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

John M. McManamon, Ph.D. (1984), is Emeritus Professor of Renaissance History at Loyola University Chicago. He has published monographs on Italian humanism and the history of underwater archaeology, critical editions, and numerous articles, including Caligula’s Barges and the Renaissance Origins of Nautical Archaeology Underwater.

"In tracing the world of swimming from antiquity to the Renaissance, with a focus on the primary source material, McManamon has produced a book full of rich detail." Alexander Nice, in Bryn Mawr Classical Review, January 2022.

• PrefaceList of FiguresIntroduction1 The Classical Notion of an Art2 The Classical Proverb3 Classical Clues for Swimming as an Artpart 1: Ancient Legacy1 The Art of Swimming: Rationale and Training1 The Age for Learning to Swim2 Swimming Technology3 Swimming and the Natural Environment4 Swim Strokes5 Learning to Swim2 The Art of Swimming in Practice1 Rescuers2 The Further Benefits of Swimming3 Swimming for Pay3 The Profession of Free-Diving: Rationale and Training1 Free-Diving as Metaphor2 Terminology and Labor Organization3 Training and Gender4 Free-Diving to Earn a Living1 Diving for Sponges2 Diving for Other Marine Species3 Underwater Mining and Salvage4 Building Activities (Villas / Ports / Bridges)5 Military Diving and Swimming: The Open Seas1 Free-Diving for Military Purposes2 Swimming for Military Purposes (Table 1)3 Organized Rescue4 Self-Rescue5 Technological Aids6 From the Open Seas to Rivers and Lakes1 Greek Mercenaries in Persia2 A Contrast: Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar3 The Macedonians and Rome’s Militarization4 Swimming Enemies5 The Batavi as Supreme Swimming Auxiliaries6 Swimming Heroes Battle River Gods7 The End of the Ancient Tradition and Nonnus of Panopolis1 Vegetius on Training2 Late Antique Poets and Historians on Military Swimming3 A Shift in Mood: Ausonius and Erotic Aquatics4 Nonnus and the Celebration of Erotic Aquatics5 Hero and Leander on Stage and in Epyllion6 Nonnus bis: Literary Evidence for Free-Divingpart 2: Medieval Impoverishment8 Legendary Aquatic Feats of the Middle Ages1 Swimming and Diving in the Early Middle Ages2 Aquatic Feats of the Heroes of Sagas and Epic3 Free-Diving Heroes of Medieval Legend4 Swimming and Free-Diving in Northern European Histories9 The Medieval Profession of Free-Diving1 Medieval Salvage Diving in Law and Practice2 Free-Diving for Pearls in the Middle Ages3 Free-Diving for Coral in the Middle Ages4 Dante’s Free-Diver Similepart 3: The Renaissance Conceptualization of Swimming and Free-Diving10 Erasmus, Nicolas Wynman, and the First Art of Swimming1 The Intuition: Italian Treatises on Education in the Humanities2 The Imprimatur: The Adages of Erasmus3 The Innovator: Wynman’s Latin Dialogue on How to Swim11 A Cambridge Don Tackles Swimming1 Digby’s Dedication to Richard Wortley2 Why: Digby’s Rationale for Swimming as an Art3 When and Where4 How: Entries, Strokes, and Rotation5 How: Methods of Turning Around6 How: Fun Things to Do (Festivitates)7 Head-First Diving and Free-Diving (Urinatio)8 Novelty and Survival12 Scholars and Engineers Contribute1 Swimming as Ideal and Metaphor2 Renaissance Engineers and Swimming3 Renaissance Engineers and Diving13 Diving in the Renaissance2 Renaissance Origins of Archaeological Diving3 Science, Mathematics, and Italian Salvage Companies4 GlobalizationConclusion1 Proverbial Ignorance in the Classical World2 The Renaissance of Swimming3 The Middle Ages: Legendary Swimmers4 The Rebirth of Swimming5 The Impact on Free-DivingAppendicesBibliographyIndex