Greek and Roman Sport

OK, you're probably wondering why it's important to know about what sports they played thousands of years ago. Well, many of the sports that are popular today came from the ancient Greeks for one thing, like wrestling and track and many track and field events, and boxing too. This book tells just about everythig about these ancient sports but also about the more violent Roman ones, like when gladiators killed eachother in front of screaming crowds. It makes you look at movies like Gladiator in a new light. I really liked the book and it's one anybody can learn a lot from.

By far the best general synopsis of the subject available for young or non-scholarly readers. Nardo covers every major aspect of ancient Greek and Roman sports and games, sometimes in a good deal more detail than one would expect in a book for this reading level. The sections describing ancient Olympia, Greek combat sports (wrestling, boxing, and pancration), and Roman chariot racing are especially informative and colofully written. This book should be on the required reading list for all high-school and college students taking courses in ancient history.

If you've ever wanted to do some in-depth study about ancient sporting events such as the original Olympics and chariot races and so forth, this is an excellent overview to get started. Mr. Nardo, who has written many books for students and general readers about ancient times, has done a wonderful job of summarizing the main points about ancient Olympia (what it looked like, who went there to see the famous games, what the events were, who the athletes were, etc.) He has a whole chapter on wrestling, boxing, and similar events that I found particularly interesting, including famous stories about some of the greatest competitors in these events, such as the great Milo, who could probably defeat (if he was still alive of course!)most of today's greatest atheletes. Mr. Nardo also does a great job explaining the Roman games, including the chariot races in the Circus Maximus and gladiator fights in the Colosseum. As in his other books that I have seen, he provides a very large and helpful bibliography that lists more scholarly books on specific aspects of ancient sports. Some of his photos are good too, especially the one showing the actual starting blocks for the sprinters that are still visible in the ruins at Olympia. Look for this book at your library and you will be happy you did.