This well-produced volume publishes the papers of a conference held in Mannheim in 2015 based on the research project ‘The self-presentation of athletes in the Hellenistic period: social identities, political identities, ethnic identities'. This substantial volume is the first collective work dedicated to athletics in the Hellenistic world. Ancient historians, epigraphists, archaeologists and classicists collaborated and presented sixteen high-quality papers of varying length, in German and English, covering different perspectives of Hellenistic athletics.
The volume is not divided into thematic parts. At the beginning there are abstracts of the articles where the reader can easily observe the range of subjects that the work covers. All the articles have a good arrangement of headings and sub-headings and end with concluding remarks, followed by a bibliography. Some articles include helpful maps, tables, charts and photographs.
The work aims to reveal the development of athletics in the Hellenistic period (i.e. their reorganisation, their use by kings and civic elites, the emergence of professional associations of athletes, the improvement of athletic venues) and their social, economic and political implications. Dealing with a neglected area of research, it presents new approaches to and perspectives of Hellenistic athletics and habits. This becomes clear in M.’s introductory chapter, ‘Sport im Hellenismus: Forschungsstand und Forschungsperspektiven’. M. discusses the present status of research and the problems that researchers have to cope with. He also gives an overall picture of the main topics and perspectives of the individual papers.
The next paper by T.H. Nielsen, ‘Reflections on the Number of Athletic Festivals in Pre-hellenistic Greece’, is primarily an account of the pre-Hellenistic athletic environment as revealed by the religious festivals of the late Archaic and Classical periods. The article underlines the continuity of athletic practices and the existence of a lively athletic activity prior to the Hellenistic period.
The continuity of athletics is also demonstrated by O.M. van Nijf and C.G. Williamson in ‘Connecting the Greeks: Festival Networks in the Hellenistic World’. The authors demonstrate the diachronic popularity of athletic festivals from the Archaic and Classical to the Hellenistic and Roman periods. In the Hellenistic era large-scale festivals, new events and practices were introduced contributing to the consolidation of relations among the Greeks in the extended Hellenistic world. Moreover, the paper moves a step further and examines how the Romans used the network of festival connections that existed in the Hellenistic period to establish their own power and the role of network agents (theoroi, ‘athletes’) in this process.
Athletics in the late Hellenistic Greek world is the topic that B. Fauconnier covers in ‘Athletes and Artists in an Expanding World. The Development of Ecumenical Associations of Competitors in the First Century bc’. Fauconnier shows how the emergence and establishment of Roman power in the Mediterranean brought changes in athletic life. He illustrates how the regional associations of athletes and artists of the Hellenistic period gradually acquired an ecumenical character (from Italy to Asia Minor) and to what extent the political, economic and cultural milieu that existed in the first century bc in the Mediterranean contributed to an extended festival network.
Z. Papakonstantinou, ‘The Hellenistic Agonothesia: Finance, Ideology, Identities’, illustrates the institution of agonothesia, the use of athletics by civic officials and its socio-economic and political implications. The officials (such as the agonothetes or gymnasiarchs) were not considered only as financial contributors but also as civic and political agents of society. Papakonstantinou mentions the preoccupation of the elite with athletics as part of their ‘elite class identity’. The spreading of Hellenistic athletics, along with constructing and negotiating social values and identities (that were shaped through them), were crucial factors for the creation of the framework in which the civic offices were placed in the Hellenistic era.
E. Franchi, ‘Sport and War in Hellenistic Sparta’, adds a different view of Hellenistic athletics. She presents the relation between sport and war, from a literary perspective, focusing on Sparta and its wars. She discusses the blending of the vocabulary that refers to sport and war and in particular the use of agonistic terms in the description of the battles in some Hellenistic epigrams from the Anthologia Palatina. Franchi demonstrates the influence of earlier literary sources in the language of the epigrams.
M. Mathys, ‘Athleten im Gymnasion von Pergamon’, considers one of the most prominent civic institutions that was linked with athletic activities, the gymnasion. In Hellenistic times the gymnasion was introduced in the landscape of the polis and was a location where the statues of victorious athletes were erected. The paper focuses on the representation of athletes’ statues in the gymnasion of Pergamum. Mathys examines how the statues and the inscriptions on the statue bases reflect the athletes’ identity, honorific practices and the values of the polis in the late Hellenistic and early Imperial periods.
In ‘Victories and Virtues: The Epigraphic Evidence for Hellenistic Athletes as Models of arete’, A. Argyriou-Casmeridis investigates athletes as examples of virtue in the ancient sources. The unexpectedly small number of epigraphic attestations of victorious athletes as models of virtue motivated Argyriou-Casmeridis to find out the reason for this habit and the role of those who were considered civic paradigms of virtue. She focuses on honorific decrees and demonstrates that in Hellenistic poleis the agonistic spirit moves from the palaistra and stadion to the field of civic life. Wealthy citizens who funded the maintenance of athletic activities or the sporting venues compete with each other for public recognition. Argyriou-Casmeridis observes that civic officials could be examples of arete, ‘athletes of virtue in a metaphorical sense’.
K. Weber, ‘Athletendarstellungen in der hellenistischen Grabkunst – Überlegungen zum Stellenwert der Athletenrolle in der Polisgesellschaft’, takes a different approach to athletics. She presents the way in which deceased athletes are depicted in grave reliefs from different parts of the Greek world. By analysing the grave reliefs, she shows the information that derives from them. They presented the qualities of the athlete, but also reflected the society, habits, practices and the athletic and educational environment of each polis.
Next S. Scharff, ‘Das Pferd Aithon, die Skopaden und die πατρὶς Θεσσαλία. Zur Selbstdarstellung hippischer Sieger aus Thessalien im Hellenismus’, focuses on the self-presentation of Thessalian winners diachronically. He points out that a strong and wealthy Thessalian aristocracy already existed in the first half of the third century bc. The Thessalians were horse-owners and breeders and had exceptional success in the Panhellenic games. In this period the victors’ fame extended to the whole region and not to their cities alone. At the beginning of the second century bc the wars diminished the wealth of the Thessalian aristocracy and thus limited the opportunity for victory in the Panhellenic games. Scharff illustrates how this development influenced the agonistic culture of the region and demonstrates the self-presentation and the differentiations of Thessalian athletes of the Archaic and Classical periods from those of the Hellenistic era.
F. Daubner, ‘Agone im hellenistischen Nordgriechenland’, deals with the cities of Epirus and Macedonia, which were, at least from the fourth century bc, part of the Panhellenic cultic network. Adducing epigraphic sources, Daubner illustrates the athletic tradition of these regions and discusses to what extent the cities of northern Greece participated in the sporting culture and in the developments in athletics during the Hellenistic period. Moreover, Daubner examines how athletics were carried out in northern regions and the role of politics in this context.
S. Sansom, ‘Contests and Clothing in Four Agonistic Papyri from Hellenistic Egypt’, presents a different insight into the games in the Ptolemaic kingdom. Analysing four papyri of agonistic context, he presents the ‘para-competitive’ events attested in the documents, but does not describe the contests as historical events; instead, he views them as places where a network of relations was created among the athletes, the audience, the benefactors and the officials. This paper illustrates a lively environment that functions within the framework of the athletic context, where different intentions, habits and behaviours of people are revealed.
B. Dimde, ‘Inszenierung von Läufern oder laufende Inszenierung – Stadien und Startvorrichtungen in hellenistischer Zeit’, focuses on the development of the stadion. Dimde points out, that although the stadion as an architectural form already existed in the Archaic and Classical periods, the growing popularity of athletics in the Hellenistic era created the circumstances for changes in its architectural form and in the facilities for the athletes. Dimde also illustrates the social and civic impact of athletic infrastructures in Hellenistic poleis.
F. Klauser, ‘Zur Aufstellungspraxis von Standbildern siegreicher Athleten in Athen in hellenistischer Zeit’, discusses the images of victorious athletes in the monuments and buildings of Hellenistic Athens. Klauser gathers information from the statues of victorious athletes, the location where they were erected, and the content and statements of the honorary inscriptions. He illustrates how they commemorate the deeds of the athlete, how they reflect Athenian identity and how this productivity of highly qualified athletes was perceived and contributed to civic stability.
A literary approach to athletics comes from L. Cazzadori, ‘Callimachus on Agones and Athletes’, who focuses on the Aetia of Callimachus. Cazzadori collects all athletics-related references and explores the extent to which the depiction of the athletic world in Callimachus’ works reflects the negotiation between the Greek cultural tradition and the Ptolemaic political agenda. Callimachus lived in the heyday of athletic and literary activity in Ptolemaic Alexandria. His work demonstrates the link of Greek mythology, tradition, rites and customs with the royal family and the promotion of Ptolemaic ideology.
The last article, by L. Kainz, ‘“We are the Best, We are One, and We are Greeks!” Reflections on the Ptolemies’ Participation in the agones’, investigates why the Ptolemies participated more than other royal Houses in the Panhellenic games. Kainz focuses mainly on the sources of the time of Ptolemy II who issued the ‘isolympic’ Ptolemeia. According to Kainz, the desire for glory and loyalty among their subjects, the promotion of cohesion of the royal family, and the declaration and recognition of their Greek origins by other Greeks are the main motives for the Ptolemies’ participation in the Panhellenic games.
This outstanding collection of papers covers a wide range of topics and a variety of perspectives on Hellenistic athletics. The volume presents an insightful overview of the latest developments in the field of Hellenistic athletics and advances research in this area. It will be a useful source of information for scholars of Greek athletics.
