This book can be seen as part of a wider trend in modern research that aims to understand better how identities were articulated and negotiated in ancient and modern societies. P. states in the preface that he is not aiming to provide a comprehensive treatment of all subjects related to identity, but to carry forward the discussion of earlier scholarship on the processes of identity construction and to explore the various ‘facets of the performance and representation of identities through and by sport in the ancient Greek world’ (p. 3). In this pursuit P. widens the scope of research to include aspects of the athletic world that have been usually overlooked in similar studies in the past. Furthermore, the book's main contribution is that it illustrates in detail, and more clearly than others before it, how identity construction in the world of sports was a constant, never-ending and always-evolving performative discourse among the various social strata of the citizen body. Since the beginning of Greek athletics, the athletic track, the gymnasion and the agonistic festivals became an arena for Greek – and later Graeco-Roman – society to publicly debate and celebrate the identities of all its communities.

The book is divided into seven chapters, including an introduction and an epilogue. After the introduction, which contains a valuable survey of previous scholarship, P. starts Chapter 2 with a discussion of the athletic scenes in the Homeric epics. Athletic practice is envisaged there as a purely upper-class activity, guarded by various formal and informal rules, as exemplified in the athletic competition of Odysseus in Scheria (pp. 26–7). Based on evidence from Archaic and Classical Athens, P. demonstrates that elite citizens tried to hold on to such beliefs, making athletic competition an essential part of what he calls an ‘elite cultural koine’ (p. 28). Participation in contests, and more importantly the recitation and commemoration of athletic victory, became vehicles for negotiating, affirming and perpetuating the identity of the most distinguished of citizens. At the same time, these prominent citizens had to deal with the ‘democraticising’ sociopolitical changes of the sixth century bce, which shifted the focus of athletic victory from the individual to the city, portraying it as the main receiver of its religious and sociopolitical value. To describe these two different mentalities in Greek sport, P. models them as ‘Homeric’ and ‘Civic’ (pp. 29–33). These subjects are surely not new ones in research; however, P. treats them in a way that powerfully illustrates the contest for primacy in the Greek polis that lies behind victory commemoration, as expressed through the articulation of the identities.

In Chapters 3 and 4 P. turns to sport spectators as well as the regulations and the regulatory bodies and institutions related to Greek athletics. These subjects have been given very little attention in previous scholarship, and the fact that P. studies them extensively under the scope of identities adds to the value of this book. P. believes that the discourses that negotiated legal and other regulatory frameworks are at the heart of the scholarly discussion about identities. The regulations that determined the organisation of festivals, the running of the events and the participation in and function of the gymnasia (all spaces related to athletics), reflected attitudes towards exclusion and inclusion of different parts of the population. In this context, the regulations that P. describes as ‘cultural’, such as the exclusion of all non-Greeks from athletic competitions, as well as other technical and legal rules, both reflected and contributed to the negotiation and construction of identities of different parts of society.

Chapter 5 turns to the study of athletics as an embodied performance. The athletic body, subject to public gaze (in festivals and through art), became an arena for a public dialogue on the articulation of the dominant masculinities. Drawing upon examples from Classical Athens and Hellenistic Asia Minor, P. demonstrates at length how the multifaceted discourses on athletic corporeality shaped the perception not only of athletic bodies but also of civic leaders. In this context, certain values such as sophrosune and philoponia, related primarily to athletic performance and training in the gymnasia, were also expected to be demonstrated during public office or in the act of benefaction. The link between civic elites and athletics training in the gymnasion has already been highlighted in earlier scholarship. P.’s contribution to research, however, is that he illustrates vividly how athletics and politics shared the same rhetoric as well as how these key discursive elements were exploited by the elite when fashioning itself in the public sphere.

Men from the upper social classes, however, were not the only ones that we need to take into consideration when studying issues of identity and sport. Chapter 6 examines how women and slaves fit into this discussion. This is particularly important, since women and slaves, traditionally considered to be less involved in athletics, are often overlooked in studies of ancient sport. P.’s book is an exception, and so it contributes to our understanding of this otherwise less studied aspect of sports history. Epigraphic evidence suggests that elite women, after the Hellenistic period, were increasingly involved in festival sponsorship and gymnasia management. In that position they too utilised aspects of the athletic rhetoric of men to highlight their right and capacity to participation in civic life (pp. 168–75). Lower-status communities also participated in athletic training and competition to an extent. Benefactors, albeit occasionally, allowed women, slaves and other lower-legal status individuals to become part of the gymnasion and festival life. This attitude, P. argues, aimed at the projection of a ‘cohesive and balanced community’ (p. 155). At the same time, the exceptional character of these openings of elite ways of life to the entire polis further highlighted the social restrictions in this otherwise elite activity. In the second part of Chapter 6 P. turns to what he characterises as ‘cultural hybridization’ of sport, i.e. an amalgamation of the Hellenic athletic culture with the Roman. This, however, is a subject that has repeatedly been studied in the past, especially by L. Robert in his 1940 book Les gladiateurs dans l'orient grec.

At first glance, the main issue in this book seems to be the apparently arbitrary choice of the themes in each chapter, which P. admits is based primarily on his research interests and his earlier scholarship and less on the basis of a specific organisational principle (p. x). Nevertheless, in a study on athletics and identity one would expect there to be room for a discussion on the athletic synod and how the study of this athletic organisation contributes to our understanding of issues of athletic identity. It would also be a lot less challenging for readers to follow P.’s arguments – especially those who are inexperienced with the relevant source material – if some of the sources were cited and discussed more extensively. This is especially true for evidence used recurrently in the book, such as the gymnasiarchic and ephebarchic laws of Beroia and Amphipolis. The latter documents deserved more attention also because they are unique in terms of their particular interest to military and not so much to athletic training. They could potentially raise the issue of regional variations when studying expressions of identity in the world of sport, a discussion that could have had a prominent position in P.’s book.

Despite these relatively minor criticisms, P. can be congratulated for having produced what is probably the most wide-ranging and in-depth treatise of issues of identity in the world of Greek athletics. The book moves the discussions on the subject intelligently forward and will undoubtedly be of value not only to researchers of ancient athletics but also to anyone delving into the political culture of the Greek world.