Poetry Was an Official Olympic Event for Nearly 40 Years. What Happened?

Ellen Wexler Assistant Editor, Humanities At the ancient Olympics in Greece, athletes weren’t the only stars of the show. The spectacle also attracted poets, who recited their works for eager audiences. Competitors commissioned bigger names to write odes of their victories, which choruses performed at elaborate celebrations. Physical strength and literary prowess were inextricably linked. Thousands of years…