Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World

Donald G. Kyle

Wiley, Sep 18, 2006 - History - 424 pages

This is a readable, up-to-date, illustrated introduction to the history of sport and spectacle in the ancient world from the Ancient Near East through Greek and Hellenistic times and into the Roman Empire.

• Covers athletics, combat sports, chariot racing, beast fights and gladiators.


• Traces the precursors of Greek and Roman sports and spectacles in the Ancient Near East and the Bronze Age Aegean.


• Investigates the origins, nature and meaning of sport, covering issues of violence, professionalism, class, gender and eroticism.


• Challenges the notion that Greek sport and Roman spectacle were polar opposites.


• Approaches sport and spectacle as overlapping and compatible features of civilized states and empires.

About the author

Donald G. Kyle is Professor and Chair of History at the University of Texas at Arlington. An award-winning teacher, he has been honoured by the University as a Distinguished Teaching Fellow. He has published Athletics in Ancient Athens (Revised Edition, 1993) and Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome (1998) and co-edited Essays on Sport History and Sport Mythology (1990). He has appeared in History Channel shows on gladiators (1996) and crime in Rome (2005) and PBS and History Channel shows on the Ancient Olympics (2004).

Bibliographic information

• Title: Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World; Ancient Cultures
• Author: Donald G. Kyle
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Wiley, 2006
• ISBN: 0631229701, 9780631229704
• Length: 424 pages
• Subjects: History / Ancient / General