This is a readable, up-to-date, illustrated introduction to the history of sport and spectacle in the ancient world from the Ancient Near East through Greek and Hellenistic times and into the Roman Empire.

* Covers athletics, combat sports, chariot racing, beast fights and gladiators.

* Traces the precursors of Greek and Roman sports and spectacles in the Ancient Near East and the Bronze Age Aegean.

* Investigates the origins, nature and meaning of sport, covering issues of violence, professionalism, class, gender and eroticism.

* Challenges the notion that Greek sport and Roman spectacle were polar opposites.

* Approaches sport and spectacle as overlapping and compatible features of civilized states and empires.