Victory and Celebration : An Introduction to Gr thletics

Victory and Celebration traces how athletic success was transformed into broader social and political capital in ancient Greece in the sixth and fifth centuries BCE--how being a good boxer or wrestler, or having a fast son or superior horses was made into something of significance beyond the stadium or hippodrome.Athletic success did not speak for itself. Its meanings had to be produced and defended, and this was the work of the victory memorials--the poems, statues, and other dedications produced to commemorate the athletic victories. Through readings of these victory memorials, Victory and Celebration explores, first, how Greek athletics was intertwined with general ideas of excellence, beauty, and a closeness to gods and heroes, and second, how the memorials communicated more directly political visions of leadership, inherited ability, and the victor's place in their city and the wider world.Finally, the book examines how specific events, such as boxing, contests for youths, and cha