Dr. Mark Golden's Bio and Abstract for Keynote Address

Mark Golden was born in Winnipeg, raised in Ottawa. He received his B.A. (Hons.), M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Toronto and since 1982 has been teaching at the University of Winnipeg. He is the author of a number of books on ancient sports, including: Sport and Society in Ancient Greece (Cambridge, 1998), Sport in the Ancient World from A to Z (Routledge, 2003) and Greek Sport and Social Status (U of Texas Press, 2008). Prof. Golden has also published a number of books on Greek private life, including Children and Childhood in Classical Athens (Johns Hopkins, 1990). With Peter Toohey he is the editor of Sex and Difference in Ancient Greece and Rome (Columbia, 2003) and of Inventing Ancient Culture (Routledge,1997). He is also the author of numerous journal articles and chapters in edited volumes, including "Mortality, Mourning and Mothers" (Naissance et petite enfance dans l'antiquite, 2004), "A decade of demography" (Studies presented to M. H. Hansen, 2000) and "Equestrian competition in ancient Greece" (Phoenix 51.3-4, 1997).

Abstract for Keynote Address

"War and Peace in the Ancient and Modern Olympics"

The modern Olympics * like the ancient * are often supported and celebrated as a means of fostering peace among peoples. In fact, the ancient festival was as closely linked to warfare as to peace and the famous Olympic truce, far from putting a stop to wars, merely provided a safe passage to those travelling to Olympia to take part in it. It is therefore an inappropriate basis for a campaign for a period of peace around today's festival. However, both ancient and modern Olympics do provide models of more effective ways to achieve that result, and more.