or **AGONOTHETES** (*ἀγωνιστής* and *ῥίπτης*), in *Grecian Antiquity*, was the president or superintendent of the sacred games; who not only defrayed the expense attending them, but inspected the manners and discipline of the athlete, and adjudged the prizes to the victors. But in the great public games, such as the Olympic, Pythian, &c., these presidents were the representatives of different states, or were chosen from the people in whose country the games were celebrated. They received the several titles of *ἀλεξανδρεῖα*, *βασιλεῖα*, *ἀρχιμύρια*, *δημοκράτεια*, *ἀναγκαῖα*, *ἀθλητέρα*; but Favorinus makes the distinction, that the term *ἀθλητέρα* was peculiar to gymnastic exercises, whereas that of *ἀναγκαῖα* might refer equally to musical contentions. They were also called *παράδοξος* or *παράδοξος*, from the rod or sceptre emblematic of their authority.