Books

WRITTEN IN FRENCH

We all know about the existence of the ancient Olympic games. We know that it was the Greeks who invented them, that they disappeared, and that Pierre de Coubertin resurrected them at the end of the 19th century. But we often ignore that they were only one of the great festivities marking the life of the ancient Greeks, part of a four-year cycle, the Period, where the Pythian, Isthmian, Nemean and Olympic Games followed one another. That certain great athletes, like Milo of Crotone, have seen their names cross the centuries. That these games, which imposed a truce between the Greek cities accustomed to continually waging war, participated in an unprecedented globalization of the Mediterranean world.
This beautiful book, illustrated with infographics, maps, chronological timelines, profiles of well-known personalities, sheds new light on these ancient sporting games: the training of the athletes, their diet, the festivities which accompany the events, but also the place of women in these Games or the geopolitical issues, which make it possible to connect the past to the present.

French
96 pages

Editions Armand Colin