Sport and war in democratic Athens
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2448-1750.revmae.2017.154952Keywords:
Sport, War, Democracy, Olympics, Classical AthensAbstract
This article considers the neglected problem of elite sport in classical Athens. Athenian democracy may have opened up politics to every citizen but it had no impact on sporting participation. This ancient state’s sportsmen continued to be drawn from the elite. Therefore, it comes as a surprise that non-elite citizens judged sport to be a very good thing and created an unrivalled program of local sporting festivals on which they spent a staggering sum of money. They also shielded sportsmen from the public criticism that was otherwise normally directed towards the elite and its conspicuous activities. The work of social scientists suggests that the explanation of this paradox lies in the close relationship that non-elite Athenians perceived between sporting contests and their own waging of war. The disturbing conclusion of this talk is that it was Athenian democracy’s opening up of war to non-elite citizens that legitimized elite sport.
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References
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Pritchard, D.M. 2004. Kleisthenes, participation, and the dithyrambic contests of late archaic and Classical Athens. Phoenix 58: 208-228.
Pritchard, D.M. 2010. The symbiosis between democracy and war: the case of Ancient Athens. In: Pritchard. D.M. (Ed.). War, democracy and culture in Classical Athens. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1-62.
Pritchard, D.M. 2012. Aristophanes and de Ste. Croix: the value of old comedy as evidence for Athenian popular culture. Antichthon 46: 14-51.
Pritchard, D.M. 2013. Sport, democracy and war in Classical Athens. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Pritchard, D.M. 2015. Public spending and democracy in Classical Athens. University of Texas Press, Austin.
Pritchard, D.M. 2018. The standing of sailors in democratic Athens. DHA 44: 231-253.
Pritchard, D.M. 2019. Athenian democracy at war. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Roisman, J. 2005. The rhetoric of manhood: masculinity and the attic orators. University of California Press, Berkeley.
Shear, J.L. 2001. Polis and Panathenaia: the history and development of Athena’s Festival. Dissertação de mestrado. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
Shear, J.L. 2003. Prizes from Athens: the list of Panathenaic prizes and the sacred oil. ZPE 142: 87-105.
Singor, H.W. 2009. War and international relations. In: Raaflaub, K.A.; Wees, H. (Eds.). A companion to Archaic Greece (585-603). John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey.
Sipes, R.G. 1973. War, sport and aggression. American Anthropologist 75: 64-86.
Sommerstein, A.H. 1996. How to avoid being a Komodoumenos. CQ 46: 327-356.
Vernant, J.P. 1988. Myth and society in Ancient Greece. Tradução: Janet Lloyd. Zone Books, New York.
Wilson, P. 2008. Costing the Dionysia. In: Revermann, M.; Wilson, P. (Eds.). Performance, iconography, reception: studies in honour of Oliver Taplin. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 88-127.
Zillmann, D.; Johnson, R.C.; Day, D.K. 1974. Provoked and unprovoked aggressiveness in athletics. Journal of Research in Personality 8: 139-152
Arrington, N. 2015. Ashes, images and memories: the presence of the war dead in fifth-century Athens. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Balot, R.K. 2014. Courage in the democratic polis: ideology and critique in Classical Athens. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Böckh, A. 1828. The public economy of Athens. Tradução: George Cornewall Lewis. J. W. Parker, London, 2 volumes.
Bowra, C.M. 1964. Pindar. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Crowley, J. 2012. The psychology of the Athenian hoplite: the culture of combat in Classical Athens. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Csapo, E.; Slater, W.J. 1995. The context of ancient drama. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor.
Davies, J.K. 1967. Demosthenes on liturgies: a note. JHS 87: 33-40.
Golden, M. 1990. Children and childhood in Classical Athens. JHU Press, Baltimore.
Goldstein, J.H.; Arms, R.L. 1971. Effects of observing athletic contests on hostility. Sociometry 34: 83-90.
Guttmann, A. 1998. The appeal of violent sports. In: Goldstein, J. (Ed.). Why we watch: the attractions of violent entertainment. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 7-26.
Guttmann, A. 2001. The Olympics: a history of the modern games. 2. ed. University of Illinois Press, Urbana.
Hubbard, T.K. 1998. Popular perceptions of elite homosexuality in Classical Athens. Arion 6: 48-78.
Jameson, M. 1980. Apollo Lykeios in Athens. Archaiolognosia 1: 213-236.
Jouanna, D. 2017. L’enfant grec au temps de Périclès. Realia; Les Belles Lettres, Paris.
Kallet, L. 1998. Accounting for culture in fifth-century Athens. In: Boedeker, D.; Raaflaub, K.A. (Eds.). Democracy, empire, and the arts in fifth-century Athens. Havard University Press, Cambridge, 43-58.
Kyle, D.G. 1987. Athletics in Ancient Athens. E. J. Brill, Leiden.
Kyle, D.G. 2014. Sport, society and politics in Athens. In: Kyle, D.G.; Christesen, P. (Eds.). Sport and spectacle in the Greek and Roman world. Wiley- Blackwell, Chichester, 159-175.
Lissarrague, F. 1990. L’autre guerrier: archers, peltastes, cavaliers dans l’imagerie attique. La Découverte École Française de Rome, Paris; Rome.
Loraux, N. 2018. The “beautiful death” from Homer to democratic Athens. Tradução: David M. Pritchard. Arethusa 51: 73-89.
Lorenz, K. 1966. On aggression. Tradução: Marjorie K. Wilson. Routledge, New York.
Low, P. 2010. Commemoration of the war dead in Classical Athens: remembering defeat and victory. In: Pritchard, D.M. (Ed.). War, democracy and culture in Classical Athens. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 341-358.
Lüschen, G. 1970. The interdependence of sport and culture. In: Lüschen, G. (Ed.). The cross-cultural analysis of sport and games. Stipes Publishing Co., Champaign, 85-99.
Miller, S.G. 2004. Ancient Greek athletics. Yale University, New Haven.
Morley, N. 2004. Theories, models and concepts in ancient history. Psychology Press, London.
Nielsen, T.H. 2018. Two studies in the history of Ancient Greek athletics. The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, Copenhagen.
Osborne, R.G. 1993. Competitive festivals and the polis: a context for the dramatic festivals at Athens. In: Sommerstein, A.H. et al. (Eds.). Tragedy, comedy and the polis: papers from the Greek drama Conference Nottingham 18-20 July 1990. Levante Editori, Bari, 21-38.
Orwell, G. 1973. The sporting spirit. In: , eds. Orwell; S.; Angus, I. (Eds.). The collected essays, journalism and letters of George Orwell – volume IV: in front of your nose 1945-50. London: 40-4.
Pritchard, D.M. 1999. The fractured imaginary: popular thinking on citizen soldiers and warfare in fifth-century Athens. Tese de doutorado. Macquarie University, Sydney.
Pritchard, D.M. 2004. Kleisthenes, participation, and the dithyrambic contests of late archaic and Classical Athens. Phoenix 58: 208-228.
Pritchard, D.M. 2010. The symbiosis between democracy and war: the case of Ancient Athens. In: Pritchard. D.M. (Ed.). War, democracy and culture in Classical Athens. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1-62.
Pritchard, D.M. 2012. Aristophanes and de Ste. Croix: the value of old comedy as evidence for Athenian popular culture. Antichthon 46: 14-51.
Pritchard, D.M. 2013. Sport, democracy and war in Classical Athens. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Pritchard, D.M. 2015. Public spending and democracy in Classical Athens. University of Texas Press, Austin.
Pritchard, D.M. 2018. The standing of sailors in democratic Athens. DHA 44: 231-253.
Pritchard, D.M. 2019. Athenian democracy at war. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Roisman, J. 2005. The rhetoric of manhood: masculinity and the attic orators. University of California Press, Berkeley.
Shear, J.L. 2001. Polis and Panathenaia: the history and development of Athena’s Festival. Dissertação de mestrado. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
Shear, J.L. 2003. Prizes from Athens: the list of Panathenaic prizes and the sacred oil. ZPE 142: 87-105.
Singor, H.W. 2009. War and international relations. In: Raaflaub, K.A.; Wees, H. (Eds.). A companion to Archaic Greece (585-603). John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey.
Sipes, R.G. 1973. War, sport and aggression. American Anthropologist 75: 64-86.
Sommerstein, A.H. 1996. How to avoid being a Komodoumenos. CQ 46: 327-356.
Vernant, J.P. 1988. Myth and society in Ancient Greece. Tradução: Janet Lloyd. Zone Books, New York.
Wilson, P. 2008. Costing the Dionysia. In: Revermann, M.; Wilson, P. (Eds.). Performance, iconography, reception: studies in honour of Oliver Taplin. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 88-127.
Zillmann, D.; Johnson, R.C.; Day, D.K. 1974. Provoked and unprovoked aggressiveness in athletics. Journal of Research in Personality 8: 139-152
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2017-12-30
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Copyright (c) 2017 David M. Pritchard, Camila Diogo de Souza, Lucia Sano
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PRITCHARD, David M. Sport and war in democratic Athens. Revista do Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia, São Paulo, Brasil, n. 29, p. 92–104, 2017. DOI: 10.11606/issn.2448-1750.revmae.2017.154952. Disponível em: https://journals.usp.br/revmae/article/view/154952.. Acesso em: 19 may. 2024.
