In the world of sports, the most important component is the
athlete. After all, without athletes there would be no sports. In
ancient Greece, athletes were public figures, idolized and envied.
This fascinating book draws on a broad range of ancient sources to
explore the development of athletes in Greece from the archaic
period to the Roman Empire. Whereas many previous books have
focused on the origins of the Greek games themselves, or the events
or locations where the games took place, this volume places a
unique emphasis on the athletes themselves - and the fostering of
their athleticism. Moving beyond stereotypes of larger-than-life
heroes, Reyes BertolIn CebriAn examines the experiences of ordinary
athletes, who practiced sports for educational, recreational, or
professional purposes. According to BertolIn CebriAn, the majority
of athletes in ancient times were young men and mostly single.
Similar to today, most athletes practiced sport as part of their
schooling. Yet during the fifth century B.C., a major shift in
ancient Greek education took place, when the curriculum for
training future leaders became more academic in orientation. As a
result, argues BertolIn CebriAn, the practice of sport in the
Hellenistic period lost its appeal to the intellectual elite, even
as it remained popular with large sectors of the population. Thus,
a gap emerged between the 'higher' and 'lower' cultures of sport.
In looking at the implications of this development for athletes,
whether high-performing or recreational, this erudite volume
traverses such wide-ranging fields as history, literature,
medicine, and sports psychology to recreate - in compelling detail
- the life and lifestyle of the ancient Greek athlete.
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