ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME: ca. 600 BC – AD 100
Most of us will recognise from our own social circles people who are mentally agile but physically inept; conversely, there are individuals whose prowess at sport is hardly matched by their sparkle in conversation. So where did it come from – this idea that sound ness of mind and body are mutually dependent?
The source of the original Latin expression should warn us to be careful how we take it. It was a poet, Juvenal, who in the course of describing everything that was corrupt and ridiculous about Roman society in the mid-first century AD, fixed his satirical eye upon the many dreams and aspirations underlying everyday action – “the vanity of human wishes”. Juvenal’s advice was to limit your hopes to a simple minimum. Pray for just one blessing: a sound mind in a healthy body (Satires 10. 356).
The growth of sporting facilities
So what, if anything, was the ancient? We know that people in the Greek and Roman world played all sorts of sports. We know that they had running tracks, swimming pools, and designated spaces where physical activity and competition could take place – the stadium, the gymnasium, and the (literally, ‘wrestling area’). By the time of the Roman Empire, a town was not considered to be a proper city if it lacked a gymnasium. Visitors to Pompeii are shown two official places for recreational exercise: the older so-called ‘Samnite Gymnasium’, which was decorated with the classic image of a ‘fit’ male body, and a much more commodious ‘Large Gymnasium’ next to the amphitheatre. As the city of Pompeii expanded in the late Republic, evidently its inhabitants needed better sports facilities. The implication is that a major proportion of citizens were using such facilities. But were they using them?
