Introduction -- Part I. An Overview of Athletics in Late Antiquity. 1. Greece ; 2. Asia Minor ; 3. Syria ; 4. Egypt ; 5. Italy ; 6. Gaul ; 7. North Africa ; Conclusions to Part I -- Part II. Agones in a Changing World. 8. A religious ban? ; 9. An imperial ban? ; 10. The athletic professionals ; 11. Athletics as elite activity ; 12. The practical organization of agones ; 13. The agon as spectacle ; Conclusions to Part II
Summary
"Around AD 250 athletics was a significant part of civic life from southern Gaul and northern Africa to Syria and Egypt. Within this broad area, exercising in the gymnasium was a beloved pastime among those members of ancient society who could afford to be (occasionally) at leisure. Hundreds of agones, contests for athletes and/or performing artists, were organized by almost as many cities. Though some of these competitions could look back on centuries-old traditions, most had been founded only a century or even a few decades before, as part of a phenomenon described by Louis Robert as the "agonistic explosion" of the imperial age"-- Provided by publisher
