Athletics in the Hellenistic World

Description

This is the first book on athletics in the Hellenistic era, with 16 contributions covering a range of historical, archaeological and philological perspectives. Previous scholarship has focused primarily on the classical age and the Roman imperial period, but it was in the Hellenistic age that Greek sport saw several important developments: the spread of Greek athletic culture in the East following the campaigns of Alexander the Great, the foundation of new athletic contests, and the emergence of a professional association of athletes. Topics discussed in this volume include how agonistic victories were exploited in legitimating (some) Hellenistic kings, the value placed on athletic prowess in the lively urban culture of this time, the role of sport in defining Greek identity, and the changing modes of representation of athletic action in literature and the arts. In emphasizing the central place of athletics in Greek culture, these papers offer new insights and will have far-reaching implications for our understanding of the wider political and social history of the Hellenistic period. Contents Preface Abstracts Christian Mann: Sport im Hellenismus: Forschungsstand und Forschungsperspektiven Thomas Heine Nielsen: Reflections on the Number of Athletic Festivals in Pre-hellenistic Greece Onno M. van Nijf – Christina G. Williamson: Connecting the Greeks: Festival Networks in the Hellenistic World Bram Fauconnier: Athletes and Artists in an Expanding World. The Development of Ecumenical Associations of Competitors in the First Century BC Zinon Papakonstantinou: The Hellenistic Agonothesia: Finances, Ideology, Identities Elena Franchi: Sport and War in Hellenistic Sparta Marianne Mathys: Athleten im Gymnasion von Pergamon Antiopi Argyriou-Casmeridis: Victories and Virtues: The Epigraphic Evidence for Hellenistic Athletes as Models of arete Kathrin Weber: Athletendarstellungen in der hellenistischen Grabkunst – Überlegungen zum Stellenwert der Athletenrolle in der Polisgesellschaft Sebastian Scharff: Das Pferd Aithon, die Skopaden und die πατρὶς Θεσσαλία. Zur Selbstdarstellung hippischer Sieger aus Thessalien im Hellenismus Frank Daubner: Agone im hellenistischen Nordgriechenland Stephen Sansom: Contests and Clothing in Four Agonistic Papyri from Hellenistic Egypt Barbara Dimde: Inszenierung von Läufern oder laufende Inszenierung – Stadien und Startvorrichtungen in hellenistischer Zeit Florian Klauser: Zur Aufstellungspraxis von Standbildern siegreicher Athleten in Athen in hellenistischer Zeit Leonardo Cazzadori: Callimachus on Agones and Athletes Lukas Kainz: “We are the Best, We are One, and We are Greeks!” Reflections on the Ptolemies’ Participation in the agones Index