended beyond
physical prowess to military associations, rituals, status, and
politics. Sport in Ancient Times has four distinct parts: the
Prehistoric Age, historic Greece, ancient Italy, and the Byzantine
Empire. Beginning with the earliest civilizations, Crowther
examines the military and recreational aspects of sports in
prehistoric Egypt, with brief references to other river-valley
cultures in Sumeria, Mesopotamia, and Persia. He looks at the
rituals of Cretan bull-leaping and boxing in the Bronze Age, the
high status of sports in Mycenaean Greece, and the funeral games in
the Trojan War as described by the epic poet Homer. In what he
terms "the historic period," Crowther examines the significance of
the ancient Olympic Games, the events of Greek athletics, and the
attitude of other civilizations (notably Rome) towards them. He
attempts to discover to what extent the Romans believed in the
famous ideal of Juvenal, a "sound mind in a sound body," and
discusses the significance of the famous Baths not only for sport,
but also for culture and society. He likewise explores the Roman
emphasis on spectator sports and the use of gladiatorial contests
and chariot racing for political purposes (the concept of "bread
and games"). The section on the Byzantine Empire focuses, notably,
on chariot racing and the riots at sporting contests--riots
reminiscent of crowd violence in modern sports such as soccer.
Crowther closes with perspectives that bring tolife some of the
issues revealed in previous chapters. These include a comparison of
the social status and significance of a famous Olympic athlete
(Milo), a Roman gladiator (Hermes), and a Byzantine chariot racer
(Porphyrius). He also addresses the changing role of women in
sports in antiquity. Women were prominent in sport in Egypt, for
example, but almost entirely absent from the ancient Olympic Games.
The final chapter discusses team sports and ball games. Although
these were comparatively rare in the ancient world, one may see in
those that did exist the forerunners of modern football and hockey.
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