American Classical League Institute 2024

The 2024 Olympics are coming up in July and August, and they provide opportunities to demonstrate the continuing relevance of the classical world in a fun way.  This session will lay out techniques for doing a variety of ancient Greek Olympic events correctly, all of which are different enough from contemporary methods of doing comparable events that they tend to be both a challenge and a lot of fun.  Participants will learn and do various running events (including the race in armor), long jump (with hand weights), discus, javelin (including the leather strap that was wrapped around it to help it spiral), chariot racing, boxing, two types of wrestling, and pankration (much like professional wrestling, but without the ring).  They will learn ways of acquiring the materials to make these events work at different price points.  And they will receive a bibliography of primary and secondary sources on these events.