The stadium made of marbles was a site for athletic competitions like foot races, wrestlings, chariot races, and Pentathlon like long jumps, and religious procession up the Acropolis. The stadium is around 10 minute walk from the Acropolis.
Image on the left is the running race on the Panathenaic Stadium.
Greater Panathenaia was celebrated every 4 years in July. Summer festival celebrates Athenian's choice of Athena as their goddess. Competitions started with a huge procession ( begin at Dipylon Gate in Kerameikos, to Agora, and up the Acropolis). Stadium celebrated athletic competitions. Besides, Odeon of Pericles by theater of Dionysus celebrated poetry competition. Up at the Acropolis, the Greeks celebrated the religious dedication to goddess Athena.
Panhellenic Games were similar to Panathenaic Games but they were for all Greek-speaking people, not just the Athenians. There were four sites: Olympic games (Zeus and olive), Nemea (Zeus/Heracles and wild celery), Pythian games (Delphi, Apollo and laurel), Ishmian games( Ishmia, Poseidon, and pine). These games were celebrated every two or four years for all Greek participants.
Important idea figures:
Homer:
Stadium also celebrated the importance of Homer. The games lasted around 9 hours each, which sounded boring; but endorphin response, which is a happy hormone, was triggered in Greeks when the song and instrument were synchronized. Hence, the Greeks could enjoy their long games.
The Iliad song was sung at Panathenaic games to honor the heroes and encourage the Greek bonding for a common cause.
The Odyssey song was sung at Panathenaic games as well to encourage Greeks to develop themselves as individuals and what they could possibly do as individuals.
Nietzche's Agon:
Agon stands for the modern word 'agony', meaning 'pain'. Meaning of the word is to find out who you are and how far you can go through pain.
A hero in the image below has only one arm with his eyes full of determination. His body figures show that even though he lost one arm, he was still full of courage, and we could see it through his eyes. Nietzche inspired the agon concept of 'struggle, conflict, and contest' to connect with his ideas.
"You learn who you are by pushing yourself and finding your boundaries". This quote inspires me to challenge myself more as I tried to push myself through the uncomfortable times in my life.
Some examples of his ideas were seen through war (fight your best in the battle and find your limits to protect your country), athletic and creative competitions (try yourself out and see how much and how far you could go and find your boundaries on the way).
Philosopher Nietzche quoted, "Choose to live your life like tight rope where you must choose to stand, fall, or get off."This saying built on Agon's ideas of trying and pushing yourself during uncomfortable times to see how far you can get so you can do more and who you really are as an individual. I like how he used a tight rope as an example because tightrope needs our balance and determination to walk on and it could test our courage to go forward.
Philosopher Socrates followed the similar idea as Nietzche as he asked the Athenians questions and challenged their "say it out loud" thoughts to test themselves and help them understand themselves.
National Archeological Museum's object:
This object represents the concept ‘Agon’ that challenges struggles and physical/ mind contests in the Panathenaic games. The olive wreath was originally given to athletes in the Olympic Games. There would also be rewards of olive oil at the Panathenaic Games as olive was a highly important sacred tree to the Greeks with a dedication to goddess Athena.
I love the simplicity of the olive wreath crown as it was a special way to celebrate goddess Athena with the winners’ achievement at the Panathenaic and Panhellenic Games. I think that it was very meaningful to the athletes and the contest winners to receive this wreath as their honor. I like how the winner sculpture was depicted as showing his respect and pride for having his olive wreath on as he held it in a humble way.
Reflection:
My favorite memory of Panathenaic Stadium is how Nietzche's Agon ideas influenced the Greeks in self-acknowledgement by testing themselves to find out how far they can get in any form like athletic, creative, political,etc. I am very fond of his ideas to push yourself because I have always told myself to challenge my mind during the uncomfortable times. I found his inspiring idea to be motivating because it is still true and applied to our everyday lives today. It is also a key to success. Also, I like how the athletic and poetry competitions were arranged for the Athenians and Greeks to demonstrate their talents and push themselves and set boundaries like what Agona had influenced them. They got to try themselves out during these competitions, and I think it is very engaging. I hope I could meet the philosophers and listen to their teachings in person if I could travel back in time.
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