Descripción

From the library of Prof. Wolfgang Haase, long-time editor of ANRW and the International Journal of the Classical Tradition (IJCT). - - Small abrasions on the dustjacket. Otherwise good and clean. - Schutzumschlag leicht berieben. Sonst gut und sauber. - In ancient Greece, athletic events were held not solely for the sake of the content itself but, rather, within the context of religious festivals in or near sanctuaries in honour of the gods. The athletes competed first for the gods and then for their native city and themselves. It was believed that the victors in the games did not distinguish themselves through their superior ability alone, but because they enjoyed divine favour. Modeled after physical exercises and competitions that existed in earlier Near Eastern cultures, hundreds of athletic games took place in Greek antiquity, extending across every area of the Mediterranean in which Greek culture flourished. Of the vast number of games four attained the status of panhellenic games: the'Qlyrnpic'gam^s, heldatOlympia in honour of Zeus; the Pythian games at Delphi, at the- festival of A]5ollo; the Isthmian games, at the sanctuary of Poseidon at Istbnfia; and the Nem^an games, celebrated in the sanctuary of Zeus at Nentea. The Panathenaic games, which took place at the festival of the Panathenaia in Athens in honour of Athena, were � at their peak � equal in brilliance to those held at the panhellenic festivals. In these five games � more than anywhere els's � the magnificent culture and ideology of Greek antiquity flourished. \Founded as early as the 8th century BC, the games held at Olympia, however, were the oldest and most important games and surpassed all the others in their fame and glory. The spectacle of the games gave-rise to a sporting tradition that engages the world to this day. The laws of athletics and the regulations and rules of conduct for the events were all instituted at Olympia and were not only copied by the other games, both inside and outside Greece, but were also respected throughout the ancient world by rulers and states � even by mighty Rome. Games and Sanctuaries in Ancient Greece celebrates the athletes, the games, the sanctuaries^ the cities and, above all, die inspiring spirit of the a\ciem Greeks over a span of a millennium and a half �Trom the earliest mentions of athletics in Homers Iliad and other literary sources, through the Classical age, and intoAte Hellenistic, Roman and late antique periods. That our modern athletes still compcte every four years m-such contests as the pentathlon, discus, javelin, boxing, jumping, wrestling and running events, much as their ancient antecedents did centuries before them, is a testament to the longevity of competition, triumph and defeat. ISBN 9780892367627