CHAPTER 48 Athletic Participation, Training, and Adolescent Education David M. Pritchard Introduction The class background of Greek sportsmen has been hotly debated (Kyle 2007: 205–210; Pritchard 2013: 35–46). One group of ancient historians has argued that upper-class citizens dominated or even monopolized athletic competition in Archaic and Classical Greece (e.g. Golden 1998: 141–175; Kyle 1987; Poliakof 1989; Pritchard 2003), while another has argued just as forcefully that the lower class competed as athletes in ever-increasing numbers (e.g. Fisher 1998; Pleket 1975; 1992; Young 1984). Within this second group there have been fur- ther disagreements over the extent, timing, and causes of the proposed taking up of ath- letics by non-elite citizens. Forty years of debate, which at times has been acrimonious, have failed to produce a consensus. In an attempt to move this controversy forward this chapter shifs the focus of the debate from competition to training for athletic agōnes (‘contests’). Te Classical Athenians believed that an athlete could only perform creditably, not to mention win, at one of the recognized Panhellenic games, if he had devoted large amounts of his time to regular athletic training (e.g. Aeschin. 3.179–180; Isoc. 16.32–33; Plat. Laws 807c). Likewise, for local games at home, they held that it was sustained training alone that turned boys and young men into competent athlētai or athletic competitors (e.g. Aristoph. Frogs 1093–1094; Isoc. 15.183–185; Plat. Stat. 294d–e.) Against them the idiōtai or untrained had little chance of success (e.g. Plat. Rep. 422b–c; Xen. Hiero 4.6). Competing as an athlete was clearly dependent on appropriate preparation. As a consequence, those of the city’s boys and young men who lacked access to athletic training would have performed poorly in sporting competitions and would have been greatly disheartened about entering a race or bout in the frst place. Athletic training may be a promising avenue for investigating afresh the class position of Classical Athenian athletes, but working out who had access to it is a surprisingly complex business. At the outset it is necessary to establish what relationship, if any, existed between The Oxford Handbook Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World, edited by Alison Futrell, and Thomas F. Scanlon, Oxford University Press USA - OSO, 2021. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uql/detail.action?docID=6713056. Created from uql on 2021-11-26 14:02:34. Copyright © 2021. Oxford University Press USA - OSO. All rights reserved.