AGONO´THETAE
AGONO´THETAE (
ἀγωνοθέται) were persons, in the Grecian games, who decided
disputes and adjudged the prizes to the victors. Originally, the person who
instituted the contest and offered the prize was the
agonothetes, and this continued to be the practice in those games
which were instituted by kings or private persons. But in the great public
games, such as the Isthmian, Pythian, &c., the
agonothetae were either the representatives of different states,
as the Amphictyons at the Pythian games, or were chosen from the people in
whose country the games were celebrated. During the flourishing times of the
Grecian republics, the Eleians were the
agonothetae
in the Olympic games, the Corinthians in the Isthmian games, the Amphictyons
in the Pythian games, and the Corinthians, Argives, and inhabitants of
Cleonae in the Nemaean games. The
ἀγωνοθέται were also called
αἰσυμνῆται,
ἀγωνάρχαι, ἀγωνοδίκαι, ἀθλοθέται, π̔αβδοῦχοι or
ῥαβδονόμοι (from the staff they
carried as an emblem of authority),
βραβεῖς,
βραβευταί. [OLYMPIA, PYTHIA, NEMEA,
ISTHMIA.]
[
W.S]