Sport in the Greek and Roman World and its Modern Legacies

Presented by Luca Grillo

In the modern world, sports and sport-like spectacles are a source of livelihood, entertainment, and social interaction for huge swathes of the global population. Fans and practitioners of physical feats of strength were likewise a major component of ancient Greco-Roman society, from the earliest Olympic Games at the dawn of Greek history to the gladiatorial contests and chariot races that characterized the most decadent phases of the Roman Empire. The purpose of this seminar is to provide an interdisciplinary examination of the origin and nature of sport and spectacle in the Classical world and to compare the role that athletics played in ancient society to the position it occupies in our own lives - from the point of view of athletes, spectators, and patrons alike.

About Luca Grillo

Luca Grillo is the Eli J. and Helen Shaheen Collegiate Professor of Classics at the University of Notre Dame, which he joined in 2018. Before coming to Notre Dame, Luca was Assistant Professor of Classics at Amherst College (2008-13) and Assistant and then Associate Professor of Classics and William R. Kenan, Jr. Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2013-18). He has taught Latin and Greek and courses in ancient civilization, like The Romans, Ancient and Modern Sport and Society, Ancient and Modern Slavery and Ancient and Modern Rhetoric. Luca’s main area of interest is Latin prose. His first book (Cambridge University Press, 2012, paperback 2015) is a literary analysis of Caesar’s Civil War; his second book is a historical, rhetorical and legal commentary on a speech by Cicero, and he co-edited the Cambridge Companion to the Writings of Julius Caesar (with Christopher Krebs from Stanford University); he is currently working on a monograph on irony in Latin literature. He has given papers and published articles and contributions on various topics, especially Caesar, Cicero and Virgil.