My reference work of 1981 on sport in the ancient world, with a large section on Greek sport (Weiler 1981 (1988)), was intended to encourage and assist scholarship on that subject. The study of sport in general was growing in a sometimes sports-obsessed modern world, but it was gratifying to see ancient sport studies grow as well. In 1988 my colleagues and I optimistically began a new annual journal, Nikephoros, specifically devoted to ancient sport – broadly interpreted – throughout the world, as a venue for international scholarship, and that journal, with the addition of supplements (e.g., Lee 2001; Crowther 2004), continues to fulfil its function well. Almost every volume contains a detailed, international, indexed annual bibliography of publications on ancient sport prepared by Wolfgang Decker.
A large and growing number of books and articles on ancient Greek sport have been written and edited in recent decades by scholars from several nations. This essay offers a retrospective on trends, developments, and major contributions to the study of ancient Greek sport in the last 10 years (2001–11), with some emphasis on the Archaic (700–480 BCE) and Classical (480–323 BCE) periods. (For brief surveys of earlier historiography on ancient sport, see König 2005: 22–35 and Kyle 2010.) Given the number of publications, a comprehensive treatment would be far too lengthy, so the concentration here is on selected major contributions (mostly books and collections of essays, but also articles). These titles, of course, use, integrate, and direct readers to further studies on Greek sport. It is important to appreciate the international scope of scholarship on ancient sport, but given the probable nature of our readership, this essay focuses mostly – but certainly not only – on works in English. Consistent with the design of this volume, this study does not concentrate on ancient Olympia, or on the realia of the actual contests, and it leaves aside the question of the modern reception and “revival” of the ancient Olympics. The structure generally follows the organization of the volume’s chapters because that roughly chronological organization also suggests trends and emphases in scholarship. Other essays in this volume often attend to historiography, and in some such instances cross-references are made to those treatments and comments herein are limited.
The traditional notion that Greeks had a unique agonistic spirit has been reevaluated and qualified by scholars: Bignasca 2009 on the origins of agonistics; Wacker 2006 on sport history and agon; Ulf 2006, 2008, and 2011; Weiler 2004a and 2010. Recent work has shown that pre- and non-Greek cultures of the ancient Mediterranean world had their own sporting practices, often related to rites or spectacles (see revisionist cautions and abundant and current references in Chapter 2 in this volume; Decker 2004 on early precursors of Greek contests; Decker 2010b on the rise of sports; Scanlon 2009 on broader Mediterranean sport; and Kyle 2007b: 23–53 for a general survey). The Greeks nevertheless remain distinctive for how intimately they associated sport with their ethnicity and their social, cultural, and religious life.
Since the ancient Olympics were the most prominent and prestigious of the Greek athletic festivals, and because of suggested associations with the modern Olympics, many works, perhaps too many, are devoted to ancient Olympia. Books and articles, with varying degrees of originality, appear regularly, especially around the occasion of modern Olympic festivals.
Understandably, the Athens Olympics of 2004 inspired interest and publications on the ancient games. Publications in that year include works by Günther; Herrmann and Kondoleon; Kaila, Thrill, Theodoropoulou, et al.; Miller; Pleket; Spivey; Tyrrell; Valavanis; Wünsche and Bentz; Young; and more. On earlier such “Olympic” works, see the book reviews in Weiler 2003a. Notably less scholarship appeared at the time of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, although books by T. H. Nielsen and by Schaus and Wenn both came out in 2007, and a second edition of Swaddling’s The Ancient Olympic Games appeared in 2008. Kyrieleis’ book on the archaeology of Olympia appeared in advance of the London Olympics of 2012.
Conflicting and confusing ancient myths and speculations suggest very early origins for the ancient Olympics, but archaeologists have challenged the idea that there were significant games around the traditional date of 776 BCE. Valavanis 2006 suggests an early origin and torch ritual; Instone 2007 questions the idea that the Olympic Games originated in burial rites to heroes, and he cautions against monocausal explanations.
The traditional date of 776 for the first Olympiad, based on the Olympic victor list produced by Hippias of Elis in the later fifth century BCE, was disputed even in antiquity, and Christesen’s definitive study of the Olympic victory lists convincingly argues that Hippias’ sources and methods are not reliable for dates before the sixth century; see Christesen 2007a, 2009; also Shaw 2003.
Much recent scholarship on the ancient Olympics tends to demythologize the games, demonstrating a politicized Olympia that, despite its Panhellenic status and famous truce, was not always free of politics, war, violence, or corruption. Golden 2008: 105–39 and 2011 debunk the Olympic truce and other popular illusions about ancient Olympia. See Crowther 2003 on power and politics at Olympia as administered by the polis of Elis. Siewert 2001 discusses relevant laws from Elis; T. H. Nielsen 2007 reveals both pride and tensions between Panhellenic Olympia and the culture of the city-states; and Scott 2010 explains the spatial politics of Panhellenism at Olympia. Essays in Hornblower and Morgan 2007 on Pindar’s patrons in various states show their interest in competition and self-representation at major games. Kyle 2009 shows the influence of particularism and the use of claims to piety to justify weak support during the Persian War. Papakonstantinou 2003 treats Alcibiades’ personal political ambitions and his self-display at Olympia.
Good treatments of the program, events, rules, and administration of the ancient Olympics include Lee 2001 on the program and events; Miller 2003, 2004a: 113–28 on the organization and operation of the Olympics around 300 BCE; useful republished articles in Crowther 2004; Perry 2007 on Olympic rules and oaths (cf. Crowther 2007a and 2008); Weiler 2008 on qualifying for the Olympics; and Rutherford 2004 on theoria and the Olympic Games.
Schaus and Wenn 2007 includes essays on the judges, jump, losers, sortition, and more, and Egan 2007 suggests another system for deciding the victor in the pentathlon. Combat events retain their fascination – see Corcoran 2003 on rules in wrestling, Brunet 2010 on rules and records, Mauritsch 2008 and 2011 on violence and brutality in heavy athletics, and Visa-Ondarçuhu 2003 and König 2005: 97–152 on the boxer Melankomas.
Increased interest in the experience of spectatorship at Greek athletic festivals relates to facilities, logistics, fair play, and engagement. Relevant here are Petermandl 2005 on the timeless character of spectators; Petermandl 2010 on athletes and spectators, tears, and laughing; Wolicki 2002 on heralds at athletic games; and Rieger 2004 on the arrangements for the start of Panhellenic footraces. An important resource now is the Internet archive of sources on sport spectators from Petermandl and Mauritsch-Bein (2006).
Our knowledge of the ancient periodos or circuit of Panhellenic crown (stephanitic) games at Olympia, Delphi, Isthmia, and Nemea, which emerged by the sixth century and offered only wreath prizes, has been increased by archaeological and interpretive studies.1 Valavanis 2004 offers excellent overviews of Delphi, Isthmia, and Nemea. Papakonstantinou 2002 compares prizes in Homer and tripods at Olympia; cf. Decker 2010a on prizes before the use of money. Davies 2007 discusses literary and archaeological evidence on the origins of the agonistic festivals, especially the Pythian Games. See Neumann-Hartmann 2007 on programs of Panhellenic games in the fifth century BCE. On Delphi and its Pythian festival, Maass 2007 gives a general thematic overview of the site, Amandry 1990 discusses the festival with a particular focus on theoroi, Scott 2010 examines the agendas of various visitors to the sanctuary, and Weir 2004 covers the Roman Pythia. On Isthmia, see Kajava 2002 on the return of Isthmian Games to Isthmia in the first century CE.
Publications of the major excavations led by Stephen Miller at Nemea have greatly increased our knowledge and stimulated considerable interest in Greek stadia and their starting mechanisms and entrance tunnels, which Miller suggests indicate attention to fairness and increased spectatorship. See Miller 2001 on Nemea’s Early Hellenistic stadium with its tunnel and hysplex, and 2002 on the shrine of Opheltes and the earliest stadium. Gutsfeld and Lehmann 2005 discuss Nemea in Late Antiquity.
The games of the periodos were glorious, but most Greeks experienced sport in athletic festivals and gymnasia in their home poleis (city-states). Sporting activities and their social and political significance greatly increased in the sixth century as individuals and states competed with each other for status and fame. See Christesen 2007b on the athletic expansion in the sixth century BCE and Forsdyke 2011 on “peer–polity interaction” and competition in the same period. Also see Mann 2001 on politics, athletes, and tensions in various Greek states around 600 and Angeli Bernardini 2005 on the polis and agones.
Games at Athens, especially in the Great Panathenaic festival, have been reexamined. Neils and Tracy’s (2003) small picture book in the Agora series and Valavanis 2004: 336–91 are both excellent summaries of the Panathenaia. Palagia and Choremi-Spetsieri’s edited volume (2007) offers valuable essays on prizes and events; for example, Neils 2007, which concentrates on what the material evidence from vases, sculpture, and inscriptions reveals about the early development of the festival in relationship to Olympia and Delphi. Shear 2003 is a valuable article reconstructing a famous inscribed Pananthenaic prize list. As Kyle (2007b: 150–79) suggests, Athens used the Panathenaic Games and prize amphorae to attract athletes and attention to Athens, and to broadcast the wealth and power of that state.
Perceptions of sport in ancient Sparta have been changed by the work on athletics within Sparta and Spartans competing abroad, especially in Olympic chariot racing (see Chapter 9). Jean Ducat (2006) has persuasively argued that the famous Sparta training regimen, the agoge, had strong parallels, at least for males, in other states (initiatory rites, physical education, age groups, etc.).
Publications also have appeared on other local games; for example, Valavanis 2004: 392–7; Zapheiropoulou 2004 on Thessaly; Stampolidis and Tassoulas 2004 on Magna Graecia; and Albanidis and Giatsis 2007 on Thrace. More can be expected.
Interest in individual competitors, especially Olympic victors and circuit victors, continues; for example, Decker 2008 on new victors from Egypt; Wallner and Uzunaslan 2005 on periodonikai; Wallner 2008 on Olympionikai in the fourth century CE; Visa-Ondarçuhu 2003; and König 2005: 97–152 on the boxer Melankomas; and Maróti 2005 on Olympic victors who won both as boys and as men. However, as this Companion indicates, social historical approaches to groups of people in Greek sport are growing in frequency.
Not just a minimally significant offshoot of military or religious history, sport both influenced – and was influenced by – society. Mark Golden’s pioneering scholarship, with his enjoyable writing style, presents sport as a discourse of difference, plus his continued interest in social status and classes (e.g., slaves; also see Weiler 2011) extends over an expanded scope in his 2008 book. Nicholson 2005 applies new historicism to aristocracy and athletics, focusing on the important but seldom acknowledged role of charioteers and trainers.
With socioeconomic change in Archaic and Classical Greece, from the sixth century explosion of games onwards more nonaristocrats started exercising nude in the gymnasion and competing at the international and local levels. Debate about the socioeconomic history of sport – class origins, access, mobility – has a long history (see Pleket 2001 on the sociology of ancient sport). Did sport help make Greek states more democratic and meritocratic or did the dominance of elites persist? Disagreement is likely to continue. Pleket 2005 examines the social background of athletes; Pleket 2004a discusses the relationship between money and sport; Pleket 2003 relates economics and urbanization.
Debate has concentrated, without consensus, on Athens because of its relative wealth of information. Kyle’s suggestion (2007b: 198–216, see also Chapter 10, his essay on Athens) that elitism persisted is supported by Pritchard (2003, 2004, 2009) with arguments about limited access to physical education; but Fisher (2009, 2011) and Christesen (Chapter 13 and 2012: 145–60) assert widespread participation in liturgically funded Panathenaic tribal and team competitions (including dancing contests).
Prominent female participation in modern sport has increased questions about females in ancient Greek sport. Scanlon 2002: 98–198 remains essential on relevant myths, girls’ races in the Heraia, and more. While Pomeroy’s scholarly 2002 study of Spartan females takes autonomy as a premise, Kyle (2007a, b: 217–28; Chapter 16) suggests caution in interpreting the victories of Kyniska (see also Kyle 2003 and Perry 2007) and the sporting experiences of girls. Debate on the Heraia continues with Langenfeld 2006 and Scanlon’s reinforcement of his views (2008). See also Kratzmüller 2002 on female sport in Athens, and Neils’s (2012) stimulating art historical interpretation of depictions of sporting females in Athenian vase paintings as seen through Athenian eyes.
The importance of religion and the festival context at the Panhellenic and local games (and in physical education, as we shall see) is explained by Valavanis 2004 and König 2009a. Mikalson 2007 reviews the notion of divine help in games. De Polignac 2009 revisits his approach to sanctuaries and festivals, and Sinn 1991 and 2000, 2004 as well as Günther 2004 discuss the significance of games in the cult of Olympian Zeus. On magic, see Frass 2008 on “black magic” at Olympia and Tremel 2004 on curses in sport (magica agonistica). See also Chapter 20 on the role of religion in Greek sport.
Training and testing of sporting bodies went from ritualized initiation to institutionalized education (paideia) and cadet training in the ephebeia. Scanlon 2002 (64–97, 323–33, and passim) on gymnike paideia is an important, wide-ranging study, Pritchard 2003 discusses access to education and sport in Athens, and Ducat 2006 shows that Sparta’s agoge was less exceptional than we had assumed.
With several essays on sport and education, administration, and ephebes and neoi in the Hellenistic gymnasion (e.g., Weiler 2004a), Kah and Scholz 2004 is now essential. Also see Kennell 2006 on ephebeia, the city-states, and the gymnasion; Kennell 2009 on ephebic training in the Greek cities in the Roman Empire; van Nijf 2004a on festivals and physical education in the Imperial era; Nieto Ibáñes 2003 on paidotribai and gymnastai; Wörrle 2007 on gymnasia and gymnasiarchs in Pergamon; König 2005: 315–37 on medicine and training; König 2009b on training in the work of Philostratus, and Albanidis, Romero, and Pavlogiannis 2006 on participation of Greeks and non-Greeks in the ephebeia in Hellenistic and Roman eras.
Scholars now seem to agree on the timing of the introduction of athletic nudity but discussion continues on its significance; see Christesen 2002: 7–37 on nude training in the gymnasion. Scanlon 2002 remains a major study on eros and nudity in relationship to education. Perhaps stimulated by modern interests, publications on nudity and homosexuality in ancient sport continue to appear (e.g., Hubbard 2003 on sex in the gymnasion; see also Chapters 13 and 15).
On Greek bodily culture and the athletic body as a cultural symbol, see essays in Mauritsch 2010, including Martínková 2010 on various interpretations of kalokagathia. Weiler 2002 discusses inverted kalokagathia, and Weiler 2003b evaluates the Greek athlete as a model. Young 2005 provides a valuable critical commentary on the famous phrase mens sana in corpore sano (a sound mind in a sound body), and König 2008 discusses the body in ancient novels.
Adams 2003 (and Chapter 22) details Philip and Alexander’s use of sport and spectacle as political propaganda and acculturation. Also on Philip and Alexander I, see Kertész 2003, 2005.
We have learned much more about the Ptolemies’ use of sport (e.g., victories, festivals) for propaganda from recent scholarship (e.g., van Bremen 2007; Shear 2007; Remijsen 2009 and Chapter 23), especially from the discovery of victory epigrams by Posidippos for male and female royal victors (on which see Austin and Bastianini 2002; Bastianini and Gallazzi 2001; Bennett 2005; and Gutzwiller 2005). On Olympionikai from Egypt, see Decker 2008.
Contrary to old assumptions that the Romans could not appreciate Greek sport, recent studies show that Romans adjusted to Greek practices and that Roman rule was positive for Greek sport. Newby 2005 shows that Romans embraced Greek art and architecture. Strong Roman imperial support and expansion of Greek games reflect not simply toleration, but also Roman enthusiasm for Greek athletics at Rome and in the Empire.
Several recent studies look at Greek sport in Rome: Wallner 2002, 2004, 2010 on Greek games and Greek athletics in Rome under the emperors; Siewert 2002 on Sulla and the Olympics; van Nijf 2004b on Roman Olympics; Spawforth 2007 on the Capitolia; Strasser 2001 on Greek games in Rome and Taras; Strasser 2004 on Caracalla and the Antoninia Pythia Games in Rome in 214 CE; Strasser 2010 on the arrangements for the start of footraces in the Roman era; Mann 2002 on the institutionalisation of the certamina athletarum in Rome; Klose 1997 on numismatics and the Actian Games; König 2007 on the Severan period; Leschhorn 2004 on sports and imperial coins; and Pleket 2010 on the involvement of Roman emperors in promoting Greek sport (see also Chapter 36).
On Greek sport within the Roman Empire, especially in Asia Minor, König’s essential study (2005) uses a nuanced approach to post-Classical literature and epigraphy to read discourses on the body, training, competition, and identity. On the vitality and social and ethnic significance of Greek sport and education for later urban elites in the Greek East, who patronized sport and sought identification with classical athletic culture, van Nijf (2001, 2003, 2004a, 2007) also contributes excellent research. Zuiderhoek 2009 is a fresh study of the motives and practice of euergetism or public benefactions by the elites in Roman Asia Minor, including donations of sport facilities and agonistic festivals.
Also on games and athletes in the Imperial era, see Brunet 2003 on athletes from Ephesos; Albanidis and Giatsis 2007 on athletics in Thrace; Albanidis, Romero, and Pavlogiannis 2006 on the participation of non-Greeks; and Bru 2007 on sport in Roman Syria.
The recent major discovery of three inscribed letters by Hadrian at Alexandria Troas demonstrates this philhellenic emperor’s attentiveness to athletic matters of finances, prizes, punishment, and agonistic calendars; see Petzl and Schwertheim 2006; Gouw 2008; and Slater 2008.
On sport and spectacles in Late Antiquity, see Roueché 2007; Gutsfeld and Lehmann 2005 on Nemea; Wallner 2007 on agones and spectacula in the time of Diocletian; Weiler 2004b on Theodosius and the end of the Olympics; and Crowther 2004: 433–50 on sports violence in the Roman and Byzantine Empires. On Byzantine sport, see Chapter 43.
Literary studies of Greek sport remain dominated by Homer and Pindar. Ulf 2004 looks at sport in Iliad 23, Evans 2006 discusses sport and spectatorship in the Odyssey, Papakonstantinou 2002 looks at prizes in Homer, Kyle 2007b: 54–71 discusses prizes and social relations in Homeric sport, Scanlon 2004 relates Homer and the heroic ethos to sport, and Allan and Cairns 2011 examines tensions between individual competitiveness and community in Homer (see also Chapter 3).
Pindaric studies continue with new approaches, such as Nicholson’s (2005) use of new historicism (see also Chapter 4). Essays in a major study by Hornblower and Morgan (2007) place Pindar in broader interdisciplinary and historical contexts, showing that Pindar adapted his formal elements to the historical (social, regional) contexts of different patrons and communities. Various essays in that volume offer insights into the early development of festivals and epinikia, and the colonial milieu of Cyrene and the West. In addition, Burnett 2005 looks at Pindar on young athletes of Aigina, and Kantzios 2004 is a clear explanation of the Pindaric concept of victory.
Campagner 2001 is a lexicon of agonistic terminology in Aristophanes. Herodotus has been discussed from different angles: Kyle 2009 reexamines Herodotus on athletic festivals and war; Bichler 2008 notes victorious athletes in Herodotus; and T. H. Nielsen 2009 revisits Pheidippides’ run from Athens to Sparta.
König has provided insights into discourse on Greek sport in the Roman Empire. His works (2005, 2008, 2009b, 2011) have energized the study of Roman-era sources, notably Philostratus, on training, athletics, and the body.
Material evidence from the archaeological study of facilities (e.g., Miller 2001), prizes, and dedications provides important supplements – and corrections – to the testimony of literary works. Inscriptions contribute invaluable, detailed information on games over expanses of time and space; see Chapter 6 and Pleket 2003. On coins referring to Roman-era games and victors, see Klose 1997, 2004 and Leschhorn 2004. On art in general, see Chapter 5 and Lehmann 2004 on victory statues. For an illustrated Italian work on the ideology and iconography of victory (Nike), see Musti 2005.
It is difficult to draw conclusions about general trends out of this diversity of topics and treatises, but obviously the quantity and sophistication of publications is growing steadily. Studies of Olympia and the other Panhellenic games are always in the foreground of popular interest, but ongoing archaeology and discoveries from many areas stimulate scholarly research. That research is assisted by reference works and collections of ancient sources, epigraphical and numismatic materials, and prosopographies of athletes.
Researchers remain interested in the origins of sport, and some comparative studies on contests and games in other ancient cultures offer insights. Scholars increasingly study Greek ethnicity, the Greeks’ special attitude toward sport, and the significance of local games in Greek city-states. Sport historians have tried to analyze the importance of ideology in sport, and they have demonstrated that ancient sport was embedded in both economics and society.
Other prominent issues include questions about administration and the management of athletic festivals. Treatises often refer to prizes and victories, complex issues of fairness and corruption in sport, the relationship of sport to politics and political systems, the relationship between athletics and warfare, and educational institutions (gymnasia, ephebeia). Gender studies and questions about body language and bodily culture (including kalokagathia) also have attracted attention, as have the role of spectators and ancient sport architecture.
Fine scholarship has detailed the initially ambivalent acceptance of Greek athletics and gymnastics among Romans, and the development and patronage of sport in the Roman Empire. Recent works have clarified relevant processes of acculturation and of cultural exchange.
International work on numerous topics will continue over a broad scope, and, as has happened with the growth of social history and cultural studies in modern sport history, future studies on ancient sport are likely to be less positivistic and more interpretive (e.g., applying new historicism, sociology of sport).
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I would like to thank the editors, D. Kyle and P. Christesen, for their very helpful bibliographical and other additions to my contribution and for their constructive comments.
NOTES
1 The traditional distinction between crown and chrematitic games is based on fourth century BCE literary sources, and Pleket (Chapter 6 in this volume) and Remijsen (Chapter 23 and 2011) have clarified that official inscriptions show that many overlapping classifications arose in the Hellenistic and Roman eras, when crown games, even those of the expanded periodos, might offer material prizes. For cautionary comments, see Slater 2012.
2 The first edition of this book was published in German in 1996. An English translation of the first edition appeared in 2000. A second edition of the German version appeared in 2004.
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GUIDE TO FURTHER READING
Students and scholars new to the study of Greek sport should start with Miller’s excellent illustrated text and sourcebook of translated documents (2004a, b), which cover all aspects of events, operation, sites, and so on. Those primarily interested in the ancient Olympic Games can turn to the many works on that subject that were published in 2004 and Swaddling 2008. As a lavishly illustrated volume, Valavanis 2004 is unsurpassed. Recent broader and comparative works on ancient sport include Kyle 2007b; Crowther 2007b; Newby 2006; Decker and Thuillier 2004; Fisher and van Wees 2011; and Potter 2012.
For reference, Golden 2004 is a helpful lexicon with bibliographical annotations.
Crowther 2004 is very useful with his reprinted essays, bibliographies of his own works (465–71), comments on “recent scholarship” (453–63), and five indices. Volumes of republished important articles include König 2010 and Scanlon’s forthcoming Oxford Readings in Ancient Sport.
Insightful essays on Greek sport overall, and trends in the relevant scholarship, include: König 2005: 1–44 and 2009a; Scanlon 2009; de Polignac 2009; Papakonstantinou 2009a, b; and Weiler 2010. In an encouraging development, various recent and forthcoming companions and handbooks on antiquity now include entries on ancient sport (e.g., König 2009a).
The annual volumes of Nikephoros consistently attract detailed international scholarship on ancient sport. The yearly bibliographies (Jahresbibliographie zum Sport des Altertums) in Nikephoros by Wolfgang Decker are helpful instruments for research and impressive indicators of the growing amount of publication on ancient sport history.
A series of volumes offers collected documents (translated into German) by sport or theme: Quellendokumentation zur Gymnastik und Agonistik im Altertum (Weiler, ed.). Such bibliographies and reference works inform us about various aspects, topics, and trends in modern scholarship. See Mauritsch, Petermandl, Pleket, et al. 2012.
Notable special journal issues include International Journal of the History of Sport 26.2 (2009): “Sport in the Cultures of the Ancient World” and Journal of Sport History 30.2 (2003): “The Ancient Olympics in Greek Society and Politics.”
Useful anthologies of essays include Phillips and Pritchard 2003; Bell and Davies 2004; Palagia and Choremi-Spetsieri 2007; and Schaus and Wenn 2007. Festschrifts for Decker (Nikephoros 18–19: 2005–6) and for Weiler (Mauritsch, Ulf, Rollinger, et al. 2008) add to our resources.
On social history, see the relevant essays and their bibliographies in this Companion as well as Christesen 2012; Golden 1998 and 2008; and Pleket 2001. On females in Greek sport, Scanlon 2002: 98–174 is essential, but see also Frass 1997 as well as Kyle 2003, 2007a, and Chapter 16 in this volume.