This volume originates from a conference held at the University of Mannheim from 25 to 27 June 2022, and gathers a series of studies (in English, German, French and Italian) dedicated to the complex relationship between the material rewards athletes could earn from their victories and the honour that accompanied them. The chronological scope is broad, spanning from the archaic period (including Homeric funeral games) to the imperial Roman era.
The ambivalent relationship between prizes (or money) and honour is the subject of various opposing viewpoints. Traditionally, it was believed that in the archaic period athletes came from wealthy and aristocratic families and competed for the honour that victory bestowed upon them, as suggested by the epinician odes of Pindar and Bacchylides. This interpretation is reinforced by the fact that victory in the four stephanitai games (the periodos consisting of Olympia, Delphi, Isthmus and Nemea) did not provide material prizes but only a simple wreath. Over time, however, the progressive professionalisation of competitions led to the massive entry of athletes from various social classes, who made a living from sports, thus deriving material profit from their victories.
That the traditional perspective is flawed is shown, first of all, by the example of the Homeric poems, where the aristocratic funeral games for Patroclus – attended by the elite of Greek heroes – include a meticulous listing of the prizes awarded, which become a precious tool for recognition and self-celebration. Building on studies such as those by H.W. Pleket (‘Games, Prizes, Athletes, and Ideology. Some Aspects in the History of Sport in the Greco-Roman World’, Stadion 1 [1975], 49–89) and C. Mann (‘Cash and Crowns. A Network Approach to Greek Athletic Prizes’, in: M. Canevaro, A. Erskine, B. Gray and J. Ober [edd.], Ancient Greek History and Contemporary Social Science [2018], pp. 293–312), contemporary scholars increasingly believe – and this volume explores the issue in-depth – that money and honour were part of the same conceptual system. Material prizes were tangible markers of the recognition athletes received upon returning home and of the honour that endured for generations.
The impact of individual athletic victories on cities is clearly analysed in two contributions by T.H. Nielsen, ‘On the Pursuit of Athletic Glory by the poleis of Late-Archaic and Classical Greece’, and G. Mouratidis, ‘Money, Honor, and Athletics in the Hellenistic polis’. Nielsen illustrates how poleis greatly benefited from the prestige brought by athletes’ victories and thus developed policies to claim an athlete’s glory for themselves, providing material rewards such as money, valuable prizes or special privileges to incentivise athletes’ continued participation. Cities also became promoters and sponsors of competitions with increasingly rich prizes designed to attract the best athletes. Mouratidis explores this phenomenon in the Hellenistic era, when cities imposed strict regulations on the recognition and prizes athletes could receive from their victories to highlight their involvement in the winner’s glory. Starting in the fourth century bce, cities instituted the office of agonothetai, private citizens responsible for organising and financing athletic competitions. Begass, in ‘“Großzügig”, “Gerecht” und “vielfach geehrt”? Zur Selbstdarstellung der Agonotheten in Hellenismus und Kaiserzeit’, examines how agonothetai participated in the ‘economy of sports’, gaining prestige and advantage from athletes’ victories.
It should be noted that the landscape of gymnic competitions was broad and diverse, not only in the variety of prizes (either material rewards or simple wreaths) but also in the regional diversity of competition programmes. In the most compelling chapter of the volume, ‘Sport and Prizes in Archaic and Classical Greece: Funeral Games and the Great Panathenaia’, Z. Papakonstantinou sheds new light on the multiplicity of funeral games celebrated from the archaic period onwards. The Homeric example of Patroclus’ funeral, with its rich prizes, finds precise counterparts in material evidence, especially large bronze vessels inscribed with references to funeral competitions, attesting to the widespread popularity of such events alongside the institutionalised poleis competitions. The prizes awarded in both contexts grew significantly over time, as demonstrated by the Athenian Panathenaic Games, where the famous amphorae filled with oil more than doubled from the archaic to the Hellenistic period to attract ever more talented athletes. Rich prizes often had long lifespans, passing from generation to generation before being dedicated at a sanctuary or used as a new prize for subsequent competitions. This aspect is further examined by A. Dhenain, in ‘L’argent dans la motivation des athlètes gymniques à l’époque hellénistique’, who emphasises how the prizes won had limited economic value since they could not be resold but possessed strong symbolic and prestige-related significance, even though they did not fully compensate athletes for the expenses they incurred for travel, training and celebrating their victories.
A critical aspect examined in A. Neumann-Hartmann’s contribution, ‘Ehre und Siegespreise in der Agonistik des 5. Jahrhunderts v. Chr. – Die Perspektive der Epinikien’, concerns the representation of athletic prizes in the epinikia of Pindar, Bacchylides and Simonides. These victory odes primarily commemorate the wreaths awarded in the four major contests, but they also reference the material prizes granted in lesser competitions, recorded within victory catalogues. The prestige associated with such rewards, extending to both the victor and his family, becomes an integral theme of the epinician ode, with poets actively seeking to partake in the glorification of athletes’ triumphs. Notably, as observed by Papakonstantinou, epinician odes are conspicuously silent regarding the diverse traditions of funeral games, which, despite their significant role in the athletic landscape, are absent from victory catalogues, meriting further scholarly inquiry.
The contributions of Tentori Montalto, ‘Geld und Ehre in der Selbstdarstellung der Athleten in der Kaiserzeit’, and M.L. Caldelli, ‘Denaro e simboli della vitoria nell’agonistica di epoca romana: Dialogo tra immagini e fonti scritte. Un caso studio: Il mosaico degli aurighi di Ostia’, further illuminate the status of prizes in the Roman imperial era, wherein monetary rewards had reached considerable sums, frequently provided by athletes’ native cities. Such prizes had become so integral to an athlete’s prestige that they were often visually represented, as exemplified by the mosaic in the caldarium of Ostia’s Imperial Palace. This artwork depicts victorious charioteers displaying palm branches, wreaths and a money pouch as emblems of their triumphs.
The volume presents a rigorous examination of the long-standing scholarly discourse concerning the equivalence between athletic glory and material rewards, situating this inquiry within broader economic structures associated with competitive athletics. An athletic victory, in fact, activates a wide range of economic dynamics, including the professional training of athletes under specialised coaches, the substantial financial commitments required for maintaining stables, the costs of travel and accommodation at competitive venues, and the intricate patronage networks that emerged between victorious athletes’ families and individuals responsible for commemorating their achievements, namely poets, sculptors and the artisans who made the dedicatory steles.
Although this latter dimension is somewhat underexplored within the volume, it remains fundamental to the construction of an athlete’s kleos, as noted by Neumann-Hartmann. Earlier scholarship, particularly the seminal analyses of L. Kurke (‘The Economy of Kudos’, in: C. Dougherty and L. Kurke [edd.], Cultural Poetics in Archaic Greece. Cult, Performance, Politics [1993], pp. 131–63; and The Traffic in Praise. Pindar and the Poetics of Social Economy [1991]), has demonstrated that the epinician ode, through its precise manipulation of language and metaphor, reveals the intricate economic relationships underpinning athletic success. These poetic strategies often obscure or refine the material realities of athletics, contributing to earlier misinterpretations of competitive victory as a purely ‘aristocratic’ pursuit that diminished its financial implications. Furthermore, the tripartite relationship between patron, city and athlete, previously examined in S. Hornblower and C. Morgan’s volume (Pindar’s Poetry, Patrons, and Festivals. From Archaic Greece to the Roman Empire [2007]), provides the framework within which the equivalence between prizes and honours is fully realised. Only through the public display of monetary rewards or prizes could an athlete achieve the renown he sought.
While the volume spans a broad chronological range, from Homeric athletics to Roman imperial competitions, this extensive scope risks conflating distinct historical contexts. Although material prizes consistently served as markers of prestige, the socio-political structures surrounding archaic-era tyrants and aristocrats differ substantially from those governing the professional athletes of later periods, such as the charioteers depicted in Ostia’s Imperial Palace mosaic or the agonothetai of the Hellenistic era.
Despite these limitations, the volume constitutes a valuable and original scholarly resource, presenting insightful case studies that address topics frequently overlooked in previous scholarship. These investigations are supported by meticulous engagement with literary, epigraphic, documentary and iconographic sources. In this regard, the work provides a crucial contribution to the study of ancient athletics, further elucidating the extensive economic networks that sustained competitive sports. By integrating material rewards into the broader framework of kleos and social recognition, the volume effectively underscores the pivotal role of prizes in shaping an athlete’s enduring legacy.
