The second edition of Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World updates Donald G. Kyle s award-winning introduction to this topic, covering the Ancient Near East up to the late Roman Empire. Challenges traditional scholarship on sport and spectacle in the Ancient World and debunks claims that there were no sports before the ancient Greeks Explores the cultural exchange of Greek sport and Roman spectacle and how each culture responded to the other s entertainment Features a new chapter on sport and spectacle during the Late Roman Empire, including Christian opposition to pagan games and the Roman response Covers topics including violence, professionalism in sport, class, gender and eroticism, and the relationship of spectacle to political structures