Greek Mythology and Education: From Theory to Practice

This paper analyses the role that mythical Greek narratives should play in contemporary Olympic education. We will show how Olympism and its ideals are rooted in myths. Greek sports were structured according to ancient Greece religious values and rituals. For example, athletes competed to “become immortal” (being awarded by the gods) through achieving victory and fame in the sporting arena. In modern times, Olympism aimed at becoming a mythology, that is, a “secular religion”. We find this idea, for instance, in De Coubertin's conception of modern sport as a religio athletae. To show if contemporary (post-modern) sports can be turned into such a thing, we will provide an existential and phenomenological analysis of the myth phenomenon. In so doing, mythos and logos will be unified in a “new agonistic paideia.” By embracing a universalist (or continuist) conception of both sport ideals and human nature, we will argue that contemporary sports have the potential to use mythical narratives to convey their values, that is to say, to teach Olympic sports values. We do not even need to create new myths. Rather, we can use those that we already have to teach important values. To prove this claim, we will use Heracles’ myth to present a normative account of the athlete and show how we can use myths to teach Olympic values.