The Naked Olympics: The True Story of the Ancient Games

Ah, Ancient Greece! Where wise men discussed philosophy and science at dignified academies, where young noblemen came to study and improve themselves...Where citizens in the agora held lively discussions about wisdom with Socrates the gadfly...which celebrated the Olympics every four years with dignity and grace, requiring only that the athletes compete in the nude...Well, I guess that's not a complete picture. This fascinating portrayal of "the REAL Olympics" shows a lot more of the very human nature of those Ancient Greeks. It's going too far to call the Olympics a five-day debauch, but there was that aspect to it. A lot of olive oil was massaged into young athletic bodies, and a lot of wine was guzzled by the spectators, almost all of whom had to stand in the blazing sun (without hats --- it was a rule), frequently falling victim to sunstroke or heat exhaustion while the superb professional athletes raked up all the gold and all the glory. When night fell, and more wine had been guzzled, there was sex aplenty for sale at Olympia, beautiful women and handsome young men both plying their trades. Your hotel? Why, that was a blanket on the grass. Your restaurant? Cart vendors. Your latrine? Well, that would be the dried-up river bed over yonder... Shower facilities and baths? Are you kidding?The 40,000 spectators arrived smelling pretty ripe, and that smell continued growing riper. Add in the fumes from a zillion cook-fires, plus that river bed over yonder...But who cared? This was the OLYMPICS!! The games here had a run of about 1200 years.The remedy for hangover? Make sure you upchuck everything before going to bed! (Would that work??!)In sum, this is a very entertaining portrait of the Ancient Greeks when they weren't posing for marble statues --- it's much more a portrait of the Ancient Greeks we find on ancient drinking cups. And the portrait of professional athletes of staggering wealth being cheered on by people who had a whole lot less wealth --- why, it may even remind some of modern times.

This book is a quick easy read. Well written in order to make it easy to comprehend however full of neat details about ancient Olympics. As the book hints at it does tackle some adult themes such as Greek views on nudity and sex, both heterosexual and homosexual relationships.

"The Naked Olympics: The True Story of the Ancient Games" by Tony Perrottet is a wonderful book describing the ancient Greek games. It's aptly titled, too, in two different ways. First, in the ancient Olympics, the contestants performed nude, without clothing that would prevent spectators from admiring their glorious physiques. But more importantly, Perrottet lifts the respectable veneer that is so often draped over classical times. Many writers have difficulties describing the past. Either they write with such awe that the ancients seem to have been gods, instead of mortals, or the writers write in such a way that we seem to be viewing through a dust-covered lens that makes everything seem old and faded.Perrottet, though, brings the past alive in a way that makes the reader see and hear and even taste, feel and smell - especially smell! - what it was like to participate in these ancient games. Through a variety of different ancient sources, including contemporary texts, vase paintings, statues and a visit to the ruins of Olympia, he is able to give us a well-rounded experience. He guides us through the importance of the games in honoring the gods, how athletes trained, including specific, faddish diets that they followed, the evolution of the different events, the role that women played (unfortunately very little), the discomfort felt by the crowds, and even how physicians treated injuries. "The Naked Olympics" is great fun, and even though the Olympics are not being held in Athens this year, it's worth reading this book to appreciate them wherever they take place (the winter Olympics are taking place in Turin, Italy in 2006).

Those people looking to step into the sandals of an ancient spectator at one of the most celebrated sporting events in history could not do better than this book. Where other historians would be satisfied with a purely narrative history, Tony Perrottet takes you a step further and actually gives the reader a run by run account of each day of the festivities, the daily regimen of its athletes and high priests, coaches and spectators, everything from the first day of try-outs to the final closing ceremonies and wild after parties. Interspersed within this run of events the author provides many interesting and humorous anecdotes from the games, which in the classical era was as much a religious festival as it was a sporting event. A relatively light read, but nonetheless very informative and entertaining.

While this book is informative and entertaining, it leaves out some interesting details of the ancient games that I have read about in other books, and I am not sure this author fully understands how to write about cultures different from his own. I would buy it again, though, because it does relate events in a way that makes you feel as though you were there.

It was an interesting read. I like the way the author utilized research to tell a story, while imagining what it would really look like. Also, the occasional connect to modern Olympics made the reader think about today's sport along with the origin of sport. It made history fun!

It was a very factual and entertaining description of the original Olympics--

If you're interested in what the original Olympics were really like, read this book. Written in a "non-scholarly" style, this book really takes you back to the start of it all, without leaving behind modern (and contemporary) sensibilities. A tradition that lasted almost 1,200 years, brought back to modernity by scholars - everyone should educate themselves about this subject. And this is the book that will do it.

This is an excellent book about the ancient Olympics which were unknown to me. It is really full of eye-opening details on games, but other interesting environmental features such as corruptions and spectators.

Fascinating book by a good auther

Excellent thank you!