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Hist215: Sport and the Spectacle of Violence
Lecture 1 Outline
I Introduction: the Nature of the Course
Virtue: Original meanings
"Arete"(Greek) = "virtue" but in particular excellence, goodness, and skill.
from Ares = God of War
Original meaning of "Arete" = skill at fighting, bravery in battle, prowess, and courage
Virtue as manliness:
Cicero (106-43 BCE): Latin word "virtus" = virtue, comes from "vir" = man
Female Virtue
Penelope = Odysseus' wife; Odysseus = Greek Hero
Penthesilea = Queen of the Amazons; Achilles = Greek Hero
Education of girls in Sparta and Crete
Paideia: Greek ideal of Education of whole person
Plato
Aristotle
Olympic Games
Athens and Sparta
How does one teach virtue?
Plato: Learning as recollection (anamnesis)
Meno, Plato's dialogue
virtue = knowledge
Aristotle:
virtue = doing virtue, acting, behaving
Habits of virtue. Only by repeatedly acting justly, by doing just things, do people
become just.
Heroes are not born. They become heroes by doing heroic feats.
Nature/nurture debate
Nobility based on birth vs. Nobility based on merit or virtue
, 2
Mind/Body, Soul/Body distinction
"kleos" (Greek) = fame, renown
Pindar (518-438BCE), Greek poet who praised athletes
Sport and Greek philosophy and rhetoric
Virtue as excellence and skill in sport or combat
II Origins of Sport: Mesopotamia and Egypt
Johann Huizinga, Homo Ludens: The Study of the Play Element in Human Culture (1938)
Epic of Gilgamesh (ca. 2100BCE)
III Greek Sport: Minoan Crete and Mycenaean sport
The Great Palace in Crete at Knossos (1650-1450BCE)
Bull jumping: most popular Minoan sport, common symbol for strength and fertility.
Minotaur: half bull half man
Pasiphae wife of King Minos of Crete, wanted to copulate with a bull.
Daedulus craftsman
Labyrinth
Theseus, Athenian hero
Ariadne, Minos' daughter
IV Greek Sport: Mycenaean sport and Homer
1600-1200 BCE The Mycenaeans invade Greece
1450 Knossos in Crete conquered
Homer's epics (written ca. 725-675BCE)
Trojan War, ca. 1225BCE.
Mycenae : Shaft graves and Tholos tombs
V Homer (725-675BCE) and Sport
Earliest descriptions of athletic competitions in Western literature.
Hist215: Sport and the Spectacle of Violence
Lecture 1 Outline
I Introduction: the Nature of the Course
Virtue: Original meanings
"Arete"(Greek) = "virtue" but in particular excellence, goodness, and skill.
from Ares = God of War
Original meaning of "Arete" = skill at fighting, bravery in battle, prowess, and courage
Virtue as manliness:
Cicero (106-43 BCE): Latin word "virtus" = virtue, comes from "vir" = man
Female Virtue
Penelope = Odysseus' wife; Odysseus = Greek Hero
Penthesilea = Queen of the Amazons; Achilles = Greek Hero
Education of girls in Sparta and Crete
Paideia: Greek ideal of Education of whole person
Plato
Aristotle
Olympic Games
Athens and Sparta
How does one teach virtue?
Plato: Learning as recollection (anamnesis)
Meno, Plato's dialogue
virtue = knowledge
Aristotle:
virtue = doing virtue, acting, behaving
Habits of virtue. Only by repeatedly acting justly, by doing just things, do people
become just.
Heroes are not born. They become heroes by doing heroic feats.
Nature/nurture debate
Nobility based on birth vs. Nobility based on merit or virtue
, 2
Mind/Body, Soul/Body distinction
"kleos" (Greek) = fame, renown
Pindar (518-438BCE), Greek poet who praised athletes
Sport and Greek philosophy and rhetoric
Virtue as excellence and skill in sport or combat
II Origins of Sport: Mesopotamia and Egypt
Johann Huizinga, Homo Ludens: The Study of the Play Element in Human Culture (1938)
Epic of Gilgamesh (ca. 2100BCE)
III Greek Sport: Minoan Crete and Mycenaean sport
The Great Palace in Crete at Knossos (1650-1450BCE)
Bull jumping: most popular Minoan sport, common symbol for strength and fertility.
Minotaur: half bull half man
Pasiphae wife of King Minos of Crete, wanted to copulate with a bull.
Daedulus craftsman
Labyrinth
Theseus, Athenian hero
Ariadne, Minos' daughter
IV Greek Sport: Mycenaean sport and Homer
1600-1200 BCE The Mycenaeans invade Greece
1450 Knossos in Crete conquered
Homer's epics (written ca. 725-675BCE)
Trojan War, ca. 1225BCE.
Mycenae : Shaft graves and Tholos tombs
V Homer (725-675BCE) and Sport
Earliest descriptions of athletic competitions in Western literature.
