"Neither Letters nor Swimming": The Rebirth of Swimming and Free-diving

Download or read book "Neither Letters nor Swimming": The Rebirth of Swimming and Free-diving written by John M. McManamon and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-03-01 with total page 483 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.