Olympia: Warrior Athletes of Ancient Greece [Hardcover]

Dyan Blacklock (Author), David Kennett (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2004 | Age Level: 6 and up

In the eighth century B.C. the city-states of Greece were in a constant state of war, until King Iphitus stopped the blood-shed by reviving an ancient tradition-an athletic contest to honor the gods. A truce was declared, so the warring groups could come together in peace to compete at the sacred grove at Olympia. Those games would survive for hundreds of years becoming the inspiration for our modern Olympic Games. The site of Olympia will forever be revered as the birthplace of a great tradition that still unites the world in the spirit of peace and athletic competition. With spectacular illustrations, Olympia revisits those early games-the holy rituals, the chariot racing and equestrian events, the ancient pentathlon, the wrestling, the boxing-all the skills of war that readily developed into the challenge of sport. Dyan Blacklock and David Kennett bring to life the sights, sounds, and excitement of this age-old, sacred tradition.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 4-7-An enticing look at the ancient Olympics. At first glance, the book resembles a graphic novel-each page looks like a jumble of illustrations accompanied by several lines of text along the bottom. Closer inspection reveals one or several uniquely rendered, fascinating black-and-white or full-color illustrations per page. The depictions are brilliant-naked athletes participate in races, wrestling, and so on. All illustrate multiple aspects of an event or the background information provided. The text begins with a succinct explanation of the origin of the games, all related to warfare, and all honoring the Greek gods. It discusses who the eligible contestants were and who could attend. Each of the five days of events is covered with mention of some of the ceremonies, rituals, and animal sacrifices that took place. Athletic events including the pankration, a violent form of wrestling that had just two rules-no biting or eye gouging-are also considered. A well-defined map reveals where the action took place. There is also a clear, less colorful map of Olympia itself. Recent titles such as Hadyn Middleton's Ancient Olympic Games (Heinemann Library, 2001) and Stewart Ross's The Original Olympics (Peter Bedrick, 2001) pale in comparison to this clever introduction.

Anne Chapman Callaghan, Racine Public Library, WI

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Gr. 5-8. Troubled by the constant battling among city-states in ancient Greece, King Iphitus consulted the Oracle of Delphi, who suggested a nationwide athletic event to bring enemies together to honor the gods through friendly competition. Blacklock's text is direct and informative, if brief. Descriptions of how the games came about, the sports included, and the order of the competitions are nicely supported by concrete details. There's also information on how Olympia was set up for the games, for animal sacrifices, and for religious rituals. But it's the sophisticated, spectacular artwork, arranged in panels that take up most of each page, that will grab readers. The emotion-packed illustrations, filled with muscular superheroic characters (some in pen-and-ink, some in muted or bright color), are loaded with pageantry, movement, even gory details. Glossary. Roger Leslie
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 6 and up
  
• Hardcover: 48 pages
• Publisher: Walker Books for Young Readers (March 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802787908
• ISBN-13: 978-0802787903
• Product Dimensions: 12.1 x 8.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,232,996 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous Illustrations, June 21, 2002

By 

J. Rudin (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Olympia: Warrior Athletes of Ancient Greece (Hardcover)

A word about the illustrations in this book: As someone with a background in cartoon and illustration, art history, (and the son of an art dealer), I was extremely impressed by Mr.Kennett's illustrations. The pen drawings blow me away. His mastery of pen rendering, human and animal anatomy, composition, "camera" angles, balancing whites, greys and blacks, the way he varies--almost seems to be experimenting with varying rendering and textural effects--from drawing to drawing, is astonishing. Also, while the drawings have a "modern" feel to them, they capture the romance and atmosphere of older time illustrators such as NC Wyeth, or Howard Pyle. Pen drawings with a technical fountain pen or similar instrument can look skillful, but sterile. These don't. Also, many current illustrators and artists who draw in a realistic or quasi realistic style, though their work is admirable, look very obviously like their work is traced over or very closely based on photographs. These most certainly don't. This guy can really draw. Wonderful stuff.