FRINK Linked Data Fragments server

Matches in SemOpenAlex for { <https://semopenalex.org/work/W2023679603> ?p ?o ?g. }

• W2023679603 endingPage "100" @default.
• W2023679603 startingPage "96" @default.
• W2023679603 abstract "Reviewed by: Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World Michael Carter D.G. Kyle. Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2007. Pp. vi + 403. US $32.95. ISBN 0-631-22971-X. If a group of athletes competed against each other and no one was there to watch, was there a sporting event? In a world where the spectators of major sporting events such as the modern Olympic Games or the World Cup number in the billions, the link between sport and spectacle seems natural. This is especially so for the modern Olympics, with the increasingly complex and expensive Opening and Closing Ceremonies that accompany the athletic events. More and more, sporting events of all sorts are wrapped up and presented to a viewing public as an entertainment package designed to separate people from their precious “entertainment dollars.” It is not surprising, then, that contemporary scholars have turned to antiquity and have seen similar forces at play in the Greek and Roman past. After all, the modern Olympic “Movement” obviously pretends to have a connection to ancient Olympia (as we are reminded every four years). And what could be more emblematic of mass spectacle than Rome’s still towering Colosseum? As with much else in our world, we inevitably look back to Greece and Rome for the roots (real or imagined) of contemporary—western—institutions, sport included. In his new book, Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World, Donald Kyle observes of contemporary scholarship that we have always followed our interests back to antiquity (ix). Few scholars are as well positioned to explore these interests—sport and spectacle—as Kyle: he has been a leader not only in the development of the study of ancient athletics, especially in early Greece (Archaic and Classical), but also in the study of Roman blood spectacles. Among a host of articles, the titles of two of his previous books stand out: Athletics and Ancient Athens (Leiden 1984) and Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome (London 1998). Properly enough, Kyle begins with an explanation for his study. Why “Sport and Spectacle”? To the contemporary reader beset with the spectacle of modern sport, the question hardly needs posing. But classicists will know its origin. Such a study must be set against a scholarly background which tended to idealize Greek sport along with much of Greek culture, while at the same time demonizing that of the Romans. The Greeks gave the world democracy, philosophy, historiography, the sciences, breath-taking works of art, and the purity and beauty of amateur athletics; the Romans gave us empire, decadence and debauchery, knock-offs of Greek statues, and the blood and gore of the arena. Greeks good. Romans bad. Here, it was the Greeks who gave us sport, the Romans who gave us spectacle. My example above was most natural: we think of the Greek Olympic [End Page 96] Games on the one hand and the Roman Colosseum on the other. Of course, no one really believes all of this anymore, and there is everywhere a conscious effort to put aside these preconceptions. For example, we now know that the Greek athletic world was not the preserve of idealistic amateurs and that professionalism was typical. Similarly, Roman gladiatorial combats were not the homicidal free-for-all that some have imagined but were instead governed by rules and overseen by referees. In such a study the definitions are critical: what is meant by “sport” and what meant by “spectacle”? Because it is a modern term loaded with contemporary associations, our word “sport” is less than ideal; nevertheless for Kyle it satisfies. For his purposes, “sport” refers “more narrowly to public, physical activities, especially those with competitive elements, pursued for victory or the demonstration of excellence” (10). This definition is satisfactory, but perhaps not wholly. As Kyle himself observes (11), he thus leaves out a great variety of related competitive events, such as, music, poetry, dance, and drama. These, he says, “were seen as artistic rather than athletic.” But by whom? Would the ancient Greeks (and Romans) have necessarily separated out the athletic so absolutely? Olympia had no musical events, true, but Delphi did and so did the Athenian..." @default.
• W2023679603 created "2016-06-24" @default.
• W2023679603 creator A5052828825 @default.
• W2023679603 date "2009-01-01" @default.
• W2023679603 modified "2023-10-17" @default.
• W2023679603 title "Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World" @default.
• W2023679603 doi "https://doi.org/10.1353/mou.2010.0010" @default.
• W2023679603 hasPublicationYear "2009" @default.
• W2023679603 type Work @default.
• W2023679603 sameAs 2023679603 @default.
• W2023679603 citedByCount "1" @default.
• W2023679603 countsByYear W20236796032014 @default.
• W2023679603 crossrefType "journal-article" @default.
• W2023679603 hasAuthorship W2023679603A5052828825 @default.
• W2023679603 hasConcept C142362112 @default.
• W2023679603 hasConcept C153349607 @default.
• W2023679603 hasConcept C17744445 @default.
• W2023679603 hasConcept C193798670 @default.
• W2023679603 hasConcept C199539241 @default.
• W2023679603 hasConcept C2778061430 @default.
• W2023679603 hasConcept C2779742141 @default.
• W2023679603 hasConcept C512170562 @default.
• W2023679603 hasConcept C52119013 @default.
• W2023679603 hasConcept C74916050 @default.
• W2023679603 hasConcept C95457728 @default.
• W2023679603 hasConceptScore W2023679603C142362112 @default.
• W2023679603 hasConceptScore W2023679603C153349607 @default.
• W2023679603 hasConceptScore W2023679603C17744445 @default.
• W2023679603 hasConceptScore W2023679603C193798670 @default.
• W2023679603 hasConceptScore W2023679603C199539241 @default.
• W2023679603 hasConceptScore W2023679603C2778061430 @default.
• W2023679603 hasConceptScore W2023679603C2779742141 @default.
• W2023679603 hasConceptScore W2023679603C512170562 @default.
• W2023679603 hasConceptScore W2023679603C52119013 @default.
• W2023679603 hasConceptScore W2023679603C74916050 @default.
• W2023679603 hasConceptScore W2023679603C95457728 @default.
• W2023679603 hasIssue "1" @default.
• W2023679603 hasLocation W20236796031 @default.
• W2023679603 hasOpenAccess W2023679603 @default.
• W2023679603 hasPrimaryLocation W20236796031 @default.
• W2023679603 hasRelatedWork W2023679603 @default.
• W2023679603 hasRelatedWork W2047378000 @default.
• W2023679603 hasRelatedWork W2084036959 @default.
• W2023679603 hasRelatedWork W2112457552 @default.
• W2023679603 hasRelatedWork W2528247779 @default.
• W2023679603 hasRelatedWork W2748952813 @default.
• W2023679603 hasRelatedWork W2899084033 @default.
• W2023679603 hasRelatedWork W2904255841 @default.
• W2023679603 hasRelatedWork W3197211277 @default.
• W2023679603 hasRelatedWork W4312216298 @default.
• W2023679603 hasVolume "9" @default.
• W2023679603 isParatext "false" @default.
• W2023679603 isRetracted "false" @default.
• W2023679603 magId "2023679603" @default.
• W2023679603 workType "article" @default.