The Ancient Olympics
by Nigel Spivey
OUP, £17.99, pp. 264, ISBN 0192804332
Olympics in Athens 1896: The Invention of the Modern Olympic Games
by Michael Llewellyn Smith
Profile, £16.99, pp. 290, ISBN 186197342X
So politics should be kept out of sports? Tell that to the Greeks. Two absorbing new books about the ancient Olympic Games, each crammed with information about the sporting events themselves, abundantly demonstrate that the athletic contexts represented far more than sporting prowess. Stephen Miller’s richly detailed study, beautifully illustrated, is an examination of the whole of Greek culture and the role that athletics, games and festivals played in the moulding of Greek literature, vase painting, democracy and politics. Athletics, performed in homage to the gods, trained body and soul and reminded men of their mortal limitations. The struggle was fierce. There were no team games and there were no medals for coming second, just an olive wreath for the victor.
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