Running for remembrance: The eleutheria of plataiai

Mann, Christian

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DOI:	https://doi.org/10.7146/classicaetmediaevalia.vi1.145228
URL:	https://tidsskrift.dk/classicaetmediaevalia/articl...
Weitere URL:	https://www.researchgate.net/publication/380845658...
URN:	urn:nbn:de:bsz:180-madoc-673138
Dokumenttyp:	Zeitschriftenartikel
Erscheinungsjahr:	2024
Titel einer Zeitschrift oder einer Reihe:	Classica et Mediaevalia
Band/Volume:	73
Heft/Issue:	Supplement 1
Seitenbereich:	43-65
Ort der Veröffentlichung:	Copenhagen
Verlag:	Museum Tusculanum Press
ISSN:	0106-5815 , 2596-7932
Sprache der Veröffentlichung:	Englisch
Einrichtung:	Philosophische Fakultät > Alte Geschichte, Archäologie (Mann 2011-)
Bereits vorhandene Lizenz:	Creative Commons Namensnennung 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0)
Fachgebiet:	930 Alte Geschichte, Archäologie
Abstract:	Plataiai is a lieu de mémoire, and the Eleutheria, an athletic agonheld every fourth year, played an important part in activating and reshaping the memory of the battle of 479 BC. According to Strabo, Plutarch and others, the agonhad been founded directly after the battle, but this is an invention; the earliest reliable evidence dates back to the third century BC. From this time onwards, the Eleutheriaformed an important event in the Greek agonistic system, the festival being attested in numerous agonistic inscriptions. In addition to the usual gymnic disciplines, a race apo tou tropaiouwas held, in which the contestants had to run a long distance of 15 stadia with heavy armour. Such a race was unique in Greek athletics, and Philostratos writes about a very peculiar rule: athletes who had won this race and tried to repeat their victory were killed if they failed. The Eleutheriarefer both to the battle of Plataiai and to the unity of the Greeks and are thus of crucial importance for the topic of this volume. This contribution collects the scattered evidence and discusses, first, the position of the Eleutheriain the system of Greek athletics and, second, the symbolic power of the peculiar hoplite race mentioned by Philostratos.