We were delighted to welcome Michael Scott, Professor in Classics and Ancient History at Warwick University, to address the Senior House assembly this morning. The title of Michael’s lecture was The Gritty Realities of the ancient Olympic Games where he led us through their creation to the structure of each day’s events including the major competitive sports, ritual sacrifices to the gods and communal celebration. Michael used a number of illustrations including bare-knuckle fighters depicted on a red vase and some of the many hundreds of helmets excavated from the site of the original games.
Michael spoke about the importance of winning at any price for the ancient Greeks, even if this resulted in death, but emphasised this wasn’t a moral code to be promoted in our current era.
Categories: Events News
