interrupted the song of mourning. Solon had ordered moderation in these marks of sorrow, but it must have been difficult, if not impossible, to keep within bounds by any legal decrees the expression of wild despair, especially on the part of the women.

The custom of these funeral laments is a very ancient one. We find it universally adopted in the Homeric period, and here, too, in the form of responsions; the wail is heard at Troy by the corpse of Hector, as well as in the Greek camp by the bier of Achilles. We find the laying-out of the corpse and the funeral lament represented on a great many vase paintings, as, for instance, in the one depicted in Fig. 108. Here we see the dead man lying on a richly-decked couch, in front of which stands a footstool; he is enveloped in his mantle up to his neck, he wears a wreath, and his head rests on several cushions. In front of the couch and at the sides stand six women, all raising their arms with gestures of grief; some of them are touching their heads, as though to tear out their hair. A little girl in a similar attitude stands at the foot of the bed; on the right, turning away from the scene, stands a boy. Fig. 109 is similar. Here we see under the dead man’s couch his shield, helmet, and cuirass; of the wailing women, who are almost all tearing out their hair, one holds a lyre in her hand, and another a fillet; the former is accompanying the lament, the other is about to deck the corpse or the bier. The hot climate of the south generally necessitated limiting the duration of this ceremony to a single day, and, indeed, Solon expressly commanded that this should be done; only where special measures were taken for preserving the body was it possible to leave it for several days. Embalming was not customary in Greece; it was only when the corpses of those who had died in foreign lands were brought home to be buried, that they were placed in some substance to check the dissolution—for instance, in honey, as the Spartans did with those of their kings who died away from home.

The funeral usually took place in the early morning before sunrise, and throughout the whole of antiquity both burying and burning were common, sometimes subsisting side by side, while at other times one fashion or the other was more general. It seems as though burying had at first been more common among the Greeks than burning. It is true we find only burning mentioned in the Homeric poems, but we must not forget that we are concerned with exceptional circumstances in the Iliad, since the warriors who fell before Troy did not die at home; and in such cases, even in later times, burning was preferred, since it enabled the survivors to bring the ashes of the dead man home with them. Still, even in those early times, burying was very common, as is proved, in spite of the lack of literary evidence, by the ancient burial grounds discovered at many places in Greece; and similarly, in the historic period, the burning of dead bodies, though certainly practised, was not so common as burying, if only for the very practical reason that the latter was far cheaper and much less troublesome. Whichever form was chosen by the friends, or had been appointed by the dead man himself, the solemn funeral procession was never omitted; the crematoria, like the cemeteries, were outside the city gates, since at Athens, and probably in most Greek states, they were not allowed to bury their dead within the walls; the Doric states alone seem to have made an exception to this rule. A very ancient painted vase seems to afford a proof that it was customary in early times to convey the dead to the cemetery on a car drawn by horses, but in the historical age, at any rate, the corpse was taken to the grave on the same couch on which it had been exposed to view. This duty was generally performed by the slaves of the household, and where there were not sufficient of these, gravediggers were specially hired; while in the case of men who had deserved well of their country, the citizens regarded it as an honour to perform this duty themselves. If the dead man had died a violent death, a spear was carried in front of him, which pointed to the revenge to be taken; the spear was then fixed in the earth near the grave, and the nearest relation pronounced a curse against the murderer, after which the place was watched for three days. This did not, however, point to revenge on the part of the relations alone, but to the punishment to be inflicted by the legal authorities. As a rule, the male relations and friends walked at the head of the processions, and the women behind the corpse; but one of Solon’s ordinances limited the female followers to the nearest relations not extending beyond the nieces. Among the more distant relations, only women over sixty years of age were allowed to follow. This law does not, however, seem to have been quite strictly observed. All the mourners wore grey or black mourning; the nearest relations cut their hair off, for the custom of shaving the hair in case of death is a very old one, and even in Homer we read that the hair cut off was sometimes placed in the dead man’s hand. During the procession laments were again sung, and accompanied by the wailing tones of a flute; but here customs differed somewhat, and at Ceos, for instance, where the ordinances concerning burial, differing in many respects from the Attic customs, have been preserved to us, there were especial directions that the body should be carried out in silence. The dead man wore the clothes in which he had been laid out, but extravagance and excessive luxury necessitated some limitations by the law, so that Solon expressly ordained that the number of garments should not exceed three, and the above-mentioned ordinance allowed only one under garment, one cloak, and one pall or covering, the whole value not to exceed 300 drachmae, and also ordained that the couch on which the dead man was carried to the grave, and the other hangings or cushions, should not be burnt or buried, but brought back again.

There were various ways of burying the dead. If they were placed in a grave it was customary to make use of a coffin, which was let down into the grave by the bearers. We see this represented on the vase picture, Fig. 110. Two men, who look like barbarian slaves or men of the lower classes, are standing in the grave and holding up their hands in order to receive the coffin, which is carefully let down by two men of similar appearance; on the right and left stand weeping women. The coffins were sometimes made of wood, especially Cyprus wood, which was occasionally decorated with costly carving and painting; sometimes of clay, less often of stone, although stone sarcophagi have been found in Greece, but the custom of decorating their sides with sculptured pictures did not become common until the Roman period. The shapes of the

coffins differed; there were square box-like coffins, and also others of an oval shape, or pointed coffins, made of flat terra-cotta tiles. Poor people were generally buried in some common cemetery, in simple coffins, and in graves made to hold a large number. Richer people had special vaults, which were either constructed by hollowing out the rocky ground below or above the earth, or by the artificial building up of a tumulus. The curious tholos buildings of Mycenae, Orchomenus, Attica, etc., are generally supposed now to be nothing but large vaults of this description; and, indeed, throughout the whole of Greece, Sicily, and Lower Italy, numerous tombs, either vaulted out of the rock or constructed of large blocks of stone, have been discovered, not to speak of the temples and towers which are chiefly found in Asia Minor, and usually appear to be due to non-Greek origin or influence. In these vaults, which often served for whole families, they laid their dead, either in coffins or without them, merely in their grave clothes, generally resting on a flat stone. Thus the Attic vase picture in Fig. 111 represents the dead man in his tomb, the vaulting of which the painter has imitated, wrapped in a white cloth, a cushion under his head; fillets hang down from above. In Attica it was the custom to place the bodies so that their heads turned to the west and their feet to the east, while the opposite position was usual at Megara, where the customs differed in other ways, and three or four corpses were sometimes put in the same coffin. The custom of placing various objects required in daily life in the grave by the side of the dead man was universal, chiefly the things with which he had been occupied in his lifetime, or which belonged to his profession; clothes, money, oil-flasks, and other vases were put in, and besides them, in the case of a child, his toys; in the case of a warrior his arms; a woman’s spindle or ornaments and mirror; a young man’s strigil and oil-flask; a musician’s flute or lyre. We owe nearly all the small art treasures which have come down to us from antiquity, such as vases, terra-cottas, cameos, gold ornaments, caskets, etc., to this custom of adorning the graves of the dead with the objects used in daily life. Many of these, especially vases, lamps, candlesticks, arms, etc., seem to have been specially made with a view to being placed in the grave, since they were often of no use for practical purposes. There were no doubt special places outside the walls devoted to burning the bodies, though it is quite possible that some people were burnt on their own land if that happened to be large enough. Wood, twigs, and other easily-combustible substances were used for erecting a pile; the body was laid on it, along with the cushions destined to be burnt, among which, besides the objects already mentioned, the favourite animals of the dead were often included; and the pile was lighted with a torch. Round about stood the mourners, who called aloud many times on the dead, bidding him farewell. There do not appear to have been any other ceremonies connected with the funeral, nor did it bear a specially religious character, such as would be given it by the presence of priests or the offering of sacrifices; still, we must not forget that the mere act of burying or burning was regarded as a religious one. Funeral orations were only pronounced in the case of soldiers who had fallen in war, or men who had deserved specially well of their country. When the corpse was consumed by the fire and the pile had burned down, the glowing remains were quenched with water or wine. This act is represented on a vase painting (Fig. 112), which gives a scene from the Apotheosis of Hercules. The ashes and pieces of bone which had not been completely consumed were then collected and put in a special vessel. For this purpose they used urns, coffin-like boxes, and small vessels, which were afterwards placed in larger cases. These were constructed of different materials, clay or stone, brass, lead, sometimes even silver or gold. The urns were then placed, like the coffins, in a vault or under the earth.

When the burying or burning was ended, it was the custom for the relations and intimate friends of the deceased to return to the house of the latter, and after both the house and its inhabitants had been purified from the pollution connected with the death, by means of incense and sprinkling, or washing with consecrated water, they took part together in a funeral banquet. At this the near relations, who had hitherto

refrained from food, or at any rate from meat, for the first time again partook of it, a custom which could probably only be carried out when the funeral took place on the second day after the death. On the third and ninth days after, the nearest relations went to the grave with libations, which consisted in part of bloodless offerings, such as milk, honey, wine, etc., and partly in the sacrifice of real victims. On the spot where the body or the ashes were buried, unless the remains were placed in some vault above the earth, they erected a funeral monument, which bore the name of the family and home of the deceased, sometimes in metrical form; and even gave details about

his life and his virtues. This was usually decorated in an artistic manner. The commonest form was the “Stele,” which was sometimes a tall column, at others merely a horizontal gravestone, and represented the dead man in some occupation of daily life. A boy might be seen playing with his ball, and a girl with her doll; a young man holds his quoit; a strong warrior stands fully armed as though ready to depart; a countryman accompanied by his faithful dog, leans on his knotted stick; a young wife sits near her work-basket or gazes with pleasure at her ornaments, like the one represented on the relief in Fig. 113, where the lady seems to be taking a ring from a jewel case held for her by her attendants; others represent the dead person alone or with others, not engaged in any occupation, but in some simple natural attitude, like the two women on the stone represented in Fig. 114; others suggest death, since the relations are taking leave of a member of a family. On one it is the mother who is dying, and the smallest of the children is creeping up to her (compare Fig. 62), or they are holding out to her a child still wrapped in swaddling clothes for her last kiss (compare Fig. 58); the husband steps to his wife, who is resting in an easy chair, and gives her his hand for a last farewell, with an expression of sorrow mingled with self-control. On some tombstones of a longer shape the family meal is represented; the husband lies on the couch, the wife sits near him, the children are pressing around them, and even the faithful animals, the dog and favourite horse, are not forgotten. This subject is a very common one; sometimes it is a simple scene from daily life, sometimes the master is represented in a more heroic attitude as already dead, and his relations are paying the

departed the fitting honour and adoration. There seems to be little attempt at representing real portraits on most Greek tombstones; they are ideal types, often of extraordinary beauty, now and then, perhaps, with some slight resemblance to the dead, but by no means realistic portrait statues. But whether it is a scene from real life that is represented by art, or the bitter last farewell, or whether it is any hint of the life in a future state, which last is by no means uncommon, these reliefs are always distinguished by their moderation in the expression of pain, and a peaceful feeling of calm and worthy expression of sorrow, which can but have an elevating effect even on those who have grown up in the views of Christianity. This is the case even where some simple stonemason has roughly expressed in stone the thought of parting and reunion; how much more, then, in those magnificent

creations of the finest period of Attic art to which the examples represented above belong.

There were many other shapes adopted for these tombstones. Very often the stelai were decorated with painting instead of reliefs; in some the surface was extended and the background hollowed out, which gave them an altar-like character, and they were often framed in correspondingly by pillars and gables. Occasionally the stones bore the shape of a vase, especially of the oil-flask, so important in its association with death, and this, too, might be decorated with sculpture. Sometimes they set low columns of round or square shape on the grave, on which they often represented a siren, who had a special significance as singer of mourning songs; sometimes whole statues—ideal pictures or portraits of the deceased—were placed there, though the custom was more common in the Hellenic period than in the best ages of art.

Childish affection and belief led them to decorate these graves still further with wreaths, fillets, growing plants, etc. These were often renewed, and especially on the anniversaries of birth and death the relations came with libations and sacrifices, pouring out sweet odours or wine, or by other means showed that the memory of the departed was not gone from them. There are many pictures extant, especially on vases, depicting the care of the graves. Fig. 115, from a vase painting, shows two women approaching a stele, carrying plates with flasks and fillets. Similarly, in Fig. 116, the weeping woman at the end of the stele is drawn with especial grace.

Thus the Greeks held the memory of their dead worthily in honour, although their time of mourning did not last nearly as long as is customary with us, but

was generally limited to one or a few months. Even in the case of those who had died away from home, and whose remains could not be brought back, as, for instance, those who were drowned at sea, or altogether lost to sight, they erected cenotaphs, in order to have some spot with which to connect the ceremonies devoted to the memory of the dead. The tombstone represented in Fig. 117 was probably that of a man who had lost his life in some such way, perhaps in a shipwreck. The relief shows the dead man sitting sadly on land near his ship, and gazing towards his distant home which he was not permitted to see again. In the empty space below, his name and probably also the details of his death were inscribed in writing, which has now been effaced.

CHAPTER VIII.

GYMNASTICS.

One of the chief exercises in the gymnastic schools and at the sports was jumping. Along with running, quoit-throwing, wrestling, and boxing, jumping was regarded even in the Homeric age as part of gymnastics, but we know very little of the mode in which it was practised. In the historic period we find the same kinds of jumping as at the present day, namely, the high jump, the long jump, and the high long jump; among these the long jump was of the first importance, and was the only one in use at the contests. While we, however, confine ourselves more to the jump with or without a spring-board, and use no artificial means except perhaps a pole, in ancient times weights (ἁλτῆρες) were largely in use, and though they required a greater effort on the part of the jumper on account of the additional weight, yet they gave him some advantage by increasing the impetus. These weights are simply dumb-bells made of metal or stone, and resemble in shape those which we use at the present day for very different purposes. There were two kinds. The older form resembled the segment of a circle, somewhat smaller than a semicircle, part of the circle being used as a handle. This older kind of dumb-bell, which is represented on many vase pictures, was used in later times chiefly for hygienic purposes. Another kind came into general use for sports, and especially the Pentathlon; these exactly resembled our modern dumb-bells, for which, indeed, they served as models. A round ball is fastened at either end of a massive handle, bent into something of a curve, and sometimes—especially when they were used not merely to exercise the arms but in leaping—one of these balls was larger and heavier than the other, and this, in the leap, was thrust forward.

We are expressly told that these dumb-bells were also used in ancient gymnastics for strengthening the shoulders, arms, and fingers, and on many old vase paintings, where we see dumb-bells in the hands of youths, the attitude suggests such exercises and not jumping. In the painting represented in Fig. 118 one of the men holds two such dumb-bells in his hands; it is not easy to decide whether he is preparing to jump, as is usually supposed, or is only practising dumb-bell exercises. Still, the latter seems to have been a subordinate use only, and the chief use of the

dumb-bell was in jumping. In running, previous to jumping, they held the dumb-bells behind them, and at the moment of jumping thrust the arms violently forward; the impulse given by the weight then communicated itself also to the legs, and enabled them to cover a longer distance. We, therefore, often find jumpers represented in pictures holding their arms stretched in front of them; and practical attempts in recent times have convinced us that the importance of the dumb-bells in jumping was due not so much to a backward motion communicated by them, as to the thrusting forward of the arms. On springing down the arms were thrust backward again, as we may also learn from the pictures, and thus a firm and safe standing posture was attained. In the case of the youth represented with dumb-bells in Fig. 119, taken from an engraved discus (compare below, Fig. 126), it is uncertain whether he is using them merely to exercise his arms or to help him in jumping; possibly he is taking a preliminary run. Other representations of jumpers are given below, in Figs. 121 and 121. It is very probable that these spring-weights were used for the long jump, but not for the high jump, where they would be rather an impediment than an assistance.

Another difficult question is whether the ancients made use of leaping-poles. There is not a single picture of which we can say with certainty that it represents exercises with a leaping-pole, although on vase paintings of gymnastic scenes we do very frequently see sticks or poles, but it is always possible to find another interpretation for these. Thus they may be javelins, such as were used for throwing, or measuring rods, with which the superintending teachers or judges measured the length of a jump or a quoit-throw, or they may be merely sticks carried in token of official position. None of the writers afford any direct information about the use of leaping-poles; they are hardly mentioned except in references to occasional leaps over trenches with the help of a pole, and mounting horses by help of a lance; and, accordingly, we may infer that they did not play an important part in ancient gymnastics.

Another disputed question is whether the ancients used a spring-board. Some references among the later writers seem to suggest that they made use of a little elevation (βατήρ), from which they took the long jump, which was far the commonest and the only kind in use in the contests. There is nothing, however, to show that this elevation was of wood, and thus gave the jumper an advantage in consequence of its elasticity; it seems to have been only a little mound of earth. The course of events was something of this sort: all who took part in the contest took their stations in a row behind a line drawn in the sand of the wrestling school, and jumped from there in turn; of course, this was not done without previous running, for some of the achievements of the ancients in the long jump would have been quite impossible without running. Accordingly, they must have run from the appointed place to the mound and jumped from that. Where the first jumper stopped a fresh line was drawn with a pick-axe, such as we often see on vase pictures in the hand of a youth or superintendent, and they were also used to loosen the earth in order to lessen the shock in jumping down. Those that followed, of course, tried to jump even further, and every longer jump was again marked by a line, while the short ones were left unnoticed, unless, as in the case of the Pentathlon, the object was to have several victors. Finally, the result of the various jumps was determined by long measuring chains. What the ancient writers have told us about the wonderful achievements of the Greek athletes in the long jump, sounds almost fabulous; especially the story about Chionis, who is said to have jumped 52 feet, and Phayllus, who jumped 55. Modern writers on gymnastics have declared these statements impossible and exaggerated, in spite of the fact that they rest on good authority; but it is not right to declare our disbelief simply on account of our modern gymnastic training, which is entirely different from the Greek, since the elasticity of the sinews and the muscles, which come into play in jumping, has not been nearly so well developed from earliest youth upwards as it was in Greece; moreover, these accounts refer to especial tours de force, and were only remarkable exceptions. In any case, Greeks must have demanded a great deal even from ordinary jumpers, otherwise they would not have considered the jump, which in itself is one of the easiest exercises, one of the most difficult achievements in the gymnastic contests.

Running is already mentioned by Homer among the sports practised by the youth of Phaeacia; it was very popular, too, in after times, and formed an important part of the gymnastic contests which took place at the great Hellenic festivals. Speed was not of as much importance as endurance, and overcoming difficulties of ground; for they did not run on firm earth, but in soft sand, where it was doubly difficult to run fast, since the feet sank in if they were too firmly set down. There were four kinds of racing, according to the length of the course: the single course (στάδιον), the double course (δίαυλος), the horse race (ἵππιος δρόμος), and the long course (δολιχός). The single course was the length of the race-course, or stadium—that is, six hundred feet; the runner had to measure the course from beginning to end. In the double course the same space was passed over in both directions—that is, twice. In the horse race they ran twice backwards and forwards, consequently four stadia, which therefore was the length of the course on horseback, and hence its name. There are very different accounts about the length of the long course; seven, twelve, twenty, and even twenty-four stadia have been mentioned; the last (about three miles) seems to have been the usual length at Olympia. It is impossible to say whether these various statements are due to erroneous calculations or differing customs; still there is no reason to doubt even the longest course mentioned, since many of our modern runners can achieve far greater distances, so that a course of twenty-four stadia might very well have been required as the highest achievement of a good athlete. Our authorities, however, do not inform us what degree of speed was usual. We know that the educational and practical value of running depended not only on the attainment of great speed over a short distance, but also on the endurance necessary for achieving a long distance; and among the exercises in the gymnasia they probably laid as much stress on an even pace in the long races as on speed. But when running was practised at the contests, the moderation in speed of course gave way to the attempt to be first in the race and in consequence we hear of cases in which the victorious runner, on reaching the winning-post, fell down dead in consequence of excessive exertion, like the runner Ladas, whose statue Myron made. Therefore, the runners, as well as others who engaged in gymnastic contests, were in the habit of previously rubbing their bodies with oil in order to make their limbs flexible. In running, three or five generally entered at the same time; when there were more they seem to have been divided into parties of four, and in that case the winning party had to run once more to decide the final victory. The signal for running was given by the dropping of a rope stretched out in front of the runners; in running, they either held their arms with the elbows closely pressed to their sides or swung them violently and regularly backwards and forwards, corresponding in time to the feet; the former attitude

was probably reserved for the long course, when it was a question of preserving an equal speed, and the latter for the quickest course, in which the swinging of the arms might be a help; even here, however, the rule held that a good runner should adopt a slower motion at first, and only gradually proceed to his greatest speed. The pictures of runners, which are very common on vase pictures, especially on the so-called Panathenaic prize amphorae, generally show the peculiarity of holding the front leg very high up, while the other is set far backwards, and seems only to touch the ground with the toes. Now in ordinary pictures of runners we generally see the front leg resting on the ground and the other thrown out far behind, and this is sometimes found on antique pictures, but less often; we therefore must suppose that quick running in ancient times consisted rather in a series of wide jumps, in which only the toes touched the ground. In the vase painting represented in Fig. 120 we see four runners moving thus from left to right; their left legs are thrown far forward, their right legs back, and the arms swing with a motion corresponding to that of the legs. The hypothesis formerly current that on the vase paintings the runners from left to right are running the single, those from right to left the long course, is, however, not tenable. The two men practising, on the vase picture Fig. 121, are jumping in exactly the same manner; behind them another man is preparing to jump with dumb-bells, near them stands a teacher or superintendent in a cloak, with a switch in his hand; on the ground lies a quoit.

In ancient times, runners usually wore some drapery round their loins, but afterwards they had no clothing at all. There was, however, a special kind of race, called “armour-race,” (ὁπλιτοδρομία), which was not introduced into the Olympic games till the year 520, in which the runners wore the heavy armour of Hoplites. In ancient times, they seem to have run in full armour—that is, with helmet, cuirass, greaves, sword and spear; afterwards, if we may trust the representations on the vases, the armour-race consisted in running with helmet and round shield, as in Fig. 122. This kind of race, which, of course, required still greater exertion, seems to have been only in use for the single and double course, and chiefly for the latter, but not for the horse-course, or the long course.

The torch-race (λαμπαδοδρομία) was more a matter of skill than of speed or bodily strength. This was especially popular at Athens, and there constituted an important part of certain festivals, especially the Panathenaea, and the festivals of Hephaestus and Prometheus, but had nothing to do with the gymnastic contests at the great national games. The youths who took part in the torch-race, lighted their torches at an altar in the Academy, and ran together from there, with burning torches to some appointed place in the town. In this race the victor was not he who ran fastest, but he who first arrived at the goal with a burning torch. It was important, therefore, to run quickly, and at the same time cautiously, so that the torch might not be put out. The expenses of the arrangements, which, however, cannot have been very considerable, belonged to the so-called Liturgies, the charges voluntarily undertaken by certain wealthy citizens. They also had to superintend the practising, or, at any rate, to see to its being done. If we may judge from ancient representations of the torch-race, the runners sometimes, besides the torch, bore a shield on their left arm, and also some head-covering, and, since it was not really a question of great speed, some light article of clothing.

In the third place, we must consider quoit-throwing. This exercise, in which the object was to throw a heavy disc as far as possible, is also mentioned in the Odyssey. The youth of Phaeacia played it, but Odysseus excels them all, and sends the disc hurled by him beyond all the marks of the other players. Quoits are also mentioned as an amusement of the suitors, and among the funeral games in honour of Patroclus. Homer mentions stone and iron quoits; in later times metal, chiefly iron or bronze, was the commonest material. They were round and flat in shape, somewhat raised on each side, with a diameter of about a foot, and were, therefore, very heavy, and not easy to grasp on account of their smoothness. The descriptions of ancient writers and monuments give us a very clear idea of the manner in which these

discs were thrown. The quoit-player, first of all, took a firm stand, and while he measured the space over which he had to throw his disc, he held it in his left hand in order not to tire the right too soon; this is the position in which we see the standing “Discobolus” in the Vatican, represented in Fig. 123. The attitude adopted when actually throwing is best given by the Discobolus of Myron, which has come down to us in several copies, and which is thus described by Lucian: “He is stooping down to take aim, (his body) turned in the direction of the hand which holds the quoit, one knee slightly bent, as though he meant to vary his posture and rise with the throw.” The thrower, therefore, bent his whole body somewhat in the moment when he threw back the right hand with the disc, in order to give it the necessary impulse, pressing his left leg firmly on the ground, and digging his toes into the sand, at the same time bending the right knee in order to give the disc increased power by springing up from his bent position at the moment of throwing. In this attitude the position of the head followed the whole direction of the body with a slight inclination to the right (the left of the spectator), as we may learn from the best copies preserved to us of Myron’s Discobolus, a statue in the Palazzo Massimi, at Rome, and a bronze statuette at Munich; the downward bending of the head, in the Vatican copy, represented in Fig. 124, and on the other replicas of the statue, is due to a mistake in restoration. We may also assume with some certainty that they did not remain on the same spot at the moment of throwing, but had space enough to run a little way forward, as is done even now in playing skittles—a game which differs but little from quoit-playing—for the force of the throw would be checked by remaining in one place. Thus the bronze statue, Fig. 125 (though this is sometimes interpreted as a wrestler running to the attack), shows the disc thrower running forward a few steps, the upper part of his body bent forwards, and trying to follow the result of his throw. Probably the little elevation from which, according to the ancient writers, the thrower hurled the quoit, supplied the necessary space for this forward movement, and the extreme edge of this elevation (βαλβίς) was also the limit which, in case of a contest prevented any from running further than others, or throwing their discus from a nearer point, so that the conditions of the contest might be alike for all. The umpires, or superintendents, carefully marked, by lines or some other means, the place to which each combatant threw his disc, and he whose quoit flew the farthest was the victor.

Quoit-throwing, as well as running and jumping, was taught even to boys, but undoubtedly they used smaller and lighter discs than men. The disc from Aegina, now in the Berlin Museum, one side of which is represented above in Fig. 119, was only eight inches in diameter, and about four pounds weight, but was probably never used as an actual implement of the school.

Throwing the javelin was also taught in the boys’ gymnastic schools. This was originally a military exercise; we find it mentioned in heroic times, not only as a mode of fighting, but also as a game. In the gymnastic schools of the boys and youths they often used, as we may tell from the pictures, instead of a real spear, a blunt stick of about the same length, but they must sometimes have made use of real spears with sharp points for their exercises, since the orator Antiphon tells us that one of the older boys at the

gymnasium killed a younger one, who had by mistake run in the way, and this would have been impossible if a mere stick had been used. Probably the weight of the spears was gradually increased, as also of the quoits, and the youths used heavier weapons than the boys, while the men in their turn used still heavier ones. We may, however, infer that, besides throwing a mere stick in which certainty of aim would be the object, they used actual spears, and studied especial ways of managing them, since the javelin, which was supplied with a loop or strap, had to be thrown in a quite peculiar way, while the stick had no loop, and could be quite differently thrown. This loop was near the lower end of the javelin; the thrower put the first and second fingers of his right hand through it—sometimes it was a double loop, so that each finger grasped a separate strap—he laid his thumb on the wood of the spear, which rested on the third or fourth fingers placed underneath, or else on the third finger alone; in this position the hand was drawn backwards and then aim was taken at some definite goal, the nature of which we are not acquainted with. This we learn from the Berlin disc already mentioned (Fig. 126), and also from various vase paintings, and the figure of the giant frieze from Pergamum. The throw was either horizontal, if distance was aimed at, which was most usual, or upwards towards some raised mark. Among gymnastic exercises represented in a vase painting (Fig. 127), throwing the spear also plays a part. We see here, on the left (near the handle), a youth represented as just about to run; on the right, near him, a second is practising dumb-bells, or else preparing to jump. Near a long-robed flute-player, whose music is accompanying the exercises, a spear-thrower is running forward, but his face is not turned forward to the mark, but backward towards the hand which holds the spear (like the throwing Discobolus), so that we must suppose that it was not a question of throwing the spear at a definite mark, but only of sending it as far as possible. Next to a bearded superintendent, wearing a cloak and holding a switch, follows a quoit-player, who is about to throw the disc which he holds in the right hand. Lastly, we have a pair of boxers, whose attitude will be discussed further on. Other representations show us that, in throwing upwards, the handle with the loop was held downwards, but in throwing to a distance, if the object was to throw as far as possible, the right arm was drawn back as in Fig. 119 and here; but if a mark was aimed at, the upper arm was kept in a horizontal position, about the height of the ear, and the aim carefully taken before throwing. The javelin used in gymnastic exercises and contests differs from that used in war in being constructed of very light wood, and having no lance-head like the one used in battle, but, as Fig. 119 shows, a very thin and rather long head, obviously in order that the spear may cling more easily to the mark which was probably made of wood.