The Archaeology of the Olympics

Download or read book The Archaeology of the Olympics written by Wendy J. Raschke and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Archaeology of the Olympics presents a stirring reevaluation of the Olympic Games (and related festivals) as they actually were, not as the ancient Greeks wished—and we still wish—they might have been. Historians, archaeologists, and classicists examine the evidence to ask such questions as, How did the athletes train? What did they eat? Can we trace the roots of the games as far back as the Bronze Age of Crete and Mycenae? Or even to Anatolia, where similar athletic activities occurred? Were the ancient games really so free of political overtones as modern Olympic rhetoric urges us to believe?