This chapter analyses how the ecumenical synods contributed to the organisation of the festival network. It first discusses their involvement in the organisation of individual agones. The sources indicate that there was a broad spectrum of synod involvement: the old, well-established agones probably did not require a lot of organisational assistance, whereas the organisation of some newly founded agones was entirely outsourced to one of the synods. Between these two extremes, synod involvement varied according to specific circumstances. Second, this chapter investigates how the synods helped maintain the festival network as a whole. Due to the combined experiences of their travelling members, they had a unique overview of the agonistic circuits and as such could provide valuable input when the festival calendar was reformed. Communication went the other way around as well: for instance, they communicated changes in schedules and imperial decisions to their members. In sum, the synods were the lubricant that kept the agonistic machine running. The synods were thus not simply a by-product of the ‘agonistic explosion’ of the Principate but rather a key factor that made it possible.

This chapter studies the presence and the activities of the ecumenical synods throughout the Roman empire during the second and third centuries ad, the heyday of Greek agonistic culture. First, it discusses synod presence in the core regions of the agonistic circuit by following in the footsteps of one of the greatest athletes of antiquity, the pankratiast M. Aurelius Asklepiades, who won almost all of the important agones in Italy, Greece and western Asia Minor. Next, the chapter moves to the more peripheral regions of the agonistic world: the circuits in the interior of Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, the Balkans and Gallia Narbonensis. From this geographical overview a picture emerges of two interconnected phenomena: the expansion of the agonistic network and the growing reach of the ecumenical synods. Moreover, throughout the agonistic world the two synods reveal a remarkable uniformity and a high degree of mobility. These observations form the basis of the discussion in Chapter 7.