Herodotus, Athletics, and the Democratic Ideal -- Mimetic Theory and Literary Study

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Date Posted: 19:27:26 04/20/08 Sun
Author: Cara
Subject: Herodotus, Athletics, and the Democratic Ideal

In his Histories Herodotus mentions athletic competition approximately eight times. The most significant of these is a story about Cleisthenes the tyrant to Sicyon, who holds a contest to choose a husband for his daughter. Now, Herodotus tells this story for the purpose of praising the Alcmaeonids, his favorite family of the Athenian aristocracy. The history of Cleisthenes and other tyrants reveals that the demagogue-tyrants of the early sixth century B.C. actually pioneered the movement of public athletic festivals -- besides the Olympics -- because they had the money to fund them. Cleisthenes' contest was particularly centered around wealth, because the only reason these men would want to marry his daughter is to inherit his wealth. But later, in the other accounts of athletics, Herodotus uses the Greek atheltic traditions to illustrate the democratic ideals of disinterested pursuit of honor.

He fits the two incompatible entities -- tyranny and democracy -- together in order to conform to the sentiments that were popular during his time.

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