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SPORT and DEMOCRACY in CLASSICAL ATHENS David M. Pritchard

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SPORT and DEMOCRACY in CLASSICAL ATHENS David M. Pritchard D. M. Pritchard, Antichthon 50 (2016) In Press SPORT AND DEMOCRACY IN CLASSICAL ATHENS David M. Pritchard Abstract: This articles addresses the neglected problem of elite sport in classical Athens. Democracy may have opened up politics to every citizen but it had no impact on sporting participation. Athenian sportsmen continued to be drawn from the elite. Thus it comes as a surprise that non-elite citizens judged sport to be a very good thing and created an unrivalled program of local sporting festivals on which they spent a staggering sum. They also shielded sportsmen from the public criticism that was otherwise normally directed towards the elite and its exclusive pastimes. The work of social scientists suggests that the explanation of this problem can be found in the close relationship that non-elite Athenians perceived between sporting contests and their own waging of war. The article’s striking conclusion is that it was the democracy’s opening up of war to non-elite citizens that legitimised elite sport. Zusammenfassung: Die athenische Demokratie hat zwar die Politik jedem Bürger zugänglich gemacht, hatte aber kaum eine Auswirkung auf die Teilnahme am Sport. Während nahezu der gesamten klassischen Zeit, blieb Sport ein Zeitvertreib für die Oberschicht. Daher scheint es zunächst paradox zu sein, dass Sport bei der Unterschicht hoch angesehen war und auch unterstützt wurde; der athenische dēmos (Volk) war sogar der Meinung, Sport sei eine gute Sache. Die politische Macht, die sie besaßen, ermöglichte es, dieses hohe Ansehen des Sports auch durch eine Politik, die Sport förderte, zum Ausdruck zu bringen. Und so wurde in den ersten fünfzig Jahren der Demokratie eine unvergleichbare Reihe von lokalen Sportfesten begründet, für die große Geldbeträge ausgegeben wurden. Sie verwalteten gewissenhaft die Infrastruktur, die die Sportfeste mit sich brachten, und beschützten die Athleten vor der öffentlichen Kritik, die normalerweise der Oberschicht und ihrem exklusiven Zeitvertreib entgegengebracht wurde. Sozialwissenschaftliche Untersuchungen legen nahe, dass die kulturelle Überschneidung zwischen Sport und Krieg diese Paradoxie erklären könnte. Im klassischen Athen wurden Spiele und Schlachten auf gleiche Weise beschrieben: Sie waren ag ōnes (Wettkämpfe), die ponoi (Mühen) und kindunoi (Gefahren) mit sich brachten; der Sieg hing in beiden ag ōn-Arten von der aret ē (Mut) der Wettkämpfer ab. Im sechsten Jahrhundert, noch vor der Entstehung der athenischen Demokratie, war Krieg größtenteils eine Angelegenheit der Oberschicht, während im nächsten Jahrhundert der Krieg eine umfassende Demokratisierung erfuhr. Dies führte dazu, dass die kulturelle Überschneidung von Sport und Krieg eine zweifache Wirkung auf die Stellung des Sportes in der Gesellschaft hatte. Mit der Schaffung eines staatlichen Hoplitenheeres und einer großen staatlichen Flotte wurde der Kriegsdienst auf alle sozialen Schichten ausgedehnt. In der athenischen Demokratie entschied die Reaktion der nicht elitären Bürger das Ergebnis sowohl bei politischen Debatten als auch bei dramatischen Wettkämpfen. Daher waren Redner und Dramatiker großem Druck ausgesetzt, die neuen Erfahrungen der Hopliten und der Schiffsbesatzung, die nicht aus der Oberschicht kamen, mit Hilfe von traditionellen moralischen Erklärungen für Siege im Sport und im Krieg darzustellen. Die erste Auswirkung dieses Demokratisierungsprozesses war, dass die Bürger der Unterschicht den Oberschichtensport eng mit der normalen und allgemein sehr hoch angesehenen Betätigung im Krieg verbanden. Die zweite Auswirkung war, dass der dēmos nun Erfahrung in etwas hatte, das dem sportlichen Wettkampf sehr ähnlich war. Das Ergebnis war, dass sie sich viel einfacher mit der * This article was first delivered as the N. Moraïtis Annual Hellenic Lecture for 2014. I sincerely thank the University of Adelaide for the invitation to deliver this important public lecture. It was also read, in 2014, at the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton), the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Toronto, in 2015, at the University of California (Berkeley) and, in 2016, at die Albert-Ludwigs Universität Freiburg and L’Université Toulouse – Jean Jaurès. For their helpful comments I am most grateful to those who heard it as well as Antichthon ’s two referees. The article was revised for publication, when I was, in 2016, a research fellow at L’Institut d’études avancées de l’Université de Strasbourg. All the Greek translations are my own. Tätigkeit der Athleten identifizieren konnten. Zusammengenommen erklären diese beiden Entwicklungen die Paradoxie des Elitensports während der athenischen Demokratie. Résumé: Si la démocratie athénienne a ouvert la politique à tous ses citoyens, tel n’était pas le cas des activités sportives. En effet, dans l’Athènes classique, l’athlétisme demeurait le privilège des classes supérieures, et il est par conséquent paradoxal que le sport ait été tenu en si haute estime et soutenu par les classes populaires. En fait, le dēmos (« peuple ») athénien voyait l’athlétisme d'un œil positif, et le pouvoir dont il disposait lui a permis d’instaurer des politiques favorisant l’activité physique. Ainsi, les 50 premières années de la démocratie ont vu naître un programme de festivals sportifs locaux sans précédent, nécessitant des dépenses importantes. De plus, les Athéniens géraient soigneusement leurs infrastructures sportives et protégeaient l’athlétisme de la critique publique généralement dirigée contre les classes supérieures et leurs passe-temps élitistes. Les recherches en sciences sociales suggèrent que les points communs entre le sport et la guerre pourraient expliquer ce paradoxe. En effet, les Athéniens de l’époque classique concevaient les jeux et les batailles de la même manière : il s’agissait d' ag ōnes (« concours ») impliquant des ponoi (« labeurs ») et des kindunoi (« dangers »). Pour eux, la victoire dans les deux types d’ ag ōn dépendait de l’ aret ē (« courage ») des concurrents. Au sixième siècle, avant la démocratie athénienne, la guerre était majoritairement une activité réservée à l’élite. C’est au cours du siècle suivant qu’elle a connu une profonde transformation, phénomène à l’impact doublement positif sur le statut de l’athlétisme. La création d’une armée d’hoplites et d’une vaste flotte publiques ont étendu le service militaire à toutes les classes sociales. Sous la démocratie athénienne, c’est la réaction des citoyens n’appartenant pas à l’élite qui déterminait les résultats, non seulement des débats publics, mais également des compétitions d’art dramatique. Par conséquent, les orateurs, comme les dramaturges, étaient soumis à d’importantes contraintes: il leur fallait concilier les nouvelles expériences des hoplites et des marins issus du peuple, et les explications morales traditionnelles de la victoire, dans les domaines du sport et de la guerre. Le premier effet de cette démocratisation a été l’association étroite par les classes populaires de l’activité sportive des classes supérieures à l’activité plus générale et hautement valorisée de la guerre; le second effet a été d’apporter au dēmos une expérience personnelle se rapprochant de l’athlétisme, permettant à la population de s’identifier aux athlètes et à leurs activités; enfin, l’association de ces deux phénomènes a donné naissance au paradoxe du sport d’élite sous la démocratie athénienne. 1. Introduction Athenian democracy may have opened up politics to every citizen but it had little impact on sporting participation. For almost the entire classical period athletics continued to be an exclusive pastime of the upper class. Consequently it is a paradox that sport was still highly valued and supported by the lower class. In fact the Athenian dēmos (‘people’) judged athletics to be a good thing. The political power that they had allowed them to turn this high evaluation into pro-sport policies. Therefore in their democracy’s first fifty years they created an unrivalled program of local sporting festivals, on which they spent a great deal of money. They carefully managed sporting infrastructure and protected athletics from the public criticism that was normally directed at the upper class and its exclusive pastimes. Social-science research suggests that the cultural overlap between sport and war could account for this paradox. The classical Athenians conceived of games and battles in identical terms: they were agōnes (‘contests’) that involved ponoi (‘toils’) and kindunoi (‘dangers’). For them victory in both ag ōn-types depended on the aret ē (‘courage’) of competitors. Page 2 In the sixth century, before Athenian democracy, war was largely an elite pursuit, but, in the next century, it underwent a profound democratisation. This ensured that the cultural overlap between sport and war had a double impact on the standing of athletics. With the creation of a public army of hoplites and a large public fleet military service was extended to every social stratum. Under Athenian democracy it was how audiences of non-elite citizens responded that determined the outcomes not only of public debates but also of dramatic competitions. Consequently speakers and playwrights were under great pressure to represent the new experiences of non-elite hoplites and sailors in terms of the traditional moral explanation of victory in sport and war. The first effect of this democratisation was that lower-class citizens closely associated upper-class sport with the mainstream and the highly valued public activity of war. The second effect was
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