NP - Naked Olympics

[David Morris]

http://www.amazon.com/The-Naked-Olympics-Story-Ancient/dp/081296991X

This lively account of the classical Olympics portrays them as "the
Woodstock of antiquity," and claims that the Games, while taken
seriously, were also where Greeks gathered for a five-day debauch. A
prostitute could earn a year's wages in the course of the tournament,
Thessalonian peddlers sold love potions made from horse's sweat and
minced lizard, and pentathletes competed to the accompaniment of
flutes, perhaps the ancient equivalent of stadium rock. The festival
offered beauty pageants and Homer-recitation contests, numerologists
and fire-swallowers, and such culinary delicacies as roasted sow's
womb. Athletic events also fuelled a thriving pickup scene: a message
etched into the wall of a stadium at Nemea reads, "Look up Moschos in
Philippi—he's cute."
Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker