Before you sit back to watch the 2004 Olympics this summer, let Steve Miller ’64 tell you the real history behind athletic games in Greece.
The professor of classical archaeology at the University of California/ Berkeley is already known for his excavation of the antiquities of Ancient Nemea, including an athletic site that was used for the original Panhellenic Games some 2,300 years ago.
He’s much appreciated by athletes and the people of modern Nemea for founding in 1996 the New Nemean Games, which draw more than 1,000 people from around the world every four years.
Now he’s written the definitive book on ancient athletics in Greece.
Yale historian and author Donald Kagan says that, in Ancient Greek Athletics, “Miller has written the finest, most complete, and most useful accounts of ancient Greek athletics that I have seen. It rests on a thorough knowledge of all the literary and material evidence and adds a thoughtful and unmistakable love for his subject.”
That “unmistakable love for his subject” will be on display for the whole world this Olympic year, as NBC will visit the New Nemean Games for NBC’s Today Show on July 31.
Read more about the New Nemean Games at:
www.berkeley.edu/news/ berkeleyan/2004/04/08_nemea.shtml
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