JAN 176 - Ancient Greek Athletics: Gael Odyssey

Sport occupies an undeniably serious place in the modern world. Consider the importance of football to Brazilians, ice hockey to Canadians, and rugby to New Zealanders. These contemporary sporting phenomena clearly transcend the category of simple physical contests. Anthropologist Clifford Geertz labels this type of human activity “deep play” and asserts that it reveals a great deal about its host culture. In the United States, the World Series and Super Bowl are considered among the most “American” of occasions, are deeply meaningful for their participants, and communicate much about our national beliefs and values. The mass and widespread appeal of sport is obvious: the Tour de France and Wimbledon are essentially French and English affairs but annually attract hundreds of millions of television viewers from around the world who have never seriously competed in either sport nor visited the United Kingdom or France. A select few sporting events have assumed the mantle of global festival. The summer Olympics seem especially important: once every four years many thousands of elite athletes who have devoted their lives to a sport gather for a short, intense period of competition that commands the rapt attention of billions of people from Australia to Zambia.  

Investigating why sport resonates so deeply with so many people and exploring what it reveals about its host cultures will be at the core of this January Term travel course. Our attempt to fully understand this compelling and complex phenomenon requires us to trace it back to its beginnings as a highly organized social institution. Thus, our focus will be on the sportive activity imbedded in the ancient culture of Greece. We will journey to the Mediterranean Basin to examine in situ the heroic athletics of the Hellenes. We seek more than the results of competitions concluded over two millennia ago: our aim is to know why the Greeks were so passionate about their sport and expended so much time, physical and emotional energy, and money upon it.

During this travel course we seek to bring to life events that occurred as many as 3000 years ago and at the end of our journey we should have a response to Homer’s question: “What greater glory attends a man, while he’s alive, than what he wins with his racing feet and striving hands?” (Odyssey, Book VIII, line 170) and know why we modern humans are so drawn to our own sport spectacles.

Instructor(s): Deane Lamont
Email:  dlamont@stmarys-ca.edu

Prerequisites & Notes
Prerequisites:  Attendance at a pre-registration meeting in September and two later fall informational meetings, Completed Seminar 1 and 2 or Seminar 102 (by the end of Fall 2022), proof of a current passport (through August 2023), Initial work during the fall semester

Course Fee:  4600

Credits: 1