‖ agon
(ˈægəʊn)
[Gr. ἀγών, orig. ‘a gathering or assembly’ (f. ἄγ-ειν to lead, bring with one), esp. for the public games; hence ‘the contest for the prize at the games,’ and by extension, ‘any contest or struggle.’ The pl. is usually in the Gr. form ἀγῶνες agones (əˈgəʊniːz).]
1. Gr. Antiq. A public celebration of games, a contest for the prize at those games; also fig.
| a 1660 Hammond Serm. (T.) Fit for combats and wrestlings and so came out to practise in these agones. c 1660 Sancroft Serm. (1694) 106 (T.) They must do their exercises too—be anointed to the agon and to the combat. 1846 Grote Greece II. ii. iv. 422 Those religious games or agônes instituted by Herakles. |
2. A verbal contest or dispute between two characters in a Greek play. Also transf.
| 1887 Amer. Jrnl. Philol. VIII. 197 The participants in an Agon are the Choros.., the two antagonists, the judge, and the clown. 1914 F. M. Cornford Origin Attic Comedy i. 2 What is now generally called the Agon, a fierce ‘contest’ between the representatives of two parties or principles, which are in effect the hero and villain of the whole piece. 1918 R. C. Flickinger Greek Theater & its Drama 41 The agon, a ‘dramatized debate’ or verbal duel between two actors, each supported by a semi-chorus. 1932 T. S. Eliot Sweeney Agonistes 23 Fragment of an Agon. |