download - IOA

can be considered as a vehicle for cultural alignment. The social
process, in which elements of two different cultures come into
contact and unify into a new and unique manifestation or appearance,
becomes easily apparent with regard to the Capitolia:
a Greek athletic festival in an otherwise Roman surrounding,
which was to bring about some striking peculiarities. Thus for
instance the choice of a Roman circus as an adequate venue for
the hippie competitions of the Capitolian Games attached to the
Agon Capitolinus a typical Roman trait within a Greek agonistic
framework.
To what extent Greek agonistic festivals in general and the
Olympic Games in particular had their impact on agonistic events
during the early centuries AD in Italy can be utterly investigated
and exemplified by Domitian's Capitolian Games, first instituted
in 86 AD in the capital of the Roman Empire.
28