MYTHOLOGY AND REALITY OF OLYMPIC AGON OF ANCIENT GREECE IN THE ROMAN ERA

Abstract

The aim of the research: to identify changes in the nature of relationship between mythological, religious and social aspects in the sphere of agonistics in Ancient Greece in the Roman Era. Methods and research: Analysis of literature and written sources on the history of ancient agonistics. The result of the study is the determination of the specific traits of agonal traditions of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. The article explores the sacral and secular aspects of the traditions and rules of antique agon. The Author shows a change in their ratio in Ancient Greece in the Roman Era. The paper focuses on the process of transformation of the sacral and secular content of agonistics and a variety of agon in Ancient Greece in the Roman Era, which is characterized by the clash of Hellenic and Roman agonal traditions. One of the most significant phenomena in the ideological life of that period was the cult of the Emperor, which was the official political religion of the Roman Empire. The Emperor’s cult with agon as one of the rituals became widespread in the western and eastern provinces including Greece. Greece had the status of "Achaea Roman Province" at that time. The Author describes the events that took place in Olympia and other religious centers of Ancient Greece at that time. Conclusion: Agonist features of the period were determined by changing the ratio of religious and social components of agonistics and transforming agony as a religious ritual into a spectacle that was widely used for political purposes.