ancient Greece Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cu ...

, an ''agonothetes'' (plural '; grc, ἀγωνοθέτης) was the president or superintendent of one of the sacred

Panhellenic Games Panhellenic Games is the collective term for four separate sports festivals held in ancient Greece. The four Games were: Description The Olympiad was one of the ways the Greeks measured time. The Olympic Games were used as a starting point, yea ...

. At first the person who instituted the games and defrayed the expenses was the ''agonothetes''; but in the great public games, such as the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...

and

Pythian Games The Pythian Games ( grc-gre, Πύθια;) were one of the four Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece. They were held in honour of Apollo at his sanctuary at Delphi every four years, two years after the Olympic Games, and between each Nemean and ...

, these presidents were the representatives of different states, or were chosen from the people in whose country the games were celebrated; thus at the Pythian Games at

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

ten ' were elected for four years to superintend the various contests. In English, by confusion with the native ''-s'' plural form, the singular ''agonothete'' and plural ''agonothetes'' are sometimes encountered.

Bibliography

Clément Sarrazanas, ''La cité des spectacles permanents : organisation et organisateurs des concours civiques dans l'Athènes hellénistique et impériale'', 2 vol., Bordeaux, Ausonius Editions, 2021, 990 p. (ISBN 9782356133977).

References

{{EB1911 article with no significant updates Ancient Greek titles Panhellenic Games