The Agon: A Culture of Contests and Competitive Excellence
The ancient Greeks were the first culture that truly celebrated competition. Here are their timeless lessons about competitive excellence.
The glory that was ancient Greece was created through competition.
“A fetish for competing; a pervasive, abrasive eagerness for outdoing the opposition in any field of human endeavor: is this what ultimately explains ‘the glory that was Greece’ – the cultural bundle of literature, science, philosophy, mathematics, art, and architecture, which even by Vergil’s time was acknowledged as something special?” - Nigel Spivey, The Ancient Olympics
We’ve come to know ancient Greece mainly through its cultural influence on the modern world. Her literature, art, politics, philosophy and architecture remain foundational influences on the history of the west and the entire world.
But what most people don’t realize is that these enduring wonders were created through a focus on competition. In fact, the ancient Greeks were arguably the most competitive people of all of history. They were the first culture that truly celebrated competition.
Nigel Spivey, British classicist and author of The Ancient Olympics, highlights this important point. He talks about ‘a pervasive, abrasive eagerness for outdoing the opposition in any field of human endeavor.”
We want to emulate the ancient Greeks and their unique culture. They were products of a culture of competitive excellence. This culture transcended sports to include all their creative, political and military endeavors. The Greeks' creative and performance results were fueled by contesting and challenging each other and themselves.
As leaders focused on personal growth we can be inspired by the ancient Greeks by embracing and creating our own culture of competitive excellence. This culture needs to be infused with a mindset that seeks growth and high performance through struggle with the opposition: ourselves and others.
Although the athletic contest was the emblematic manifestation of Greek competitive excellence, we will see that this agonal spirit took on a variety of forms throughout Greek society. We will examine non-athletes, ranging from philosophers to artists to warriors, to see how pervasive and all-inclusive the culture of competitive excellence was. We will see how this competitive ethos uniquely shaped Greek culture and forms the ancestral basis for our striving and pursuit of excellence. But first, let’s look at some definitions.
Agon: The Contest to be the Best
An important ancient Greek word to add to our modern lexicon of high performance is agon(es).
In modern English we have multiple words to describe the fruits of the Greek competitive spirit. We speak of the Olympic “games,” artistic “festivals” for tragedies and music, philosophic “debates,” political “trials” and warrior’s (hoplites) “battles.”
But for the ancient Greeks all these concepts were explained by one word: agon (ἀγών), and in plural agones. In Greek, the Olympics are called Olympiakoi Agones (Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες). Our modern translation calls these ‘Games,’ but as we will see this description is not accurate enough. In English agones has been translated to contests but conflict, struggle and match have also been used.
The great tragedies of Sophocles, Aeschylus and Euripides were all products of dramatic festivals. Each participant hoped to walk off with a prize as a result of competing with other writers. What we think of as a creative and artistic festival was described by the Greeks as contests of struggle: agones.
The main point here is that the ancient Greek word describes outdoing the opposition to be the best. The settings may display physical prowess, creative ingenuity or intellectual superiority. But they are all fueled by an antagonistic spirit to struggle with and contest the opposition to win the prize.
The modern English language has inherited several words from the ancient Greek concept of agones. Agony, Antagonistic and Protagonist all derive from agones. A deeper look at the meaning of these words helps inform us of the key elements of competitive excellence.
Agony is defined a physical or mental pain or suffering.
Antagonistic means showing or feeling active opposition.
Protagonist can be best explained as the chief actor or champion.
Combining these modern definitions, we see the notions of suffering, active opposition and main actor or champion. This etymological exercise begins to give us the depth and complexity of the word and what it meant to the ancient Greeks.
The Real Meaning of Protagonist: Art and Drama as Competition
Every talent must unfold itself in fighting: that is the command of Hellenic popular pedagogy. . . . And just as the youths were educated through contests, their educators were also engaged in contests with each other. The great musical masters, Pindar and Simonides, stood side by side, mistrustful and jealous; in the spirit of contest, the sophist . . . meets another sophist; even the . . . drama was meted out to the people only in the form of a tremendous wrestling among the great musical and dramatic artists. . . .”Even the artist hates the artist.” . . . The Greek knows the artist only as engaged in a personal fight. [My emphasis]
— Friedrich Nietzsche, “Homer’s Contest”
Contesting others, in friendly and not-so-friendly strife, was pervasive in ancient Greek society. Let’s explore how artistic creators went head to head to contest each other for a prize.
Nietzsche accurately assessed the unique ancient Greek institution of competition.
One of Nietzsche’s earliest essays is called “Homer’s Contest. In this essay he discusses and advocates creative forms of striving found in ancient Greece. For Nietzsche, the Greek’s culture of competition was generative producing great philosophy, drama, music and art.
So much of Greek social life was fueled by a relentless pursuit of competitive excellence. Pericles, the famous Athenian statesman during the Peloponnesian war, confirmed the competitive spirit also pertained to social pursuits. Speaking to his fellow Athenians he said
“When our work is over, we are in a position to enjoy all kinds of recreation for our spirits. There are various kinds of contests (agones) and sacrifices regularly throughout the year.” - Thucydides 2:38, translation Rex Warner
The theater was another venue for the Greek competitive spirit. The Athenians had a festival called the Great Dionysia in honor of the Greek god Dionysus. This was an annual festival displaying tragedies and comedies. Here, in the ninth month of the Athenian calendar, playwrights competed against each other. These creative competitions were held in outdoor theaters. One estimate has it that these theaters held up to 17,000 spectators.
Paul Cartledge, classicist known for his books on Sparta, sheds light on the surprising competitive nature of these dramas. Far from being a safe, relaxed environment for these thespians to express their creative inspiration, ancient theater was a platform for competition. Take a look at all the elements of a Greek tragedy:
The lead actors in tragedies were known as protagonists. This Greek word literally means “first competitor.” The two support actors were called ‘’second,” and “third competitors.”
“Central to the plot was the agon or debate, in whose resolution lay the core drama.”’
The protagonist of the tragedy “did not only compete metaphorically with the plays he acted…he alone was eligible to compete literally for the acting prize.”
There was also a competition between choregoi - who were known as the chorus masters or directors.
And finally, there was competition between the plays or groups of plays, which were judged by a democratic procedure.
– from Greek Religions and Society, chapter 5 - The Greek religious festivals, Paul Cartledge
This emphasis on competition by actors, chorus directors and playwrights may seem strange and a bit excessive to our modern sensibilities. Surely those of us who have been to a Broadway play in New York City or a show at London’s’ West End district didn’t think of competition as we enjoyed a creative experience.
But to the Greeks this was quite normal.
Of course, they would agree that only one protagonist should receive the acting prize. At their Olympic festival only the winner received a prize.