Chapter 14 Without Dust
In: Politeia and Koinōnia
Author:
Thomas Heine Nielsen
Thomas Heine Nielsen
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Abstract
In ancient Greek competitive sport, an athlete could be crowned as victor even if he had not in fact defeated an opponent. This could happen, e.g., if nobody else registered for a competition, out of fear of a star or for other reasons. Such victories won against no opposition were described as won akoniti, “without dust”. “Dustless” victories were celebrated just as triumphantly as more regular victories, or even more so. Clearly, what mattered to Greek athletes was victory, not participation per se. This point is demonstrated by brief discussions of the careers of eight athletes known to have achieved victories without dust.