Tsurkan A.A. Agon as an Expression of the Competition Principle in Ancient Tradition

Abstract: The subject of the present research article is the phenomenon of agon (competition principle) from the point of view of the culture-historical approach. In particular, the author studies the dependence of the competition principle on the ancient archaic mythology as well as peculiarities of the Olympic religion that had been created thereupon. As the implementation of the competition principle in socio-cultural environment, the Greco-Roman agon tradition is being viewed from the point of view of socio-economic and political peculiarities of the ancient civilization, first of all, the key feature - ancient city-states called polises that had been created by the VIth century. The methodological basis of the research includes the method of ascent from the abstract to the concrete, the historicism principle and comparative analysis. The novelty and conclusions of the research are the following. As the implementation of the competition principle, agon appeared in the Greco-Roman tradition due to the peculiar nature of the ancient archaic myth and Olympic religion that eliminated dogmatized standards and regulation of individual behavior and therefore any limits of social activity. The motif of becoming a hero encouraged an individual to put forth super efforts towards free and honest competition for the purpose of achieving apotheosis. The absence of a developed thanatological aspect made an individual to try to achieve success in the sphere of the immanent. 

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