Charles H. Stocking - Ancient Greek Athletics: Primary Sources in Translation

This project would not have been possible without a great number of people. First, we would like to thank the editors at Oxford University Press, who have showed great care and support throughout the lifetime of this project, including Charlotte Loveridge, who originally proposed the idea for a new sourcebook, as well as Karen Raith, Georgina Leighton, Samantha Downes, Celine Louasli, Gwen Colvin, and our copy editor. Three former and current graduate students were absolutely critical in the production of this text, including Jonathan Weiland, for his detailed work on the site plans and charts in this volume, Nolan Epstein for his contributions to the section on Pindar, and above all to Annie Lamar for her care and effort in preparing the charts, timeline, glossary, images, and index. Finally, we must thank the anonymous reviewers whose suggestions have considerably improved the content and structure of the material presented here.

We have been able to present material from this sourcebook on several occasions, and we are grateful to our colleagues and audiences at the University of Virginia, the University of Toronto, the USC Institute of Sports Media and Society, the International Olympic Academy, and the Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies for much helpful advice.

We are especially grateful for the work of our colleagues in the field of ancient Greek athletics, on whom we have relied, and it is with great sadness and regret that we were not able to complete this text before the passing of one of the most important scholars of ancient athletics, Mark Golden. This sourcebook would not have been possible without him.

The endless patience and support of our partners and families during this project deserves more appreciation than can be expressed in words.

And finally, we would like to thank the many students and student athletes we have taught over the years in our courses on ancient athletics. Your curiosity, engagement, and enthusiasm have been and will continue to be a constant source of inspiration.