The Poetics of Olympism: Studies in Ancient Greek Sport and its Modern Reception examines ancient Greek sport and its reception in eighteenth and nineteenth century Greece. Through systematic analysis of texts and artifacts, Stamatia Dova investigates the cultural poetics of sport from Homer to Plato as well as the anthropology of its reception in early modern Greece. The first five chapters explore archaic and classical Greek sport in connection to language, social class, identity formation, pedagogy, and gender. The last three chapters study the concept of Olympic revival in the work of Rigas Velestinlis, Panagiotis Soutsos, Dimitrios Vikelas, and Kostis Palamas, shedding new light on previously underexplored topics, including an 1886 travelogue to Olympia and the poetics of the Olympic anthem.

This synthesis of synchronic and diachronic approaches to ancient Greek sport conceptualizes Olympism as the set of beliefs that acknowledged Greece's Olympic heritage, supported Olympic revival, and helped contextualize within modernity ancient discourses on the intrinsic value of sport. Addressed to experts and general readers alike, The Poetics of Olympism: Studies in Ancient Greek Sport and its Modern Reception combines classical philology with cultural and Olympic studies to offer a multi-faceted view of ancient Greek sport and its enduring modern reception.