How Sacred were the Sacred Games? Seeking out their Cultic Functions

Abstract

In modern scholarly work, the most important agones of Greek antiquity are commonly referred to as Sacred or Holy Games. But how can such a characterization be justified: only by the mere fact that those contests, albeit secular, took place within the programme of religious festivals or rather by the cultic character of the contests themselves, actually being sacred ceremonies? The article seeks to address the question whether the ancient sources can attest actual cultic functions of the contests – and comes to a negative result.