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A glaring Muhammad Ali standing over a semi-comatose Sonny Liston; a bowing Babe Ruth acknowledging fans at Yankee Stadium; a screaming Michael Jordan going for a slam dunk: these are but a few of the images captured in sports posters.

From time immemorial man has celebrated sport through art. In ancient Greece, artists would paint large clay jugs called amphorae with pictures of young men engaged in the athletic pursuits of the day: discus throwing, javelin throwing, long jumping, foot racing, and wrestling.

Anna Kournikova

In Rome, frescos painted on plaster reveal the Roman love of sports. These frescos depict Romans engaged in a variety of ball games similar to our modern day handball, field hockey, and soccer. Of course, two of the most exciting sports in Roman times -- chariot racing and gladiatorial combat - were similarly rendered. While Romans couldn't imprint their love of these games on sports posters, they imprinted them on everything else. Many friezes, pots, and wall paintings from this period, depict gladiatorial fights between different varieties of combatant.

Babe Bows Out

Likewise, figurines and models provide us with a detailed picture of charioteer and chariot. Molded terra-cotta reliefs, carved stone friezes, and decorated stone coffins vividly depict the races themselves in extraordinary detail. These scenes illustrating the thrills and spills of the races were not just a meaningless homage to the popular sport. With their danger, start and finish lines they were considered as a metaphor for life itself.