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International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research ISSN 2348-3164 (online)
Vol. 3, Issue 3, pp: (101-105), Month: July - September 2015, Available at: www.researchpublish.com

Agn or Certamen? A Philosophical Analysis of

the Greek-Roman Agonistic Paidia and Its
Influence on the Conception of Contemporary
Sports
Emanuele Isidori1, Francisco Javier Lpez Fras2, Rafael Ramos Echazarreta3
1,2,3

Laboratory of General Pedagogy, University of Rome Foro Italico, Italy

Abstract: In ancient Rome, Greek agnes were never widespread. This is evidenced by the fact that the word agn
never actually found a counterpart in the Latin language. Instead, the Romans used the term certamen, which does
not have the same exact meaning as the Greek word it replaces. In Rome, certamina were mostly considered
performances in which the athlete was nothing more than a performer-actor (or actress, because some authors talk
about women who appeared in struggles and competitions fighting other women) and not an athlete in the strictest
sense. Participants in certamen were often criminals and thugs (or prostitutes). They competed in the stadium
during the day and were hired to carry out killings in some slum of the city at night. Using this historical
background as a starting point, the purpose of this study is to identify the philosophical bases of the Roman
certamen system and to compare them with those of the Greek agonistic system. The Latin word certamen
relates to the idea of earning the approval of a crowd by prevailing in a fight against others who are considered as
enemies (the concursus). From a philosophical point of view, the word certamen refers to conceptual, political,
educational, and aesthetic categories completely different from those of the Greek agn. The concept certamen
refers to an individualistic dimension not communitarian of aesthetic, visual, and communicational attributes
which can also be found in contemporary sports. By using a philosophical hermeneutic approach, and by making a
comparison between the Greco-Roman athletic paidia and contemporary sport, we argue that, first, in the
conceptual history of sports there has always been a tension between the two philosophical and ethical poles
represented by agn and certamen. Second, we argue that this tension can also be found in the conception of
contemporary sport. To conclude, we argue that by understanding the agn-certamen couple, one can arrive at a
clearer and less reductive interpretation of both the main philosophical and cultural meanings of contemporary
sports and the pedagogies by which, nowadays, sports are inspired.
Keywords: agn, certamen, hermeneutics, education, contemporary sports.

I. INTRODUCTION
The main goal of our study is to demonstrate that the contemporary sport culture has been influenced by two conceptions
of competition whose roots can be found in Greek and Roman culture. These two notions of competition are: agn and
certamen (whose plural nouns are agones and certamina, respectively). The history of both Greek-Roman sports and
modern-day sports can be explained by using the conceptual couple agn-certamen. However, this is not a work in sport
history. Rather, we look at ancient and contemporary sports through a philosophical lens. In so doing, we reflect, by
means of a hermeneutic method, on how ancient philosophy of sport and philosophy of physical activity influences our
conception of sport. Our hermeneutical analysis of ancient sports has a practical aim, which is to understand how to apply
the main values found in ancient sports to the arena of sports education in order to better our sporting world.

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International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research ISSN 2348-3164 (online)
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In so doing, we assume that, despite all the apparent cultural ruptures that occurred in the Middle Ages, there is a clear
continuity between ancient sports and contemporary sports; both eras are part of the same historical continuum since they
share some key components and ideas that we highlight in this work. In fact, we employ a hermeneutical methodology
because hermeneutics is the philosophical approach that most emphasizes the embeddedness of all our ideas and practices
within tradition:
A reflection on what truth is in the human sciences must not try to reflect itself out of the tradition whose binding force it
has recognized. Hence, in its own work, it must endeavor to acquire as much historical selftransparency as possible. [I]t
has to try to establish a new relation to the concepts which it uses. It must be aware of the fact that its own understanding
and interpretation are not constructions based on principles, but the furthering of an event that goes far back. Hence, it
will not be able to use its concepts unquestioningly, but will have to take over whatever features of the original meaning
of its concepts have come down to it (Gadamer, 1978, p. xxiii).
Gadamers rehabilitation of tradition as a necessary philosophical category helps us reinterpret modern-day sports by
linking them to both their ancient cultural roots and their social and cultural context. After all, according to Gadamer, we
need to understand the original meanings of the concepts we use and learn how they have come down to us in order to go
beyond them. Our contemporary conception of sports has not been created in a void, but rather it is a blend of ancient
philosophical ideals, modern principles, and our circumstance as citizens of modern liberal-democratic societies. Should
we want to better our sporting world, we first need to understand its philosophical, cultural, and social foundations.
Generally speaking, three main differences are identified as key to distinguish between Greek sports and their Roman
counterpart. The first difference is that whereas Greek sports were regarded as contests and as intrinsically related to play,
in Rome, sports were conceived of as games. Second, participants in Greek sports were free men, whereas slaves starred
in Roman sporting contests. Third, in Greece, sports were an integral part of the educative system, while in Rome, they
were part of a superficial culture of spectacle and violence. The three key differences between Greek sports and Roman
sports are partly correct and partly incorrect. We explain why this is so in what follows.

II. THE PROBLEMATIC INTRODUCTION OF THE GREEK AGONISTIC SPIRIT IN ROME

Greek agones were not widespread in ancient Rome. For example, there is no Latin counterpart of the Greek word
agn. Romans used the term certamen to refer to the Roman athletic contest, which has a meaning different from that
of the Greek word agn. Only Cicero, creator of the literary and philosophical language of Rome, used the term
certamen with the same meaning as the Greek word agn. For Cicero, like the Greeks, the term certamen referred to a
competition or a contest that involved a physical confrontation between bodies. In contrast, for Roman authors such as
Livy or Quintilian, certamen had a meaning related to war and battle. Certamen, understood from the perspective of the
concepts of war and battle, is a duel in which two people have a confrontation. Certamen is part of a battle (pugna), which
is, in turn, a part of the war (bellum).
The word certamen comes from the Latin verb cernere, which means: to consider, to measure, to compare, and to think
about something carefully before making a decision or developing an opinion. All of these meanings come down to the
idea that certamen is related to the careful assesment of a situation, person, or problem in order to make a judgment. In the
case of certamen, the situations, the people, and the problems that need to be assessed are related to deciding, in terms of
skills and strength, who are the most gifted competitors and the just winners of the contest.
It is worth noting that Cicero introduced the term disputatio when he created the technical language of Roman
philosophy based on the Greek language. In Ciceros Tusculanae disputationes, the disputatio was a type example of
philosophical contest based on reasoning and developed upon the basis of the dialogic model of Greek philosophy. Thus,
for Cicero, the term disputatio referred to a philosophical contest as opposed to a physical one. A disputatio is a
confrontation, a mental certamen. Conversely, todays Italian use of the term disputare refers to the participation in
competitive sports matches or championships, that is to say, disputare refers to physical challenges. This shows that
although Cicero used the word certamen to translate the Greek word agn, he deliberately neglected the connection
between agn/certamen and the Greek sport culture. In Ciceros translation, the reality of agn is reduced as it is only
related to philosophical contests. This reduction of the term agn is due to the fact that Cicero was mirroring a
widespread attitude among Roman intellectuals of his time.

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In Ciceros time, Roman conservative intellectuals believed that the political decline of Greece was a consequence of the
agonistic and sportive element in Greek culture. For example, the poet Ennius regarded the exercises practiced in the gym
and athletes nakedness as examples of moral outrage and moral corruption. For Tacitus, the paideia based on gymnastics
and on agnes, resulted in a type of education that corrupted the youth. By engaging in sporting activities, young
members of society developed no interest in military service and became effeminate. Lastly, the philosopher Seneca
criticized coaches who trained young people for agnes on the grounds that physical exercise exhausted the mind and
made people unable to engage in more serious studies. The Christian contempt for sporting activities is likely to have its
roots in the Roman hostility towards Greek agones. In alignment with the Roman reduction of agn to philosophical
contests, Christians reduced the nature of agn to its dimension of suffering and pain. In fact, agona agony was the
only word remaining in the Middle Ages among those connected to the word agn.
Not everybody in Rome rejected the Greek agonistic spirit. Rather, some important Romans tried to introduce agnes in
their society. For example, Augustus loved Greek agnes so much that, after his victory at Actium in 31 BCE, he
organized athletic games, called actia, in Nicopolis. Other Roman emperors included sports competitions in their public
festival and games. Among those competitions introduced by Roman emperors, we find the so-called Neronia introduced
by Nero, the emperor who wanted to be a Greek philosopher, and the agn Capitolinus, celebrated every four years within
the festival of the City. Emperor Domitian introduced the agon Capitolinus, which soon was added to the other prestigious
games of the so-called periodos. Domitian found an official space for athletic competitions in Rome, the square. In fact,
the name of one of the most famous squares of Rome, Piazza Navona, which follows the shape of the stadium built by
Domitian in 86 a. C., comes from the expression square in agone.
However, despite the apparent spread of agnes in Rome, the figure of the athlete, who starred in Greek agnes, always
had a bad reputation among the Romans. The agnes were mostly considered performances in which the athlete was just a
performer-actor (or actress, because some authors tell of women who appeared in struggles and competitions fighting
against other women) and not an athlete in the strictest sense. Moreover, athletes were often criminals and thugs (or
prostitutes) who, during the day, could be seen competing in the stadium and in the evening were hired to carry out
killings in some slum of the city. In sum, the public image of the athlete did not contribute in the popularization and
implementation of Greek agnes in Rome.
So far, we have provided a historical background to understand how agn was generally conceived in Rome. In the
second part, we identify the constituent elements of the Roman certamen system in order to compare it to the Greek
agonistic system. To do so, we will draw on two recent books about the nature of agn: Heather Reids Philosophy and
athletics in the Ancient World: Context of Virtue and Yunus Tuncels Agon in Nietzsche.

III. GREEK AGN VERSUS ROMAN CERTAMEN. A PEDAGOGICAL ANALYSIS

As we argue in the first section, our sporting tradition is an heir of Greek and Roman cultures. However, the two concepts
used to refer to sporting contests in Greek and Roman cultures express different meanings that are not comparable to each
other. To put it shortly, whereas the concept of certmamen has a strong and deep connection with military and warlike
contexts, the concept of agn has a communitarian and more pedagogical meaning, as expressed by its root * ag, from
which the Greek word agora square derives. By categorizing agn as communitarian and pedagogical, we mean that
the term agn refers to an activity in which citizens learn and embody the main skills, values, and principles of the
society they are part.
Roman sport activities were very similar to a circus, as professor Heather Reid argued. In this sense, certamen is a ludus,
that is, a spectacle in which actors-athletes act in physical performances and show their body and skills. Understood in
this way, certamen is more a game and a spectacle, and less a pedagogical activity. The spectacular nature of Roman
games contrasts with the pedagogical aspect of Greek agones. For Romans, agn was stupid because members of the
society were primarily soldiers and businessmen, and then citizens. Soldiers were forced to take long marches every day,
to use weapons and arms in fights and battles, and to fight in certamina, which were not a simulation of war but true
fights and battles in which the soldiers physical/sport skills allowed them to survive. This does not mean that certamina
were not sources of values for those who engaged in them. Rather, the values and principles expressed in Roman
certamina refer to the individual instead of to the community. Therefore, the main difference between agn and certamen
is that the latter is related to individualistic conceptual, political, educational, and aesthetic categories, while the former is

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linked to communitarian values and principles.
It might be true that the individualistic principles and values of certamen are in line with those that are the basis of,
nowadays, modern-liberal societies. However, communitarian values found in agn are more valuable from a pedagogical
standpoint. A clear example of this is that, whereas agn became a metaphor of dialogue and peaceful confrontation
among people to affirm their own virtues, values, and personal worth, certamen was intrinsically linked to violent
confrontation and war.
Despite being opposed to each other, agn and certamen blended when Greek culture and Roman culture merged in what
is called the Greco-Roman culture. In so doing, a constant tension between these two ancient ways to understand sports
arose. This is key to our debate because the constant tension between agn and certamen influences our contemporary
conception of sport, which is a result of the Greco-Roman culture. Contemporary sports, thus, are both certamen and
agn. This creates a constant tension between two opposing and ineliminable realities: that of the communitarian civic
education and that of the individualistic will to outperform the others and beat them in every possible field. The tension
between these two realities can be observed in every philosophical debate on sports, such as the debates on the
commodification of sports and on the technologization of sports. Table 1 shows some of the terms and concepts linked to
each of the two opposing dimensions of contemporary sports.
Table 1: comparison between agn and certamen

Sport as agn
1. communitarian
2. meeting
3. with
4. virtues
5. action
6. integration
7. spiritual
8. evaluation
9. honour

Same root
Action/performance evaluated in public;
Desire to achieve a goal and to show the
participants personal value and virtue;
Idea of discerning and deciding who is the
best competitor

Sport as certamen
1. individualistic
2. fight
3. versus
4. skills
5. performance
6.opposition
7. material
8. measure
9. money

IV. CONCLUSIONS
In the previous section, we argued that modern-day sports embody features of both certamen and agn. Sport is arguably
an agonal-certamen that embodies features of agn and of certamen, depending upon the context in which it is developed.
Agn and certamen represent two opposing and irreconcilable poles. The tension between the two opposing poles
generates the ethical and moral dynamics of sport and provides philosophers with opportunities for reflecting on sport and
its meanings.
From a pedagogical standpoint, it would be misleading to think that the agonal conception of sport is the right and most
appropriate view of sport and that the certaminal is the wrong view. From a philosophical standpoint, it is necessary to
embrace both realities of contemporary sports in order to build research tools to detect the role that the two different
conceptions of sport (agonal or certaminal) play, not only in the conception of sport by those practically engaged in
sports, but also in theoretical analyses of sports.
The reflection on the polarity agn-certamen is the point of departure to define the agonal pedagogy, which is a
theoretical and practical science of education that regards sport as a tool to help people - as individual subjects - show
their individual principles and values, which can be turned into social goods and social values useful to build better
societies and better communities. Social values and principles are transmitted through the individuals participation in
social practices. Likewise, social practices influence and shape some of the main values and principles of society. This is a
two-way relationship. This being so, society uses sport as a part of its educational system in order to educate and to
transmit values to new generations. The role of our pedagogical studies of sport is to learn how to shape sports in a way
that the values, norms, and rules transmitted through the practice of sports help people develop and improve themselves as
communities of peace and tolerance.

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What we have briefly presented here by analyzing the relationship between agn and certamen in Western sport culture is
just a starting point and a small scientific contribution that needs to be developed further through a deeper philosophical
study, as well as, through a practical pedagogical application.*
* Authors contribution. This study is the result of collaboration between the three authors. Their contribution can be
summed up as follows: Emanuele Isidori wrote abstract, chapter I and IV; Javier Lpez Fras wrote chapter II; Rafael
Ramos Echazarreta wrote chapter III.
REFERENCES
[1] Gadamer H.G., Truth and Method. New York: Continuum, 1975.
[2] Isidori E., Filosofia delleducazione sportiva. Roma: Editrice Nuova Cultura, 2012.
[3] Miller S.G., Ancient Greek Athletics. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2004.
[4] Reid H.L., Introduction to the Philosophy of Sport. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2012.
[5] Weeber K.W., Panem et circenses: Massenunterhaltung als Politik im antiken Rom. Mainz: Philipp von Zabern,
1994.

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