Sport in the Ancient Greek World

4 credits · Undergraduate credit

In creating the modern Olympic games, Baron Pierre de Coubertin claimed that he was recreating the games that had been held in Greece for a thousand years in antiquity. His fanciful recreation of the games (aided by some fanciful contemporary scholarship) has shaped contemporary views on sport in profound ways. In Classical Civilization 371 we will be examining the myths associated with Greek Sport and the realities as they emerged for our sources to create a more accurate dialogue between ancient and modern sport and exploring the ways games were held, the role of the games in creating community, ideas of professionalism and the conjunction of sports with education in both antiquity and the twentieth century.