Two new monographs from Franz Steiner Verlag offer diachronic syntheses on ancient Greek athleticism and the institutional structures that underpinned its festivals. The studies share a common rigorous methodology in historical research and are based on a meticulous analysis of an immense documentation consisting of literary, epigraphic, papyrological, numismatic and iconographic sources. The volumes are each supplemented by black-and-white and colour illustrations, synoptic tables, thematic maps, a glossary, a comprehensive bibliography and an index of the ancient sources.
However, the content of the two volumes addresses different themes, although they are both related to the field of sport in Greece: Mann investigates the role of sport and athletic agônes within Greek society from the Archaic period to the imperial era, treating athletic competition as a constitutive element of Greek communal identity, Begass’s study focuses on the political and institutional role of agonothesia.
The authors take clear positions on numerous contested issues, dismantling anachronistic interpretative frameworks and offering a diachronic synthesis grounded in rigorous methodology. In view of the breadth of themes addressed and the meticulous analysis of ancient sources and modern scholarship, the volumes constitute an indispensable contribution to the study of social and institutional aspects of agonism.
In the introduction, ‘Einleitung: die gesellschaftliche Bedeutung sportlicher Wettkämpfe’, Mann outlines the methodological premises and delineates the central themes of the study. Particularly noteworthy is his semiotic analysis of the terminology relating to sport and athletic contests in Greece.
Chapter 2, ‘Sportliche Wettkämpfe im antiken Griechenland: ein Überblick’, provides a systematic overview of gymnic agônes, their origins, their development across the classical and the Hellenistic periods, and their transformations under Rome. Mann considers the role of the ephebeia and the gymnasion, the formation of the athletes’ synodos xystike, the administrative structures underpinning the games and the individual athletic disciplines. The abundance of ancient testimony indicates the central significance of athletic agonism in Greek society. The evidence allows for the reconstruction of numerous athletic careers, organisational frameworks and even the financial burdens inherent in the preparation of competitions. Private letters preserved on papyrus offer rare glimpses into the everyday lives of athletes. Yet, despite the wealth of material, Mann emphasises that many aspects of the social function of sport remain inherently elusive. He calls for a rigorously scholarly approach, warning against the persistent tendency to project modern categories onto ancient evidence – projections responsible for distortions long entrenched in scholarship. Among these he includes the dichotomy between amateur (glory-oriented) and professional (materially motivated) athletes, a modern construct lacking ancient foundations. He also reassesses the relationship of sport to religion and warfare: although agônes formed part of religious festivals, athletic practice was not a cultic activity but functioned as a secular expression of religious sentiment. Similarly, the long-standing notion that Greek sport primarily served military training is rejected as untenable.
Chapter 3, ‘Die Grenzen der Teilnahme: Inklusion und Exklusion’, considers sport as an instrument in the formation of social hierarchies and as a medium through which Greek identity was articulated. Athletic practice served as a point of demarcation from non-Greek groups. While competition regulations often restricted participation to free men and, in some cases, just to citizens, Mann demonstrates that such exclusionary norms were neither immutable nor universally applied. They evolved in tandem with shifting concepts of Greekness. Athletic agonism could thus facilitate processes of ethnic integration: the Greek–‘Barbarian’ divide might be bridged by individuals with the resources and leisure required for training in the palaistrai. Criteria of inclusion were therefore both ethnic and socio-economic. Women and slaves faced more stringent restrictions, though exceptions – particularly in the imperial period – are attested. Mann’s discussion of age categories shows that these served not hierarchical but egalitarian purposes within the competitive framework.
Chapter 4, ‘Die Athleten als soziale Gruppe’ examines athletes as a social category, both in their self-perception and in their reception by wider society. Mann persuasively argues that the modern distinction between amateur and professional athletes is inapplicable to antiquity: athletic practice formed an integral component of Greek paideia. Accordingly, the term athlêtês did not denote a discrete social class. Even the synodos xystike, attested from the first century bce, is situated within broader Hellenistic and imperial associational culture rather than representing a corporate body of professionals. Mann discusses the poorly attested training practices, quotidian aspects of athletes’ lives and the cultural construction of the athletic body. A valuable excursus explores Christian attitudes towards athletic agonism, which were neither uniform nor static. While Christian athletes continued to compete in the early Empire – eliciting criticism from Church Fathers –, the Patristic tradition adopted athletic vocabulary for theological purposes.
Chapter 5, ‘Die Finanzen der Athleten’, analyses the economic dimensions of athletic careers. Mann systematically dismantles the modern prejudice that material gain from athletic success was considered dishonourable. From the earliest attestations athletic victories were associated with prizes – symbolic or substantial – that conferred both prestige and concrete benefit. Symbolic wreaths and valuable rewards were complementary rather than antithetical. In the imperial period, monetary unification contributed to the increasing monetisation of prizes. Honorific privileges granted by the polis combined social prestige with material advantage. Wealth and honours, Mann emphasises, were not opposing categories but mutually reinforcing expressions of social status.
Chapter 6, ‘Die Ehre der Athleten: soziale Herkunft und Aufstiegschancen’, examines the social origins of athletes and the potential for social mobility afforded by athletic success. Although the sources rarely specify social status, it is plausible that many athletes came from affluent families, despite diachronic variation – particularly in the Hellenistic and the imperial periods, when expanded possibilities for financing athletic careers allowed for broader participation. Athletic victories consistently yielded honours and material rewards, enhancing social standing. Nonetheless, athletes never constituted a socially homogeneous group nor sought to present themselves as such.
The concluding chapter 7, ‘Resümee: Agone, Athleten und die griechische Gesellschaft’, synthesises the principal findings. Mann discusses the origins and development of athletic agonism, its deep embedding in a competition-oriented society and the reciprocal influence between athletic practices and broader social, political and economic developments. He rejects the frequently asserted decline of post-classical athleticism: the durability of athletic disciplines and organisational structures, combined with their adaptability, ensured the survival of agonistic culture into late antiquity. On the debated relationship between sport and democracy, Mann denies any direct correspondence, though he suggests that the ethos of rule-observance and the internalisation of defeat may have contributed to conditions favourable to democratic behaviour. Sport also promoted both spatial and social mobility, thereby enhancing the adaptability and resilience of Greek political communities.
Begass reconstructs the history of the agonothesia, a public office of considerable importance for understanding the political, social and economic dynamics of Hellenistic and imperial poleis. Despite its significance, the agonothesia has not previously received a comprehensive diachronic study. Begass’s work fills this lacuna with methodological rigour and exhaustive analysis of a substantial body of evidence, consisting chiefly of inscriptions from Greece and Asia Minor dating from the mid-fourth century bce to the third century ce. The Athenian agonothesia, first instituted in the fourth century bce but not representative of broader patterns, is treated only marginally, as Begass deliberately adopts a wide spatial and chronological perspective. His reconstruction provides a vivid sense of festival organisation and of the socio-political implications of an office that, although elective, gradually assumed the characteristics of a liturgy.
In ‘Das Fest und die Stadt’, the introductory chapter, Begass discusses the centrality of agônes as markers of identity for poleis and koina. Athletic contests predominated, but literary, musical and dramatic competitions also formed part of festival programmes. Their organisation fell to a single individual or a small group of citizens – the agonothetai – appointed by the host polis, typically in conjunction with a panêgyris. These officials frequently bore not only organisational but also financial responsibilities. Begass examines the functions, socio-political implications and cultural significance of the agonothesia.
Chapter 2, ‘Der Agonothet im Stadion’, explores the juridical and administrative relationship between the agonothetes and the polis, investigating whether the office was elective or liturgical in nature. Although explicit legislative testimonies are lacking, Begass argues that each polis likely possessed a nomos agonothetikos regulating appointment procedures. In Athens and parts of Asia Minor the agonothetes was elected by the ekklesia, though the details of the voting process remain obscure. Begass discusses the distinction between archai (elective magistracies) and liturgies (obligations imposed on wealthy citizens for the benefit of the community), noting that in the Hellenistic and the imperial periods this distinction became increasingly blurred – a development aptly captured by F. Quass’s notion of ‘liturgical offices’. Thus, the elective character of the agonothesia – particularly in the imperial age – often proved little more than a formal veneer, given the small number of volunteers able to shoulder its substantial financial demands.
Epigraphic evidence allows for a detailed reconstruction of the agonothetes’ duties: the provision of prizes and victor statues, expenses for sacrifices and sacred banquets, remuneration of heralds, trumpeters and choruses, and the construction or repair of festival infrastructure. Financing mechanisms varied by polis, sanctuary and period, though private expenditure was almost certainly crucial. At the end of their term agonothetai were required to submit an apologia – a detailed report on their management of public funds – specifying revenues, expenditures and any remaining balance. The costliest items were typically the prizes awarded to victors. Further obligations included the appointment of assistants (mastigophoroi and rabdophoroi), supervision of the eisagogos and agoranomoi, the organisation of the theoriai and the krisis of competitors, whereby eligibility and age-class placement were verified.
During the festival the agonothetes wore the stolê porphyrea, a gold crown and special sandals – the insignia of office – and often held the prostasia, presiding over rites and ceremonies, delivering the opening address and overseeing the herald’s proclamation of civic honours. At the close of the festival the agonothetes was responsible for announcing the victors, awarding the prizes, commissioning their statues and publishing the apologia that made both his administrative integrity and financial generosity publicly known.
Chapter 3, ‘Der Agonothet in der Stadt’, examines the socio-political dimensions of the office within the civic community. Wealth was a decisive criterion, particularly in the imperial period, when many poleis struggled to meet the rising expenses of festival organisation and were compelled to rely on elite benefactors. Although explicit eligibility requirements are not preserved, it is reasonable to assume that the boulê and the ekklesia selected individuals capable of guaranteeing the financial demands of the office. Begass also investigates the phenomenon of female agonothesia, attested mainly in Asia Minor and neighbouring regions during the imperial period. These women – agonothetai – belonged to the same elite families that dominated public life. Their emergence is linked to the growing prominence of female priesthoods within the imperial cult: as both priestesses and agonothetai, they provided essential funding for festivals while reinforcing their families’ prestige. Begass interprets the unique Phrygian coin series (second–third centuries ce) depicting agonothetai as instruments of provincial elite propaganda.
The visibility inherent in the office explains why, from the Hellenistic period onwards, kings and Roman emperors sought to preside over festivals and to found new ones associated with their dynasties. In the imperial era poleis and private citizens multiplied the number of agônes in honour of the domus divina; for festival culture and the imperial cult represented almost the only remaining arena in which civic elites could exercise political agency. The close interconnection between agônes and the imperial cult underlies the development of female agonothesia.
In the concluding chapter, ‘Ergebnisse: Die Agonothesie in der griechisch-römischen Welt’, Begass summarises the results of the study, tracing the evolution and enduring prestige of the office from the fourth century bce to the third century ce. Despite its heavy financial and administrative burdens, the agonothesia remained highly esteemed, attracting civic elites, Hellenistic monarchs and Roman emperors alike for its potential to enhance visibility and political capital. Its socio-political function remained fundamentally consistent: it enabled office-holders and their families to secure lasting renown through honorific inscriptions and portraiture displayed in prominent public spaces – arenas extending beyond the polis and resonating on a panhellenic scale.
In sum, both Mann and Begass offer meticulously researched, methodologically rigorous studies that significantly advance the understanding of ancient Greek athletics and its integral relationship with social, political, and economic structures.
