Continuing the series of posts from my new book SPLASH!
From Chapter 5:
This is another of the Founding Fathers of “Swimming 2.0” and by far the least well known. In 1750, Dr. Richard Russell published his wildly popular Dissertation Concerning the Use of Sea Water in Diseases of the Glands, which made salt-water cures all the rage, which led to the rise of seaside English resorts like Brighton, which gave the revival of swimming something it desperately needed: an infrastructure.
Continuing the series of posts from my new book SPLASH!
From Chapter 5:
The revival of swimming in the English-speaking world owed much to three Founding Fathers, including Benjamin Franklin. While working in a London printinghouse in his early twenties, Franklin gained such a reputation as a swimmer that he thought briefly of opening a swimming school in the city, rather than returning to the colonies. Think of how that have changed the history of the sport, and of the future America.
Continuing the series of posts from my new book SPLASH!
From Chapter 4:
Two woodcuts from Everard Digby’s 1587 guide De Arte Natandi, or The Art of Swimming. On the left, an example of Digby’s ornamental swimming. On the right, he offers advice on how to pare one’s toenails while floating merrily along. (British Library)
Continuing the series of posts from my new book SPLASH!
From Chapter 3:
The Great Bath at the restored Roman spa at Bath, in England. (Courtesy of author)
Continuing the series of posts from my new book SPLASH!
From Chapter 3:
The Great Palaestra at the ruins of Pompeii — larger by far than a football field, with an oversized, sloping swimming pool at its center. The overflow from the pool was used to flush the latrines. (Google Earth)
Continuing the series of posts from my new book SPLASH!
From Chapter 2:
A coin from the late 2nd century, depicting Leander swimming the Hellespont to be with his beloved Hero. His last swim did not go well for either party.
Continuing the series of posts from my new book SPLASH!
This is from Chapter 2, “Swimming’s Golden Age.” The interior of the Tomb of the Diver, circa 470 BCE, discovered at Paestum in the Campania region of Italy. (Credit: courtesy of author.)
Continuing the series of posts from my new book SPLASH!
This is from Chapter 1: “Gods, Humans, and the Aquatic Ape. Proto-swimming? Nine centuries before the Christian Era, Assyrian warriors were using inflated animal bladders to surprise their enemies. (Credit: BibleLandPictures.com / Alamy Stock Photo.)
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Continuing the series of posts from my new book SPLASH!
This is from Chapter 1, “Gods, Humans, and the Aquatic Ape”:
Up until about age six months, an infant’s windpipe automatically closes underwater, an indication perhaps of our aquatic heritage. (Credit: Affebook, altered to black & white.)
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From the Prologue
Once Upon a Time in Egypt