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Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 796.0938
EAN: 9780520241541
Edition: 3
ISBN: 0520241541
Label: University of California Press
Manufacturer: University of California Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 248
Publication Date: June 07, 2004
Publisher: University of California Press
Studio: University of California Press
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
From the informal games of Homer's time to the highly organized contests of the Roman world, Miller has compileda trove of ancient sources: Plutarch on boxing, Aristotle on the pentathlon, Philostratos on the buying and selling of victories, Vitruvius on literary competitions, and Xenophon on female body building. With nearly 50 percent more texts than the highly successful second edition, this new version of Arete offers readers an absorbing lesson in the culture of Greek athletics from the greatest of teachers, the ancients themselves, and demonstrates that the concepts of virtue, skill, pride, valor, and nobility embedded in the word arete are only part of the story from antiquity. Illustrations: 15 line illustrations
Average Rating: 
Rating:
- "... beyond the dug-up area..."This collection of excerpts from ancient sources concerning
athletes, athletic contests, skills, prizes, and the
athletic "mystique" is excellent. For it gives a
generous overview from different sources, from different
ancient venues, and from different time periods. The
reader gains a growing sense of the awe and reverence
in which skilled as well as beautiful athletes were
held, both by spectators at the events as well as
through the fame which they gained that was passed
down in inscriptions, statues, poetry, and the
memories of those who heard of their skills and
victories even in distant places.
The excerpts are not excessively long, but they are
highy interesting and instructive. The topics covered
by chapters are: the Earliest Days of Greek Athletics/
Nudity and Equipment/ The Events at a Competition
(Running, Wrestling, Boxing, Pankration, Pentathlon,
Equestrian, Music, Poetry and Prose Composition, Acting,
Painting)/ Organization of a Panhellenic Festival/ Local
Festivals/ Role of the Games in Society/ Women in
Athletics/ Athletes and Heroes/ Ball Playing/ Gymnasion,
Athletics, and Education/ Spread of Greek Athletics in
the Hellenistic Period/ Greek Athletics in the Roman
Period/ Amateurism and Professionalism/ Nationalism
and Internationalism/ Our Ideal and the Reality.
As the author, Stephen Miller, explains in the
"Introduction": "A definition of -arete- would
include virtue, skill, prowess, pride, excellence,
valor, and nobility, but these words, whether taken
individually or collectively, do not [completely]
fulfill the meaning of -arete-." *** "...the word
-arete- still carries with it a notion of ephemeral
excellence and of transient triumph that make its
translation an exceedingly risky business."
In any particular chapter, the sources cited
may include: Pausanias (author of the famous Guide
Book to Greece), statue inscriptions, Athenaeus
(author of the multi-volume -Deipnosophists-,
Scholars at Dinner), Diodorus Siculus, poetic
excerpts from the -Greek Anthology-, Plutarch,
the ancient poet Pindar, Plato's dialogues, Aristotle's
treatises, as well as many other Greek and Roman
sources.
The title which I chose for this review comes from
the chapter titled "The Events at a Competition"
and shows both the ... Read More
