1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910824634003321

Autore

McManamon John M.

Titolo

Neither letters nor swimming : the rebirth of swimming and free-diving / / John M. McManamon

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Leiden, Netherlands ; ; Boston, Massachusetts : , : Brill, , [2021]

©2021

ISBN

90-04-44619-2

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource

Collana

Brill's Studies in Maritime History ; ; 09

Disciplina

797.2109

Soggetti

Swimming - History

Swimming - Study and teaching

Swimming - Psychological aspects

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Sommario/riassunto

In a novel study of the impact of classical culture, John McManamon demonstrates that Renaissance scholars rediscovered the importance of swimming to the ancient Greeks and Romans and conceptualized the teaching of swimming as an art. The ancients had a proverb that described a truly ignorant person as knowing "neither letters nor swimming." McManamon traces the ancient textual and iconographic evidence for an art of swimming, demonstrates its importance in warfare, and highlights the activities of free-divers who exploited the skill of swimming to earn a living. Renaissance theorists of a humanist education first advocated a rebirth for swim training, Erasmus included the classical proverb in his Adages , and two sixteenth-century scholars wrote treatises in dialogue form on methods for teaching young people how to swim.