Heather L. Reid, John Serrati and Tim Sorg (eds.), Conflict and Competition: Agon in Western Greece, Parnassos Press – Fonte Aretusa, 306 pages. ISBN-10: 1942495358, ISBN-13: 978-1942495352.
This volume considers agōn from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, with a special emphasis on Western Greece – the ancient Hellenic cities of Sicily and Southern Italy.
In 2004, the city of Athens hosted the Olympiakoi Agōnes, the Olympic Games. But the word ‘games’ almost trivializes the ancient concept of agōn, which transcends sport, drama, war, and even philosophical debate. The agōn deemed characteristic of ancient Greek culture has roots in the eris (strife) illustrated in Homer and Hesiod and debated in the metaphysics of Heraclitus and Empedocles. It reverberates throughout philosophy, drama, history, poetry, art, and even the 19th century reception of Greek culture. This volume considers agōn from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, with a special emphasis on Western Greece – the ancient Hellenic cities of Sicily and Southern Italy. Authors discussed include Heraclitus, Pythagoras, Empedocles, Euripides, Thucydides, Plato, Aristotle, Theocritus, Callimachus, Diodorus, Porphyry, Nietzsche, and Burckhardt.
Essays contained in the book include:
-Rebecca H. Sinos, The Ultimate Prize: An Orphic Image of Victory
-Parrish Elizabeth Wright, Identity and Agōn: Locri after the Battle at the Sagra
-Tim Sorg, Syracuse City of Unwilling Immigrants: A Comparative Approach to Competitive Advantage
-John Serrati, Agōn Sikelia: The Hannibalic War and the (Re)Organization of Roman Sicily
-Federico Casella, Conflict and Opposition: Pythagorean Strategies for the Construction of an Identity
-Drew A. Hyland, Heraclitus: Paradigms of Polemos, Eris, Agōn, Paidia
-Eva Anagnostou-Laoutides, A Toast to Virtue: Drinking Competitions, Plato, and the Sicilian Tyrants
-Stephen M. Kershner & Audrey L. Anton, The Ancient Hellenic Virtue of Success
-Eleni Kornarou, The Agonistic Element in Euripides’s Hippolytus
-Paolo Babbiotti & Luca Torrente, Euripides’s Trojan Women: A Critique of Asymmetric Conflict?
-Richard Stoneman, Giants or Science: Cosmic Strife, Mount Etna and Aetna
-Flora P. Manakidou, The Geography and Mythology of Athletics in Callimachus
-Ippokratis Kantzios, Theocritus Idylls 11 and 6: The Limitations of the Natural Landscape
-Ewa Osek, Agōn, Agonistic Imagery, and Agonistic Argumentation in Porphyry’s De Abstinentia
-Karen Sieben, Empedocles: Nietzsche’s Failed Reformer
-Tobias Joho, Burckhardt and Nietzsche on the Agōn: the dark luster of ancient Greece
