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The Victor's Crown: A History of Ancient Sport from Homer to Byzantium
The Victor's Crown brings to vivid life the signal role of sport in the classical world. Ranging over a dozen centuries--from Archaic Greece through to the late Roman and early Byzantine empires--David Potter's lively narrative shows how sport, to the ancients, was not just a dim reflection of religion and politics but a potent social force in its own right. The passion for sport among the participants and fans of antiquity has been matched in history only by our own time.
Potter first charts the origins of competitive athletics in Greece during the eighth century BC and the emergence of the Olympics as a preeminent cultural event. He focuses especially on the experiences of spectators and athletes, especially in violent sports such as boxing and wrestling, and describes the physiology of conditioning, training techniques, and sport's role in education. Throughout, we meet the great athletes of the past and learn what made them great. The rise of the Roman Empire transformed the sporting world by popularizing new entertainments, particularly gladiatorial combat, a specialized form of chariot racing, and beast hunts. Here, too, Potter examines sport from the perspectives of both athlete and spectator, as he vividly describes competitions held in such famous arenas as the Roman Coliseum and the Circus Maximus. The Roman government promoted and organized sport as a central feature of the Empire, making it a sort of common cultural currency to the diverse
inhabitants of its vast territory.
While linking ancient sport to events such as religious ceremonies and aristocratic displays, Potter emphasizes above all that it was the thrill of competition--to those who competed and those who watched--that ensured sport's central place in the Greco-Roman world.
"Vivid and authoritative. Potter skillfully reveals how the gymnasium lay at the heart of Greek life and culture, but his passion is clearly for the Olympics. When Potter moves on to Roman sport, things get livelier still. He meticulously traces the origins, careers and lifestyles of athletes, gladiators and charioteers alike, and demolished some cherished myths along the way. Most gladiatorial combats apparently ended in surrender, not death, although a crowd might well call out " ingula! " (kill!), running their thousands of thumbs under their throats in the original 'thumbs up' gesture. Fascinating and impressive."
--James McConnachie, Sunday Times
Potter first charts the origins of competitive athletics in Greece during the eighth century BC and the emergence of the Olympics as a preeminent cultural event. He focuses especially on the experiences of spectators and athletes, especially in violent sports such as boxing and wrestling, and describes the physiology of conditioning, training techniques, and sport's role in education. Throughout, we meet the great athletes of the past and learn what made them great. The rise of the Roman Empire transformed the sporting world by popularizing new entertainments, particularly gladiatorial combat, a specialized form of chariot racing, and beast hunts. Here, too, Potter examines sport from the perspectives of both athlete and spectator, as he vividly describes competitions held in such famous arenas as the Roman Coliseum and the Circus Maximus. The Roman government promoted and organized sport as a central feature of the Empire, making it a sort of common cultural currency to the diverse
inhabitants of its vast territory.
While linking ancient sport to events such as religious ceremonies and aristocratic displays, Potter emphasizes above all that it was the thrill of competition--to those who competed and those who watched--that ensured sport's central place in the Greco-Roman world.
"Vivid and authoritative. Potter skillfully reveals how the gymnasium lay at the heart of Greek life and culture, but his passion is clearly for the Olympics. When Potter moves on to Roman sport, things get livelier still. He meticulously traces the origins, careers and lifestyles of athletes, gladiators and charioteers alike, and demolished some cherished myths along the way. Most gladiatorial combats apparently ended in surrender, not death, although a crowd might well call out " ingula! " (kill!), running their thousands of thumbs under their throats in the original 'thumbs up' gesture. Fascinating and impressive."
--James McConnachie, Sunday Times
448 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2011
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About the author
David Stone Potter
20 books32 followersDavid Potter is the author of Constantine the Emperor and The Victor’s Crown: A History of Ancient Sport from Homer to Byzantium. He is the Francis W. Kelsey Collegiate Professor of Greek and Roman History and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor at the University of Michigan.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 14, 2021
actually began reading this book back in 2016 or 2017, getting about 40 pages in before abandoning it as i often do with the 100 or so "in progress" books on my "currently reading" shelf. my old colleague don kyle (author of several books on sport and spectacle in greece, specifically, as opposed to the "entire greco-roman world," as potter attempts to survey here) noted that the book significantly oversimplifies various points and gets things wrong about greece, particularly with homer, but such is the nature of summaries). potter writes well for an academic, befitting someone attempting a summary or synthesis, but there are parts that drag despite his best efforts -- such is life.
that said, the book more or less accomplishes "what it says on the tin." records related to greek sports in particular are slim, and left to interpretation where they do exist, but the comparably more extensive roman materials, particularly the imperial roman materials, are navigated more comfortably and carefully by potter, a specialist in that area. by the time potter has moved into materials related to winning at the olympics, training, and turning pro in greece, the book picks up its pace considerably (and it isn't lengthy, a mere 320 pages despite its comprehensive title).
the coverage of roman sports is obviously much fuller, with potter drawing on imperial decrees, writings from galen + plinys old and young + philostratus (author of on athletics), and more surviving tombstones, inscriptions, and works of popular art, and thus his conclusions about the shifts in the roman period are much sharper:
1) athletic games (pancration, boxing, wrestling, footracing) trumped gladiatorial games in the greek east until the late roman period (and gladiatorial combat/beast hunts didn't "destroy" the empire or indicate its "decadence)
2) circus clubs/chariot racing lingered longest, into the 12th century in byzantium, because of the way the factions were organized
3) christianity's growth may have changed some sporting practices, but they didn't "end" sport and spectacle; declining revenues did
4) sport in rome mattered far more than sport in greece, insofar as it gave the mob a voice in politics (benefactors needed to pony up to ensure they were satisfied) and led to sports management on a level not seen until the 20th century ce. athletes could also rack up city prizes from winning various games - with calendars sanctioned by the emperor himself - that drove their earnings to levels not seen until the modern period.
5) even in greece, the olympics was no place for amateurs - the competitors were all trained by pros - but it was a place for higher-status males.
6) the role of women in roman sports, both as participants (gladiators, etc.) and spectators, was far more significant than it was in greece, where it was very much a male politico-sexual space.
fascinating stuff. if you dig into the bibliography, you'll see that much of this material is extracted from very little: some decrees, laws, inscriptions, fragments of letters and poems, etc. there are also only a half-dozen or so academics, don kyle and potter included, but also the excellent n.b. crowther, who have done genuinely significant work in this field given that everyone is working with the same limited corpus.
that said, the book more or less accomplishes "what it says on the tin." records related to greek sports in particular are slim, and left to interpretation where they do exist, but the comparably more extensive roman materials, particularly the imperial roman materials, are navigated more comfortably and carefully by potter, a specialist in that area. by the time potter has moved into materials related to winning at the olympics, training, and turning pro in greece, the book picks up its pace considerably (and it isn't lengthy, a mere 320 pages despite its comprehensive title).
the coverage of roman sports is obviously much fuller, with potter drawing on imperial decrees, writings from galen + plinys old and young + philostratus (author of on athletics), and more surviving tombstones, inscriptions, and works of popular art, and thus his conclusions about the shifts in the roman period are much sharper:
1) athletic games (pancration, boxing, wrestling, footracing) trumped gladiatorial games in the greek east until the late roman period (and gladiatorial combat/beast hunts didn't "destroy" the empire or indicate its "decadence)
2) circus clubs/chariot racing lingered longest, into the 12th century in byzantium, because of the way the factions were organized
3) christianity's growth may have changed some sporting practices, but they didn't "end" sport and spectacle; declining revenues did
4) sport in rome mattered far more than sport in greece, insofar as it gave the mob a voice in politics (benefactors needed to pony up to ensure they were satisfied) and led to sports management on a level not seen until the 20th century ce. athletes could also rack up city prizes from winning various games - with calendars sanctioned by the emperor himself - that drove their earnings to levels not seen until the modern period.
5) even in greece, the olympics was no place for amateurs - the competitors were all trained by pros - but it was a place for higher-status males.
6) the role of women in roman sports, both as participants (gladiators, etc.) and spectators, was far more significant than it was in greece, where it was very much a male politico-sexual space.
fascinating stuff. if you dig into the bibliography, you'll see that much of this material is extracted from very little: some decrees, laws, inscriptions, fragments of letters and poems, etc. there are also only a half-dozen or so academics, don kyle and potter included, but also the excellent n.b. crowther, who have done genuinely significant work in this field given that everyone is working with the same limited corpus.
January 24, 2021
Given the topic this book should have been a lot more interesting. I love anything to do with ancient games/events and was really looking forward to this book. It's very boring though and tends to drill way down into individual details. There are plenty of other books on this subject, so not even worth finishing this one.
April 11, 2014
This provided information about sports across the ancient world evenly, and it had great literary evidence. However, it was lacking archaeological evidence and discussion. There was a little, but I would have liked to have read more about it.
December 19, 2018
It’s amazing that such a potentially fascinating subject should be covered in such a dull manner. Read about 100 pages, skimmed more, could not finish.
January 30, 2023
Interesting topic, dull book
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews