Laudatio for Nigel Crowther

When I came to Canada 20 years ago, I was very impressed with the high level of scholarship on ancient sport in this country. Canadian scholars were pioneering in what was then a relatively new area of study. Now, the study of ancient sport is consolidated internationally, but also especially among Canadian classics programs, where it has become a source of constant growth. Courses on Greek and Roman sport are favourites for students of all backgrounds, and they often become a gateway to other classics courses. The percentage of scholars teaching and studying ancient sport in Canada is probably the highest among classicists in any country. This was clear at the 25th anniversary conference of the leading ancient sport journal, Nikephoros, where over a third of the scholars presenting papers were working in Canada. This is no doubt due to the direct influence of several scholars, who have inspired students in the younger generations.

Preeminent among scholars achieving that impact is Nigel B. Crowther. Professor Crowther came to Canada from his native Britain in 1967 to teach at the University of Western Ontario, where he is now an emeritus professor after a fruitful career of 42 years! He not only was an excellent teacher, but was also recognized by the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at his university as an outstanding researcher in 2006–2007. His academic activity expanded from classics to Olympic studies, as he has been involved with the International Olympic Academy in Olympia, Greece since 2004 and was the director of the International Centre for Olympic Studies at Western University (2007–2008). He currently serves as professor in the master’s program in Olympic studies at the University of the Peloponnese. He has lectured about ancient sport around the world, ranging from several countries in Europe to Beijing, where he helped organize the conference for the 2008 Olympics.

Professor Crowther began his career teaching Latin poetry, but was probably the first to teach ancient sport at a Canadian university, which he did consistently from 1977 to 2009. He claims that he was asked to teach the class by his department head either because he knew the most about modern sport or because he looked the most athletic—he doesn’t remember. Probably both reasons are correct. Professor Crowther was British weight-lifting champion in his university years, and he combines this first-hand knowledge of modern sport with his love for history and ancient sport. He remains an avid sports fan and still plays soccer.

Professor Crowther’s scholarly activity on ancient sport encompasses many different areas. In his most recent book, Sport in Ancient Times (2007), he has branched out to reflect his interest of sport in many different ancient cultures. He discusses sport in the Far and the Near East, in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, and in areas more familiar to us—Egypt, Greece, and Rome. He has edited several books and contributed chapters and articles. As a scholar of ancient sport myself, I find most useful his collection of articles published under the title Athletika: Studies on the Olympic Games and Greek Athletics (2004). This collection summarizes his immense scholarly activity. Its breadth is simply extraordinary: weightlifting, ages of competition, numbers of participants, spectators, nudity, technical developments, the competitive spirit, ancient and modern Olympics and their ideals, the values of victory and violence, political and social issues, etc. There is basically no topic in ancient sport that is not covered by the intense research interests of Professor Crowther. While many of the articles that appear in the collection were published originally in the journal Nikephoros, many were published in other highly regarded European and North American journals. This was a great achievement in itself, especially at a time when the study of sport was not considered mainstream. Scholars and students alike seeking an introduction to the study of sport in ancient Greece and Rome beyond the useful general works (incidentally, two of them written by Canadian scholars Mark Golden and Donald G. Kyle) will do well to direct their attention to this collection. Some of the articles date to the early stages of...