In 2004, the city of Athens hosted the the Olympic Games. But the word 'games' almost trivializes the ancient concept of ag?n, which transcends sport, drama, war, and even philosophical debate. The ag?n deemed characteristic of ancient Greek culture has roots in 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 ag?n 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, Euripides, Plato, Aristotle, Theocritus, Callimachus, Diodorus, Porphyry, Nietzsche, and Burkhardt.

The volume puts into the spotlight overlaps and points of intersection between Plutarch and other writers of the imperial period. It contains twenty-eight contributions which adopt a comparative approach and put into sharper relief ongoing debates and shared concerns, revealing a complex topography of rearrangements and transfigurations of inherited topics, motifs, and ideas. Reading Plutarch alongside his contemporaries brings out distinctive features of his thought and uncovers peculiarities in his use of literary and rhetorical strategies, imagery, and philosophical concepts, thereby contributing to a better understanding of the empire’s culture in general, and Plutarch in particular.

This insightful Handbook reviews the key frameworks guiding political scientists and historians of political thought. Comprehensive in scope, it covers historical methodology, traditions, epochs, and classic authors and texts, spanning from ancient Greece until the nineteenth century.

A comprehensive study of how and why athletic contests, a characteristic feature of ancient Greek culture, disappeared in late antiquity.

Monumental survey explores regional variations, virtues, and faults of city-states, discusses the fine arts, examines poesy and music, and presents perceptive accounts of enduring Greek achievements in philosophy, science, and oratory. 80 photographs, 25 black-and-white illustrations.

Agon Culture offers an analysis of the human condition through an examination of the way in which the cultural ideology of competition operates as a mode of rationality that underpins the order of domination. By combining insights from Theodor Adorno's critical theory with a reconstruction of the philosophy of the agon, the book formulates a novel critical theory of cultural domination that offers insights into our "winner-loser" culture and a renewed intensity of its social Darwinist tendencies. Contrary to current evolutionary thinkers who understand competition as a biological drive, Agon Culture posits that competition is a powerful force that has a largely unrecognized and dangerous underside in its promotion of interpersonal conflict, war, and cyclical domination.

According to Roger Caillois, play is an occasion of pure waste. In spite of this - or because of it - play constitutes an essential element of human social and spiritual development. In this study, the author defines play as a free and voluntary activity that occurs in a pure space, isolated and protected from the rest of life.