Tag: ancient sports

To be an athlete (athlētēs) in Ancient Greece meant taking on a challenge (athlos) for the sake of some prize (athlon)—but it extended far beyond sport. Athletic striving was a feature of oratory, politics, jurisprudence, music, drama, education, and even philosophy, which understood moral virtue in terms of excellence (aretē). The purpose of this conference is to explore this athletic ethos in sport and far beyond it by reflecting on the phenomenon of competitive striving in a variety of practices at various times and places in Greco-Roman antiquity.