An Athletics Compendium

A.. History &Development Greek & Koman Athletics I Series chronologica Olympiadum, Pythiadum, Isthmiadum, Nemeadum, quibus veteres Grasci tempora sua medebantur / William Lloyd. Oxford: 1700. | folio; index BL: 581.k;.16 A tabulated listing of athnecient classicaglames with year-by-year references to champions and games from 776 BC.This is by far the earliestbook on the Olympics to bepublished in the UKa. nd, althoughthe text iisn Latin throughout, iteaissily comprehensible. • Greek athledcs, Greek religion, and Greek art at Olympia: an account of ancienut sages and moderndiscoveries; a paper read beforethe members otfhe Liverpool Art Club, 4th February 1878 / Sidney Colvin. Liverpool: Printed forprivate circulation, 1878. 15p; pbk BL:YA. 1996.a.23752 A short, but interesting, account. 1 Religio athlet£e / AlfredLynch. London: Remington, 1895. vii, 96p BL: 8409.ccc.30 Probably written tcooincide with the Olympic revival, it includes chapters on athletes' ideals; athletes' virtue; the OlympicGames; questions dioeft; ordinances of the Olympic Games;running; statistics; and, Olympic Games-the National Fete. |The Greek Games anthdeir mythology / Clement Gutch. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1900. | vii, 86p; illus BL: 4503.bb.47 1 Greek athletic sports anfdestivals / E. Norman Gardiner. London: Macmillan, 1910. xxvii, 533p; illus; index (1landbooks of archaeology and antiquities) BL: 2258.a.l/ll This is an exceptional work, covering not only the religious, political and social history of Greek athletics but also (to a lesser degree) that of the Mediterranean sports culture within which It developed. Gardiner also tackwleitsh both energy and intelligence the technical basis of the Greek athletics events and, despite his clear lack of practical experience, draws soms ensible conclusions. However, Gardiner's difficultieasre clear.His main evidence is literary and artistaicnd each of thesaeccounts hiats limitations, both in its incompleteness and its contradictions. Nowhere is this shown more clearly than in the long jump, where Gardiner shows vase- paintings of standing long jumps with and without weights, single-footed long jumps which look surprisingly static, runnwinitgh weights andin-flight positions witwh eights onboth hands. Gardiner includes, as background, accounts of professional jumpers who hauvse d weights but, alas, he does not appetaor have seen aonfythem in action; nor is his accounotf Howard of Chester's 1S>54 jump of twenty-nine feet seven inches (made from a boat board) onewhich is helpful in supporting his vietwhat the Greek long jumwp as a single leap. What we lack in the Greek artistic portrayals are sequence-drawings. Thus, many of the jumping and running activities could well be training exercises rather than competitive activity. We have no means of knowing. Certainly, in the surviving photographs of Victorian jumpers using weights, the dumbbells are (unlike in Greek drawings) always een to be thrown back in flight and, though theirse never any signof a beat-board, witould seem unlikely that objectwsith both height and depth suchstagse coaches could be cleared without their assistance. Gardiner applies remarkable scholarship to the study of Greek athletics and his account of life in Paleastra and Gymnasium is rich and detailed. Ifhis attempts to analyse athletictsechniques raise maasny questions as answers, thereypresent thbeest thathas been placed onrecord. 6 Greek athletics / F. A. Wright. London; Cape, 1925. 123p; illus Bibliography:p123 BL: 07912.ee.l A brief history, followedby chapters ognymnastics, including athletics and military training; physical education; health and bodily exercise; and, Galen's treatise on thesmall ball. There ais short bibliography. [ 1 ]