Musical Contest

Musical contests, or agones, : only held during religious festivals.

↳ they became cultural events in their own right → attracted musicians and spectators from all over the Greek world.

1. Athenian Panathenaia festival featured competitions for instrument-playing and poetry recitation.

2. The Dionysia festival included contests between groups of male singers to see who could best perform a dithyramb ( a merry hymn in honor of the god Dionysos ) but → women weren't allowed to compete in them.

In the early days of the competitions ↠ winners only received a crown and an ego boost for their talents.

• From the Hellenistic period onward ⇉ the rewards were upgraded to cash prizes.

These prizes were large enough for musicians to make a fortune, especially if they moved from festival to festival.