The Agōn in Classical Literature

The multifaceted agōn – a ‘contest of words’ – is a force formulating classical literary tradition. This book reflects on facets of the agōn and its representations in classical literature across a variety of genres and ideological contexts, from Homer to lyric poetry, drama, law, rhetoric and historiography, and the pivotal role of competition in ancient Greek thought. It sketches out key lines of inquiry pertaining to the study of the agōn as a literary, structural and dialectic form, as a means of authority and power, and as a competitive element in poetic diction and performance. Stimulating fresh discussions under a broad spectrum of theoretical and methodological approaches, this collection of essays explores the wide range of agonal dynamics, and their generic and cultural value.

Preface
Athanasios Efstathiou

Introduction
Ioanna Karamanou: The agōn in its literary and ideological contexts

I. The agonistic poetics of epos and early lyric, and their Hellenistic reception

Agonistic epic interactions: the appalling punishment of Odysseus’ servants in Odyssey 22
Ioannis Lambrou:

The agōn as literary motif in representations of the lyric poets
Theodora A. Hadjimichael

The poets’ voice against slander: Pindar (Pythian 2.53-6, 72-88), Callimachus’ Apollo Lyc(e)ius and other poetic ‘animals’
Flora P. Manakidou

The golden age and traces of iambic mockery in bucolic agōn
Ana Petkovic

II. Debates on stage

Agōn at play: rhetorical debate in Greek tragedy
Akrivi Taousiani

The dynamics of agōn in Sophocles’ Electra
Styliani Papastamati

Euripides’ agonistic rhetoric: the formal debates in the Alexandros
Ioanna Karamanou

A later treatment of the agōn-scene in Euripides’ Phoenissae
Georgia Xanthaki-Karamanou

The agōn in a modern Greek production of Aristophanes’ Lysistrata
Stavroula Kiritsi

The agōn in middle comedy
Athina Papachrysostomou

III. The notion of agōn in Greek thought and philosophical discourse

Agön of excellence in ancient Greek thought and literature
Ioannis N. Perysinakis

Anger in Socrates’ philosophy
Manuela Irarrazabal

Socrates’ combat against Proteus in Plato’s dialogues
Liana Lomiento

Agōn: an Aristotelian way of life
Maria Liatsi

IV: Agonistic Rhetoric

We are the champions: the role of agonistic metaphors in the political discourse of classical Greece
Jakub Filonik

Irony as a rhetorical tactic in Lysias’ dicastic agōnes
Eleni Volonaki

Brenda Griffith-Williams, ὁ γὰρ ἀγὼν οὐ μικρὸς αὐτοῖς, ἀλλὰ περὶ τῶν μεγίστων: competition for inheritance in ancient Greece

Iphigeneia Giannadaki, Mēden aprobouleuton? Dem. 22 and the management of the ekklēsia’s business

The agōn in Isaeus. A laudatio for Chris Carey
Mike Edwards

Christopher Carey – curriculum vitae

General Index