Heather Reid - Athletics and Philosophy in the Ancient World: Contests of Virtue

For Larry

This is a work of philosophy. I begin with that statement because my extensive use of historical and classical texts may cause confusion about this books methods and goals. As a philosopher, I am comfortable making arguments and conjectures that might be anathema for historians and classicists. Foremost among these are my consistent and insistent comparisons between the ideas and practices of the ancient world and those of the modern day. I understand that there are good reasons to avoid such comparisons, in particular the tendency to reconstruct the ancient world in a way that serves modern tastes or political goals. Ancient sport has been a frequent victim of such treatment. The Greek Olympics have been falsely idealized to promote a class-based notion of amateurism. Roman gladiators have been falsely demonized to promote images of Christian martyrdom (gladiator contests and public executions of Christians who eschewed Roman religious laws were two different things). In this text, I interpret history and classical texts in such a way as to support my thesis of a meaningful connection between ancient sport and virtue that is relevant even today. But I have striven to do so in a way that respects not only historical context but also scholarly demands for evidence and logical consistency. In sum, I seek an understanding of what sport has been in order construct a philosophical vision of what it may become.