THE GREEKS AND GREEK CIVILIZATIONS

THE GREEK CIVILITION

THE TIME WE SHALL DESCRIBB as the period of the agon extends from the end of the Dorian migration almost to the end of the sixth century B. c.; it might well be called the Middle Ages of Greek history. The division is arbitrary, like all divisions, but will prove useful to us; we are obliged to organize our material and select categories as best we can. This period is generally characterized first by the alternating domination of the polis by aristocracy and tyranny; secondly, along with the firm belief in breeding, by the peculiar ideal of kalokagathia, the unity of nobility, wealth and excellence as the distinguishing mark of the Greeks, heralded by Pindar. The nobility reigned everywhere, even in the states that were not transformed by the Dorian migration. The right of the overlords was founded on superior blood, greater landed wealth, skill in arms, and knowledge of the sacrifices and the laws. The banausic, that is tilling the soil, crafts, shopkeeping, commerce and the like, was despised. The only occupation fit for a nobleman was the practice of arms or work for the games or

the state, not work concerned with the necessities of life. Masses yearning to be free were encouraged to emigrate to the colonies where they became aristocrats in their turn. This nobility was neither a scattered rural squirearchy (Junkertum) nor a military caste (Rittertum); it was more nearly comparable to the patriarchate in mediaeval cities, particularly the Italian - a social group living together in the city and taking an energetic part in its administration, while at the same time constituting its society; the ethos of the agon would have sufficed to unite such a group even in the absence of other factors. Tyranny, because of its utilitarianism, was inimical to the agon. Sparta too, with its austere Doricism, where the practice crystallized in a special way, stood apart from the rest of Greece; for here there existed no true society, but a conquering people ruling harshly, directing all their gymnastic and other activities to the practical aim of reinforcing their supremacy. Throughout the rest ofGreece things were quite different; the nobility were open-handed and pleasure-loving, chiefly concerned with maintaining fine horses and chariots, and this atmosphere was so marked and so pervasive that even a few tyrants (for instance Cleisthenes of Sicyon) found it necessary to lay claim to noble excellence and to imitate the agon, though of

course these are only exceptions that prove the ruleEducation in this society combined two aspects. One was the festivals, splendid ritual sacrifices, choruses and the dance, all linked with religion, which in its extension as myth was the starting point and root of all culture. The other was gymnastics; this was not the cause but the consequence of the agon, since personal competitiveness was no longer to be satisfied by training directed simply towards military efficiency. The aim was now to develop the body to the highest perfection of beauty, a purpose for which each individual had to submit to a methodical discipline just as severe as training in the arts, denying himself any personal manifestations of'genius'. Gymnastics, with all that belonged to it, was able to draw on the general conviction of the value of training, a conviction so powerful that the state had no need to take active measures (apart from building the gymnasia). This way of life left a strong and lasting imprint on Greek attitudes in general. Contempt for the banausic could never again be banished from the Greek mind and took root in the literature, despite some warnings, e.g. that of Phocylides l Ordinary people could hold this conviction even if they were not particularly wealthy; they might resemble

Xenophon who, in his deliberate return to the patriarchal ideal, is described as 'an excellent man in other respects too, and especially a lover of horses and hunting, experienced in warfare, pious and fond of sacrifices and skilled in interpreting omens' (that is, halfway to being a seer)2. Even at a relatively late date, outspoken praise of kalokagathia was possible in Athens: in a passage in Aristophanes' Frogs (718-37) the image of the old silver coinage, which was then yielding to bronze, is used for the well-born, virtuous, noble, just and excellent citizen, educated in the palaistra, in choruses and with music - though this is recognizably the kind of image which is only used when what is described is on the wane. In earlier times there had been complaints of the decline of the true agon, chiefly in Ionia and the western colonies; to have mock fights performed as a spectacle by slaves or paid entertainers. Only small free aristocracies could allow the expression of the will to self-distinction among equals before judges, who were elected or fairly chosen in some other way, and then only in a nation like the Greeks; the Romans, who differed from them chiefly in their dislike of anything 'useless', would never have developed this practice.While the agon soon gained ground and indeed became the paramount feature of life, gymnastics were both an alternative and, as we

have seen, an offshoot of the agon. The one is unthinkable without the other, although the gymnastic art too was credited to mythical inventors and founders; in any case, without the agon, gymnastics could never have become such a distinctive feature of the Hellenes' life. Competitive games were instituted everywhere, even in the smallest communities; the full development of the individual depended on his constantly measuring himself against others in exercises devoid of any direct practical use. It must, then, have become usual for freemen's sons to be handed over to the teacher of gymnastics, and to receive their entire education from him, apart from the instruction given by the lyre player and the grammarian. Only the fairly wealthy, however, could spend their whole life in this way, and only those of completely independent means could make thecities did their best to encourage the agon. Some set up prizes for their victors, no doubt to make the long and expensive preparation more acceptable to them by the prospect of a reward. Thus in Athens a law of Solon's decreed 500 drachmae for an Olympic champion, 100 for a winner at the Isthmian games and others in proportion. Perhaps Solon had political reasons for caring about the Olympic victories of his citizens who might otherwise have been too shrewd to take the trouble to compete

elsewhere - and thus thought it well to give some slight support to an enthusiasm that was already diminishing. The special chariot, built at public expense and maintained in Argos, was obviously intended to make it easier for any skilled horse breeder to compete at Olympia. A city might even build a stoa for a famous wrestler and pankratiast to practise in, as Aegion did for Straton who had won both events at Olympia on the same day. The honours even outlasted life itself and sometimes turned into a heroic cult for the particular champion. The smallest town would at least erect a monument to its Olympic victor. The people of Achaea gave a public funeral as the reward of valour to a man victorious on several occasions (it is true he had been killed in the Lamian War) according to the inscription on his statue by Lysippus. In the case of the famous four-horse champion Cimon of Athens, Herodotus (6.103) knows not only the site of his grave but also that his thrice-victorious horses are buried over the way from it. Cities that had been destroyed, or had lost their former status and independence through synoecism, still retained vitality through the memorytechnique it came to have great influence on the whole art of sculpture. In Athens the statue of Cylon was of bronze. Pausanias found

this honour surprising since Cylon had aspired to the tyranny, and explained it by his having been the handsomest of men and winner of the double race at Olympia as well as son-in-law to Theagenes of Megara (Pausanias 1.28.1). It is true this statue may have dated from a later time than Cylon's own, for it was not unknown for victors to be honoured retrospectively: thus at the 80th Olympiad a victor of the sixth was commemorated by his countrymen the Achaeans because the Delphic Apollo had commanded it (Pausanias 6.3.4). The statues were erected sometimes by the victors themselves, sometimes by their admirers or relatives; it might be their native city who arranged it either at the festival site or at home,I9 or again the authority in charge of the games. lO In any case the honour of having a statue was enormously prized and awaited with impatience. The Cyrenean Eubotas, who was informed of his Olympic victory before it occurred 'by the Libyan oracle', had his statue made in anticipation, and, having no doubt brought it along, was able to set it up on the very same day that he was proclaimed the winner (Pausanias 6.8.2). Milon of Croton is even said to have carried his own statue into the Altis (Pausanias 6.14.2). In the third

century it happened that a winner in the foot race at Olympia was awarded three statues for three victories.