HOMERIC AGON AND OLYMPIC AGONISTICS OF THE ARCHAIC ERA OF ANCIENT GREECE

Based on the analysis of the text of Homer's Iliad, data of Pausanias, fragments of the works of other ancient authors and modern research on the history of Ancient Greece, the article discusses the origin and development of ancient athletic agonistics. The author made an attempt to determine the continuity of the traditions of agonistic practice of the Mycenaean and Archaic periods. 

The research purpose is to identify the archetypal images, motifs and plots of the Homeric agon and describe the change in the meaning and functions of the athletic agon in the archaic era. 

Research methods. The work takes an interdisciplinary approach, which makes it possible to build socio-historical, cultural and sacred contexts in which the practice of the athletic agon of the Homeric and archaic periods of the history of Ancient Greece was carried out. The main research method is reminiscence as a way of studying an object. The analysis of fragments of the text of the Iliad, the texts of Pausanias and other ancient authors was carried out in order to identify the mythological essence and functions of the Homeric agon and the agon of the archaic period. The paper compares texts with related cultural and historical facts and data of modern research. 

The research results consist in the description of the Homeric agon and funeral games in honor of Patroclus in the mental and cultural context of the Mycenaean era. The author reveals the distinctive features of the athletic agon of the archaic era, which became the basis for the organization of pan-Greek games and a large number of local agons in Ancient Greece. 

Conclusion. Agons were part of sacred and civil practice both in the Homeric and Archaic periods. The modifications of the meaning and practice of athletic agon in the archaic period were due to changes in the mental sphere, the social structure associated with the formation of the phenomenon of the Greek polis. The formation of the polis led to profound changes in the religious sphere, during the archaic period there was the formation of pan-Greek religious centers, a special place among which is occupied by the Delphic sanctuary and Olympia. The notion of the ideal man also occupied a special place in the Greek mentality; in the Homeric and archaic periods it had significant differences. Researchers note the evolution of the aristocratic arete into the heroic one and subsequently into kalogatia. These changes determined the mental structure of the Greeks, which put forward athletic agonistic as one of the principles of Greek culture.

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