Cover of the book "Gymnastics Libri Sex" by Girolamo Mercuriale

Considered the first sports book edited in the world.
It addresses the history of the attitudes and practices of Greeks and Romans about diet, hygiene, bath, and exercise. It describes various forms of physical activity with its benefits: dance, ball games, walking, running, jumping, album release, dumbbell exercise, games, corner, riding, swimming, fighting, boxing and even fishing and hunting. It is one of the first books to discuss the therapeutic value of gymnastics for therapeutic and medicinal purposes. Gymnastics is conceived as the 'way of exercising the body', rather than a particular modality-form of physical practice. On the other hand, the notion of competition is not present, so this work cannot be considered the dimension, which is currently considered, as sports.