Olympia

Discover the details of the Olympic Games Author Robin Waterfield Publisher Head of Zeus Price £ 18.99 Released Out now

It’s the most recognisable sporting tournament in the world, where the best of the best compete in gymnastics, marathons and javelin to determine who really is the best. Everyone knows the Olympics, and they know how it began in Ancient Greece. However, what people don’t tend to know are the details – how the earliest tournaments were carried out, or even where, and who was involved. Robin Waterfield is one of many who have set out to change that.

Bookshops are full of volumes that focus on one of the ancient world’s most famous events, and each one seems to trying to make itself different from the last. Few succeed their goal, but Olympia: The Story of the Ancient Olympic Games does seem to buck the trend.

With a simple marble-effect cover and an image of the Discobolus of Myron, it seems like everything else. But then you open it. Both colour and black-and-white images take up single pages and double page spreads, showing you every detail of the evidence to illustrate the points that Waterfield is making.

And the points he puts across are great – he covers everything you could ever want to know, from excavations of Olympic sites to nudity at the games, to sports in the wider Hellenic world.

However, the price is possibly a little steep for all that it is.

At £18.99, it’s not the most reasonably priced book on the subject, but it does provide a handy guide to history’s most famous sporting event, so perhaps it is worth investing in.

“Robin Waterfield is one of many who have set out to change that”