INTRODUCTION Today, the Olympic Games are the world's largest pageant of athletic skill and competitive spirit. They are also displays of nationalism, commerce, and politics. These two opposing elements of the Olympics are not a modern invention. The conflict between the Olympic movement's high ideals and the commercialism or political acts which accompany the Game. Olympic Games The ancient Olympics were rather different from the modern Games. There were fewer events and only free men …showed first 75 words of 1229 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1229 total…A. Andrewes, The Greeks (1967). A thoughtful general survey. W. Burkert, Greek Religion (1985). A fine general study. H. D. F. Kitto, The Greeks (1951). A personal and illuminating interpretation of Greek culture. M. I. Rostovtzeff, Social and Economic History of the Hellenistic World, 3 vols. (1941). A masterpiece of synthesis by a great historian. F. W. Walbank, The Hellenistic World (1981). A solid history. E. Zimmern, The Greek Commonwealth (1961). A study of political, social, and economic conditions in fifth-century Athens.