La cité des spectacles permanents. Organisation et organisateurs des concours civiques dans l'Athènes hellénistique et impériale

The place on earth where “spectacles are permanently held”: thus did the traveler Herakleides of Crete, amazed by his visit, describe Athens in the 3rd century BC. During this period, the city organized many artistic and athletic competitions, like those held during the City Dionysia and Panathenaia, whose prestige never waned throughout Antiquity,. This work offers for the first time a comprehensive study of the civic offices held by citizens chosen by the city specifically to oversee the organization and funding of these contests (e.g., the agonothesia, athlothesia and choregia of the Roman imperial period). The first volume collects ample documentation and provides detailed commentary on these offices, from the creation of the agonothesia in Athens at the end of the 4th century BC to its final attestations at the end of the 3rd century AD. The second volume constitutes a historical overview that defines this civic office from an institutional viewpoint, details its various practical duties and responsibilities, and analyzes the remarkable role and careers of the competitions’ organizers. By following the development of the agonothesia and its associated functions for nearly six centuries, this book serves as a study of Athenian competitions and their institutional framework, as well as a more general contribution to the history of Athens during the Hellenistic and Imperial periods.