Heather Reid, professor of philosophy, recently gave a presentation on her revival of the ancient Olympic-style games for Morningside College students during their study abroad in Italy, and she contributed to a book translation.

Heather Reid, professor of philosophy at Morningside College, recently gave a presentation on her revival of the ancient Olympic-style games for Morningside College students during their study abroad in Italy, and she contributed to a book translation.

Reid revived the ancient Olympic-style games as part of the Morningside in Italy program, where Morningside College students spend a semester studying in Italy with Morningside professors. She revived the games to allow students to experience the ancient world and not just study it in books. She gave a presentation on the teaching practice at the Association of American College and University Programs in Italy-Temple University Conference on the Future of Study Abroad in Rome.

Reid had worked to revive the games with scholar Paolo Madella, who is a high school teacher in Syracuse, Sicily. With Madella and scholar Emanuele Isidori, Reid completed a new Italian translation of “The Gymnasticus,” the only complete text from the ancient world devoted to the topic of athletics. Reid wrote the introduction and commentary in Italian, and the new translation was published this summer.

Reid is a specialist in ancient philosophy and the philosophy of sport. She recently completed the National Endowment for the Humanities/Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome. She has published six books related to sports philosophy and the Olympics. A member of the Morningside faculty since 1996, she received her doctorate from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.