Agon
edition published: 2021
language: en
availability: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

Etymology

From the verb ἄγω (“to lead”), itself from Proto-Hellenic *ágō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵeti (“to be driving”), from the root *h₂eǵ- (“to drive”). Cognate with Latin ago (“drive, lead”), Avestan azaiti (“he leads away”), Old Irish ad-aig (“he drives to”), Armenian acem (“lead, bring”). In its first sense, thus, an ἀγών would designate the result of an ἄγειν (abs.), with the meaning of “reunion, assembly”.

Also commonly associated to the verb ἀγείρω (“to gather”), itself from From Proto-Hellenic *agéřřō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ger- (“to assemble, gather together”). Cognate with Latin grex (“flock, herd”), Sanskrit gaṇá, (“flock, troop, group”).

Some scholars (Ellsworth 1971; Scanlon 1983) have more recently proposed that ἀγών and its root ἀγ- do not derive from the verbal base directly, but from the noun ἀγός (“leader, chief”) and the suffix -ων indicating location (cf. ἀνδρών, παρθενών). Subsequently, ἀγών would reference the “place associated with the leader”, further emphasizing the association of the word with both war and athletics.

Testimonies

The word ἀγών has known different meanings throughout its attestation on literary and epigraphic sources: (1) gathering/assembly of people or objects, either (1.1) non-related or (1.2) directly related to athletic contests. Likewise, the term is strongly connected to (1.3) the place of the meeting itself. In the following centuries, of course, the term started appearing in direct reference to the (2) contests themselves, both in its performative and religious dimension. From the latter definition derives the general meaning of (3) a struggle or conflict, be it (3.1) physical or (3.2) mental. Lastly, there is the personification of the term (4), which designates Agon, the divinity of contest.

1.- Gathering

1.1.- Regular gathering

In Homeric texts, the term ἀγών often refers to an assembly or reunion. The first literary attestation of the word is within the phrase θεῖον ἀγῶνα (Hom. Il. 7.298) —generally translated as “divine assembly”— in the context of the gathering of women that went to pray for Hector. Similarly, the phrase “gathering of ships” (ἀγών νεῶν) is attested five times in the Iliad (Hom. Il. 15.428; 16.239; 16.500; 19.42; 20.33).

J.D. Ellsworth, followed by T. Scanlon, have proposed in a series of articles that ἀγών never occurs in the simple sense of “assembly”, but is always an “assembly with contests”, literal or metaphorical. In their view, every gathering designated by the word ἀγών is somehow associated with contest, struggle or combat, either because the reunion involves games or because the gathering elements themselves seem to be objects of contest. Thus, the θεῖοι ἀγῶνες would have included athletic or musical games, and the meaning of ἀγών in ἀγών νεῶν would be closer to “assembly [of ships] as the object of contest” (Ellsworth 1969, p. 263).

1.2.- Gathering met to see contests

Whether or not we agree with Ellsworth’s point of view, it is clear that the connection between “gathering” and “contest” has always been there, since Homeric times. In the 23rd book of the Iliad, the term ἀγών appears fifteen times, mostly in relation to the funeral games of Patroclus (e.g., Hom. Il. 23.531). In the Odyssey, the word appears in the context of the Phaeacian games (book 8), with an ambiguous meaning ranging between “gathering met to see games” and the games themselves (e.g., Hom. Od. 8.200). Between the 8th and the 5th century B.C., this ambiguous meaning persists.

1.3.- Place of gathering/contest

As happens with the English word “assembly”, ἀγών conveys both the gathering and the place occupied by it. In the contest of athletic games, the term sometimes appears referring to the location occupied by all attendants, but it is often attested in Homeric texts designating the specific place for all competitors at a contest (e.g., Hom. Il. 23.507; Od. 8.260) —a meaning commonly translated in English as “lists”—. Interestingly ἀγών rarely designates a place of gathering unoccupied by its elements: the gathering defines the place (cf. Ellsworth 1974, p. 259, n. 6).

At this stage, the line between the meanings of “gathering/contest”, “place occupied by gathering/contest” and “ensemble of members or participants of a gathering/contest” is very thin. As Scanlon puts it: “the ambiguity in epic diction between the phenomenon of a contest and its physical components may indicate the beginnings of the shift in meaning from “assembly with contests” to “contest” proper, which becomes the usual meaning by the fifth century B.C.” (Scanlon 1983, p. 151).

2.- Contest

From its primeval meaning, ἀγών (frequently in plural: ἀγῶνες) started to designate contests in the Classical period. These contests —usually translated as “games”, as in “Olympic games” (Ὀλυμπιακοὶ ἀγῶνες)— were usually held in the context of a festival (ἑορτή), which itself was a day or a sequence of days fixed by a community for the worship of a specific god or group of gods. It involved the performance of specific ritual actions, which were connected with its religious, social and cultural function and gave a festival its distinct profile.

3.- Struggle, conflict

Outside the purely agonistic context, the term ἀγών is present in the sources referring to any conflict or struggle, be it physical or mental. From that general sense derives the word ἀγωνία, which in turn gave the current word “agony”, present in many languages.

3.1.- Physical struggle

In a military context, ἀγών is sometimes used to refer to a battle or skirmish —which, in fact, is still a big gathering in which two sides contest for victory—. Thucydides himself (2.89) uses the term when talking about a naval battle (a “gathering of ships” or ἀγών νεῶν of sorts, see 1.1.).

3.2.- Mental struggle, anxiety

Of course, this meaning transcends the physical sphere and commonly appears with the meaning of “internal struggle”, “anguish”. As Plutarch points out in Solon’s biography (Plut.Sol. 7.4), when men are not trained by reason to endure the assaults of fortune, they are filled with continual “pangs, tremors and struggles” (ὠδῖνας καὶ τρόμους καὶ ἀγῶνας).

4.- Agon, divinity of the contest

The meaning of Agon in Pausanias (5.20.3; 5.26.3) is contemplated as the personification of a god.

According to Pausanias, Agon was recognised in the Greek world as a deity, a statue of which was found at Olympia, an agonistic temple par excellence. This sculpture was obviously presumably in direct connection with the Olympic Games, which functioned as a religious festival, of course in honour of Zeus and in connection with athletic competition.

Agon may function more as a form or in reference to the spirit than to a god in Greek mythology. Although it had a relationship to both Zelos representing rivalry and Nike representing victory. Agon broadly referred to any competitive event that was held in connection with various festivals re More generally, Agon referred to any competitive event that was held in connection with religious festivals, including athletics, music or theatrical performances.

Agon also appears as a concept in the New Testament and is defined in that context by Strong's Concordance as, agon: meeting, contest, struggle; as a (athletic) contest; hence, a struggle (in the soul).

Discussion

The first literary references to the term ἀγών occurs in the Iliad, where it is used generically to refer both to a congregation of people who gather in one place to attend an event, either religious or non-religious, as well as to the space in which the gathering takes place. The term is used in relation to athletic contests in book 23 of the Iliad where the funeral games that were held to honour the death of Patroclus are described. The games included various competitions such as pugilism, javelin throwing, wrestling and running (Hom.Il. 23.620-623). Winners were awarded various prizes, which were more or less substantial depending on the individual’s performance and the event in which they had participated (e.g. Hom.Il. 612-616; 736-751).

After Homer, the term ἀγών becomes associated with the religious competitions that took place in Greek sanctuaries. However, even if ἀγῶνες always took place in the context of a celebration, it was not always within a festival (e.g., funerary games, private games, etc.). Most contests were athletic events (also called ἆθλα), but the term ἀγών is also used to define musical, dance and theatrical performances. Winners in the biggest contests received the title of “sacred victor” (ἱερονίκης), which often entailed privileges in the host city, and even honorary citizenship. The prizes for the most important contests (which together formed the περίοδος) were mainly symbolic, as the real reward was the recognition of having achieved victory and becoming a ἱερονίκης. Lucian of Samosata jokingly refers to this situation.

Luc.Anach.9. Trans. A. M. Harmon: Ἀνάχαρσις τὰ δὲ ἆθλα τίνα ὑμῖν ταῦτά ἐστιν; Σόλων Ὀλυμπίασι μὲν στέφανος ἐκ κοτίνου, Ἰσθμοῖ δὲ ἐκ πίτυος, ἐν Νεμέᾳ δὲ σελίνων πεπλεγμένος, Πυθοῖ δὲ μῆλα τῶν ἱερῶν τοῦ θεοῦ, παρ᾽ ἡμῖν δὲ τοῖς Παναθηναίοις τὸ ἔλαιον τὸ ἐκ τῆς μορίας. τί ἐγέλασας, ὦ Ἀνάχαρσι; ἢ διότι μικρά σοι εἶναι ταῦτα δοκεῖ; Ἀνάχαρσις οὔκ, ἀλλὰ πάνσεμνα, ὦ Σόλων, κατέλεξας τὰ ἆθλα καὶ ἄξια τοῖς τε διαθεῖσιν αὐτὰ φιλοτιμεῖσθαι ἐπὶ τῇ μεγαλοδωρεᾷ καὶ τοῖς ἀγωνισταῖς αὐτοῖς ὑπερεσπουδακέναι περὶ τὴν ἀναίρεσιν τῶν τηλικούτων, ὥστε μήλων ἕνεκα καὶ σελίνων τοσαῦτα προπονεῖν καὶ κινδυνεύειν ἀγχομένους πρὸς ἀλλήλων καὶ κατακλωμένους, ὡς οὐκ ἐνὸν ἀπραγμόνως εὐπορῆσαι μήλων ὅτῳ ἐπιθυμία ἢ σελίνῳ ἐστεφανῶσθαι ἢ πίτυϊ μήτε πηλῷ καταχριόμενον τὸ πρόσωπον μήτε λακτιζόμενον εἰς τὴν γαστέρα ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνταγωνιστῶν.>

Anacharsis Ah, and what are the prizes, now? Solon At Olympia a wreath of wild olive, at the Isthmus one of pine, at Nemea of parsley, at Pytho some of the God’s sacred apples, and at our Panathenaea oil pressed from the temple olives. What are you laughing at, Anacharsis? Are the prizes too small? Anacharsis Oh dear no; your prize-list is most imposing; the givers may well plume themselves on their munificence, and the competitors be monstrous keen on winning. Who would not go through this amount of preparatory toil, and take his chance of a choking or a dislocation, for apples or parsley? It is obviously impossible for anyone who has a fancy to a supply of apples, or a wreath of parsley or pine, to get them without a mud plaster on his face, or a kick in the stomach from his competitor.

An important ἀγών, as with any other big festivity, was the perfect occasion for the gathering of all sorts of people (showing the persistence of the connection between the meaning of “games” and that of “gathering”). Dio Chrysostom perfectly describes the composite attendance at the Isthmian games, in which one could find “crowds of wretched sophists”, “writers reading aloud their stupid works”, “jugglers showing their tricks”, “poets reciting their poems” or “fortune-tellers interpreting fortunes” (Dio Chrys.Or.8.9).

During Roman period the term ἀγών is still used to define the different typologies of competitions. An inscription from Ancyra (SEG6.59) contains a decree of a group of τεχνίται, who worship Dionysus Dionysus and the New Dionysus (Hadrian) as patrons. The decree mentions an ἀγών μυστικός, supervised by the agonothete Ulpius Aelius Pompeianus, which indeed seems to have been held in public, in the theatre of Ancyra. It was a competition to which various ἀγονισταί were invited and was presumably a religious drama, with the adjective μυστικός likely referring to the sacred dances performed in this play (Pleket 1965, pp. 336-337).

As Tim Whitmarsh points out, in Roman times the term comes to transcend the religious sphere (Whitmarsh 2001, p. 189). In the Lives of the Sophists by Philostratus, the author describes the rhetorical presentations as if they were agonistic competitions:

Philostr. VS601. Trans. W. Cave Wright: While he was on an embassy to the Emperor Severus at Rome, he entered the lists against the sophist Heracleides to compete in declamation (τὸν ὑπὲρ μελέτης αγῶνα), and Heracleides come out of the encounter with the loss of his privileges of exemption, while Apollonius carried off gifts.

The relationship of the term ἀγών to competition is confirmed by the very personification of the concept. In the sanctuary of Olympia, where Greece's most important and prestigious games were held, there was a statue of Agon. Pausanias, who visited the sanctuary, describes the figure as wearing halteres, which the athletes used in the long jump: "carrying jumping-weights, the shape of which is as follows. They are half of a circle, not an exact circle but elliptical, and made so that the fingers pass through as they do though the handle of a shield" (Paus. 5.6.3. Trans. W.H.S. Jones and H.A. Ormerod).

In the Bible the word ἀγών appears in the Septuagint in both the Old and New Testaments. As indicated in the >Historical and Theological Lexicon of the Septuagint Vol. 1 (p. 154), in the Old Testament, the term is used to define "a forced fight" (Isa. 7:13) and, in passages influenced by Hellenistic philosophy, it is related to "fight and suffering for the faith" (4 Macc. 15:29; Wis. 4:2).

In the New Testament, the term appears several times in the letters of Paul where it has two meanings. Firstly, it is used to refer to the "struggle" that the various communities had to undergo in order to keep the faith and is accompanied by appeals to unity in front of the enemies of Christianity (Phil. 1:30; 1 Tim. 6:12; Heb. 12:1) and, secondly, it appears to refer to the inner struggle that Paul himself has to face (Col. 2:1; 2 Tim. 4:7).

Biblioraphy

Amandry, Pierre and Spyropoulos, Theodore (1974), Monuments chorégiques d’Orchomène de Béoties, “BCH” 98.1, 171-246.

Bons, Eberhard (ed.) (2020) Historical and Theologial Lexicon of the Septuagint. Volume I: Alpha-Gamma, Mohr Siebeck.

Chantraine, Pierre (1968), Dictionnaire Étymologique de la Langue Grecque: Histoire de Mots, s.v. ago, Paris.

Ellsworth, James (1971), Appendix I, “The Etymology of Agón”, Agón: Studies in the Use of a Word.

Ellsworth, James (1974), ἈΓΩΝ ΝΕΩΝ: An Unrecognized Metaphor in the Iliad, “CPhil.” 69.4, 258-264.

Golden, Mark (2004), Sport in the Ancient World from A to Z, Routledge, London-New York.

Meier, Paul Jonas (1894), ἀγών, “RE”, 836-867.

Pleket, Henri (1965), An Aspect of the Emperor Cult: Imperial Mysteries, “Harv. Theol. Rev.” 58.4, 331-347.

Quesada Sanz, Fernando (2022), “Deportes” con armas entre la Grecia arcaica y helenística: algunas observaciones sobre el ἀγών, in: Gordillo Hervás, Rocío et al., Compitiendo para los Dioses: los Rituales Agonísticos en el Mundo Antiguo, Sevilla, 11-59.

Scanlon, Thomas (1983), The vocabulary of competition: agon and aethlos, Greek terms for contest, “Arete. The journal of sport literature (now Aethlon)” 1.1, 147-162.

Whitmarsh, Tim (2001), Greek Literature and the Roman Empire: The Politics of Imitation, Oxford.