Sport and Spectacle in the Greek Bronze Age

Abstract e (including bull-catching, bull-leaping, and bull-sacrifice), Minoan and Mycenaean frescoes, vase paintings, and stone relief vases depict boxing and wrestling, and competitions with special clothing, protective gloves, and physical restraints or handicaps. Less well known are the depictions of archers, foot-racers, and acrobats. Competition may arguably include artistic representations of game boards and gaming, dance performances, and processions, and descriptions of poetry and musical contests in Homer and Hesiod and of discus throwing in mythology. There is also architectural evidence for enclosing the central courts in the Minoan palaces for protection and seating of spectators. Depictions on eighth-century-bce pottery testify to chariot-racing, musical performances, horsemanship, and the hunt. We also consider passim the participation of women in sport and competition, drawing upon Aegean Bronze Age representations of women archers, hunters, and charioteers, and upon classical mythology for their participation in early foot-races, wrestling, and the hunt.