The Ancient Olympics: Athletes, Games and Heroes

"Gymnasium [Greek]: Place where naked people train." You could have watched every bit of NBC's Olympic coverage this summer and probably never heard that interesting bit of lexical trivia, but it's here in this scholarly look at the original games. The ancient Greeks were as sports-crazy as we are today. Despite our idea that the earlier games were played for nothing more than the laurel wreath, there is plenty of evidence to indicate professional athletes competed and they usually received various monetary and in-kind rewards. The rampant commercialism of today's games even have precedent in the ancient vendors who hawked their wares to the games-going public. (Presumably they did not advertise their official sponsorships to the extent of today's corporations, however.) The tape uses maps, art works, coins, statues and architectural elements, plus written records from 776 B.C. on to illustrate and tell the story of the original games. Unfortunately, much of the information is presented very formally by a classical scholar sitting at a desk, reading from a teleprompter. This old-fashioned "talking head" style will turn off many public library viewers who expect a slick and snappy sports feature rather than a history lecture. That's too bad, because how else would they learn that Plato, the philosopher of ages, was a really good wrestler? Recommended for academically-inclined viewers. Aud: H, C, P. (R. Reagan)