Alle fonti del doping

This study explores the historical and religious origins of modern athletic doping by tracing the cultural evolution of the Greek agonistic ideal. Investigating the trajectory from sacred ancient rituals to contemporary sports scandals, the work examines how the classical model of the athlete was transmitted and transformed through early modern and modern scholarship. By analyzing key humanist texts—notably Girolamo Mercuriale's De arte gymnastica and Pierre Faber's Agonisticon—alongside neoclassicist aesthetics, 19th-century positivism, and Angelo Brelich's religio-historical frameworks, this research demonstrates how the athlete's body shifted from a sacred, heroic, and ritualized entity into an object of scientific optimization. Through a critical comparative approach, the author uncovers how historical distortions, medical traditions, and ideological biases shaped the modern perception of athletic performance. Ultimately, the book reveals that contemporary doping is not merely a modern anomaly, but the historical outcome of a long-standing tension between natural human limits and the pursuit of extraordinary physical performance.