1. Welcome…
Wesleyan
Live,
Spring
2011
Friendship
and
Poli9cs:
Ancient
Prac9ces
and
Modern
Habits
Session
IV,
February
22

2. The
“Kings
of
Contest”
• “…it
has
become
axioma8c
to
think
of
ancient
Greek
society
in
terms
of
compe88on”
(Elton
T.E.
Barker,
Entering
the
Agon)
• “…the
Greeks
delight
in
compe88on…”(Charles
Segal,
“Spectator
and
Listener,”
The
Greeks)
• By
the
fourth-­‐century,
“…in
Athens,
democracy,
jus8ce,
and
compe88on
complemented
each
other.”
(Joseph
Roisman,
“Rhetoric,
Manliness
and
Contest,”
A
Companion
to
Greek
Rhetoric)
Ques8ons,
comments,
email
Mel:
mluetche@nebrwesleyan.edu

3. The
Agon
Αγων
–
an
opposi8onal
prac8ce
that
demands
a
binary
structure
(i.e.,
“us”
v
“them”,
win
or
lose,
‘yay’
or
‘nay’):
from
“gathering”
“compe88on”
“contest”
“argument”
to
“assembly”
“…the
Greeks
delight
in
compe88on
because
they
structure
so
many
of
their
gatherings
as
contests…”
Ques8ons,
comments,
email
Mel:
mluetche@nebrwesleyan.edu

4. Types
of
“DelighWul”
Contest
From
formalized
and
ritualized
athle9c
contests
(i.e.,
the
Games)
to
formal
or
incidental
poe9c
contests,
recita9on
contests,
oratorical
contests,
tragic
and
comedic
theatrical
contests,
to
local
board
games,
cock
fights,
wrestling
matches,
gymnas9c
contests,
horse-­‐
racing
contests,
and
beauty
contests…
Compe88on
is
so
fundamental
to
an
ancient
Greek
“comba8ve
approach
to
social
rela8onships”
(Nicholas
Jones,
Poli=cs
and
Society
in
Ancient
Greece)
Ques8ons,
comments,
email
Mel:
mluetche@nebrwesleyan.edu

5. What
about
war
(polemos)?
“war
appears
to
be
a
specific
mode
of
conflict,
of
agon
–in
fact
the
most
extreme
one”
(Claudia
Barrachi,
Of
Myth,
Life,
and
War
in
Plato’s
Republic)
AND
“…the
spirit
of
Strife
that
set
city-­‐states
against
each
other
was
simply
one
aspect
of
a
much
vaster
power
at
work
in
all
human
rela8onships
and
even
in
nature
itself”
(Jean-­‐Pierre
Vernant,
Myth
and
Society
in
Ancient
Greece)
So
is
nature
agonis8c?
Is
compe88on
natural
to
human
beings?
Ques8ons,
comments,
email
Mel:
mluetche@nebrwesleyan.edu

6. Criteria
of
Agon
A
genuine
agon
must
illustrate
four
criteria:
1) A
worthy
field
(who
is
“worthy”
to
compete?)
2) A
prize
(arete;
originally
exists
in
a
cycle
of
kudos-­‐kleos)
3) Mutually
acceptable
judges
4) An
audience
Ques8ons,
comments,
email
Mel:
mluetche@nebrwesleyan.edu

7. Exemplary
Agon
–
The
Iliad
The
Iliad
exhibits
a
new
type
of
ruling
authority
in
Athenian
legend
(contra
Mycenean
“palace-­‐culture“).
Archaic
Greece
(circa
9th-­‐6th
centuries)
is
ruled
by
“warrior-­‐aristocrats”
(i.e.,
like
Achilles,
Odysseus,
Diomedes,
etc.)
who
manifest
a
compe88ve
ethos
supported
by
a
sense
of
equality.
They:
-­‐speak
to
and
debate
with
one
another
as
a
“group
of
equals”
(homoioi)
and
-­‐display
the
“goods”
of
baile
(i.e.,“booty”)
“in
the
middle”
of
the
group
Ques8ons,
comments,
email
Mel:
mluetche@nebrwesleyan.edu

8. Koinon
–
A
“common
right”
in
the
model
of
“Warrior-­‐Speech”
“In
warrior
assemblies,
speech
was
a
common
right,
a
koinon
set
down
“in
the
middle.”
Each
individual
could
exercise
this
right
when
his
turn
came,
with
the
agreement
of
his
peers.
Standing
at
the
center
of
an
assembly,
an
orator
found
himself
equally
distant
from
all
his
listeners,
and
each
listener
found
himself…
in
a
posi8on
of
equality
and
reciprocity
vis-­‐à-­‐
vis
the
speaker”
(Marcel
De8enne,
Masters
of
Truth,
99).

9. The
compe88ve
ethos…
“This
egalitarian
spirit
at
the
very
heart
of
an
agonis8c
concep8on
of
social
life
is
a
dis8nguishing
feature
of
the
Greek
warrior-­‐
aristocrats,
and
it
played
a
part
in
cas8ng
the
idea
of
power
in
new
terms”
(Vernant,
p.
47).
-­‐openness
in
public
spaces
-­‐speakers
in
the
Assembly
occupy
“the
middle”
-­‐the
poli8cal
“right”
of
stasis
(civic
strife)
Ques8ons,
comments,
email
Mel:
mluetche@nebrwesleyan.edu

10. Poli8cs
too
had
the
form
of
agon…
“an
oratorical
contest,
a
baile
of
arguments
whose
theatre
was
the
agora,
the
public
square…Those
who
contended
with
words,
who
opposed
speech
with
speech,
became
in
this
hierarchical
society
a
class
of
equals…all
rivalry,
all
eris,
presupposes
a
rela8onship
of
equality:
compe88on
can
take
place
only
among
peers”
(Vernant,
46-­‐7).
Ques8ons,
comments,
email
Mel:
mluetche@nebrwesleyan.edu

11. Equality
and
Agon
• Contests
determine
winners
and
losers;
are
they
(s8ll)
“equal”?
• How
does
an
aristocra8c
value
evolve
to
a
democra8c
value?
• Can
anyone
contend?
(i.e.,
who
is
a
“ci8zen”?)
• The
“common
good”
is
determined
by
who
wins?
Ques8ons,
comments,
email
Mel:
mluetche@nebrwesleyan.edu