alexander's post-victory celebrations..

[sinhakumara]

Friends..here is one for you all...Alexander the great was in the habit of concluding all his victories with a big celebration of sports, games, music, dances..etc. How were these celebrations called in Greek..? or by others who had been decimated..?

[amyntoros]

Hi Sinhakumara and welcome to Pothos!

I think the following may offer a partial answer to your question, i.e., the Greek names for the sporting events. The following is from Winthrop Lindsay Adams' chapter, The Games of Alexander the Great which can be found in Alexander's Empire. Formulation to Decay. A Companion to Crossroads of History, edited by Waldemar Heckel, Lawrence Tritle and Pat Wheatley.

Regardless, one might conclude from the record that Alexander had little use, aside from the symbolic value, for the Olympics or any set of agona. Such a conclusion would be spectacularly wrong. The best source here, as usual, is Arrian. In the thirteen years of Alexander’s brief reign, not counting the funeral games he held for his father, nor the impromptu race in honor of Achilles Alexander and his philoi ran at Troy, nor those that were held for Alexander himself , Arrian records fifteen separate occasions on which Alexander mounted athletic competitions (agona gymnikon). Many of these were elaborate events that went on for days, and involved parallel competitions in drama (agona mousikon) or cavalry competitions (agona hippikon) or torch relay races (lampada). Though not counted among the fifteen agona reviewed here, on one occasion late in his reign, Alexander even staged a naval competition on the Euphrates as a training exercise, matching ships (triremes and quadriremes) as well as rowers and steersmen against one another. All of the other fifteen agona were in the context of religious sacrifices, as were the Olympics themselves (lest we forget). Indeed all of the entries in Arrian begin with a phrase like “Then Alexander held sacrifices according to his custom,” and go on to add that he put on athletic competitions and other events. The formulaic nature of these entries leads to the conclusion that Arrian has simply copied them out of entries from the Ephemerides, which would make them virtual fragments of the Royal Journal itself, and therefore amount to original sources.
Arrian notes that Alexander usually offered a sacrifice “after a successful event and also held athletic and dramatic competitions.” A closer examination of these fifteen occasions reveals a far greater differentiation. They fall into a number of categories, both in terms of the kinds of competitions Alexander held, and the reasons for which he held them. In all of them, athletic events were run, but the rest of the program varied according to circumstances.

I've always found this an interesting article.

Best regards

[sinhakumara]

very informative...thanks mate..! I am doing some digging on my own. and will surely update on the subject...!