GYMNASTICS.
Jumping--Use of Dumb-bells--Running--The
Torch-race--Quoit-throwing--The
Javelin--Wrestling--Boxing--_Pancration_--_Pentathlon_--
Ball-games--Archery--Training.
We have already had occasion to allude to the important part played by
gymnastics in Greek life. In the Doric states it was the basis of the
education of girls as well as boys, and even at Athens the training of
the body was an important feature of the education of boys and youths,
and was also diligently cultivated even afterwards for the sake of
developing and strengthening the body. We have now to consider the most
important of these gymnastic exercises, and the mode in which they were
carried on, dealing first with the easier and simpler ones, and
afterwards with the more difficult and complicated.
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
[Illustration: FIG. 118.]
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 127. 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.
[Illustration: FIG. 119.]
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
[Illustration: FIG. 120.]
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.
[Illustration: FIG. 121.]
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.
[Illustration: FIG. 122.]
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
[Illustration: FIG. 123.]
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
[Illustration: FIG. 124.]
[Illustration: FIG. 125.]
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.
[Illustration: FIG. 126.]
Throughout the whole of antiquity the favourite contest was wrestling,
and the importance of this depended on the fact that the whole body was
exercised at the same time, and all the muscles came into play; and also
that it was not an exercise
[Illustration: FIG. 127.]
performed by one single man, but was an immediate measuring of strength
by two opponents, and, therefore, even more than the other contests,
required full bodily power. Even in the Homeric age, therefore,
wrestling played an important part, and the deep hold it took on Greek
life is shown by the great number of technical expressions taken from
wrestling which in metaphorical form found their way into the ordinary
every-day language; no other exercise had so large a store of technical
expressions; indeed, it is absolutely impossible for us to find words to
express them all at the present day. Wrestling, like other gymnastic
exercises, was carried on at first with some drapery round the loins,
and afterwards without any clothing. As a preparation, the combatants
rubbed their whole bodies with oil, with a view to making their limbs
more supple and elastic. For this purpose there were special rooms in
the gymnasia and wrestling schools, in which stood large vessels, filled
with oil, from which they filled their own little flasks; then they
poured a little oil out of these into their hands, and either rubbed
their bodies with it or else had them rubbed by one of the attendants of
the gymnasia appointed for the purpose (ἀλείπτης). But as this oiling
and the perspiration which resulted from the contest would have made the
body too smooth and slippery, and absolutely impossible to grasp, they
covered themselves, when the anointing was finished, with fine dust,
taken from special pits, or else prepared on purpose. This was supposed
also to serve a hygienic purpose, for it was assumed that the dust
prevented excessive perspiration, and in consequence saved the strength;
it was also regarded as advantageous because it closed the pores and
sheltered them from the air, which might have an injurious effect. Oil,
perspiration, dust, and also the soft sand, which, when the wrestlers
continued their contest on the ground, clung to their bodies, together
formed a thick crust, which could not have been sufficiently removed by
a mere warm bath; therefore the wrestlers used a _stlengis_, or
_strigil_, for cleansing their bodies, rubbing off the dirt partly
themselves and partly with the help of attendants, and afterwards took a
warm bath. The action of this scraping, which, in spite of its
unaesthetic nature, gave rise to many graceful attitudes, has been often
plastically represented by artists; a good copy has come down to us of
the most celebrated of these figures, the _Apoxyomenos_ of Lysippus. The
bath was usually followed by oiling the body once more, because the use
of oil was regarded as good for the health and tending to strengthen the
limbs. As already mentioned, this anointing was accompanied by a kind of
massage, a pressing and kneading of the body, which the rubber
understood, and which was regarded as a hygienic method, so that one who
was specially skilled in it was called a medical-rubber (ἰατραλείπτης),
and in a measure combined the duties of physician and rubber. The
constant exposure to fresh air and accustoming of the naked body to the
rays of the sun, combined with the oiling and dusting mentioned above,
produced in the wrestlers especially, though to some extent in all the
athletes, a very dark complexion, which the ancients regarded as a mark
of health and of manly courage, and often held up to admiration in
contrast to the pale colouring of the artisans and stay-at-homes who
“sat in the shade.” There were two principal methods in ordinary
wrestling--standing and ground wrestling. In the first kind of contest
everything depended on throwing an opponent, either by skill, or by
certain tricks which were allowed in wrestling, in such a way that his
shoulder touched the earth, while the other kept his position; throwing
once, however, did not decide the victory, but in order to be victorious
in the standing wrestling-bout it was necessary for a man to throw his
opponent three times in this manner. When both opponents fell together
while wrestling without clasping each other, they jumped up and began
the contest afresh; but if they grasped each other firmly when they
fell, so that the contest was not yet decided, the wrestling usually
passed into the second stage, in which both wrestled while lying on the
ground, when now one now the other might get the advantage, until one of
the two declared himself conquered, and gave up the struggle. The
wrestlers in the celebrated Florentine marble group, represented in Fig.
128, are in this position. This wrestling on the ground, however, only
took place in the boys’ gymnastic school, and afterwards in the public
contests of Pancratiasts (see below, page 296), and professional
athletes; in the great contests and the Pentathlon only standing
wrestling was allowed. The mode in which the wrestlers began the combat
has been clearly described by several writers, and often represented on
monuments. Each combatant took his place, with his legs somewhat apart,
his right foot forward, stretched out his arms, drew his head a little
between his shoulders, and thrust forward the upper part of his body,
back, shoulders, and neck, in order to protect the lower part somewhat
from the attack of his opponent. In this manner the combatants stepped
towards each other, each watching for the moment when the other would
expose himself in some way of which he could take advantage, and as they
were naturally both as much as possible on their
[Illustration: FIG. 128.]
[Illustration: FIG. 129.]
guard, it was often a considerable time before they could begin the
contest by seizing hold of their opponents. But when it was once begun,
the masters or other officials who superintended watched to see that no
tricks contrary to tradition and rule were made use of, that there was
no striking or biting; but still, they were allowed to make use of
certain tricks or feints in order to deceive the enemy or gain an
advantage over him. Among the methods allowed was throttling, either by
touching the opponent’s neck or throwing an arm round it, or pushing the
elbow under his chin, and sometimes the combatant who was attacked in
this way was forced from want of breath to declare himself conquered,
even without being thrown; similarly his opponent might force him, by
pressing his body together to abandon the contest; and in the ground
wrestling it sometimes happened that the combatant who had the upper
hand knelt
[Illustration: FIG. 130.]
down on the one who had been thrown to the ground and throttled him
until he asked for mercy. Twisting and bending the limbs was also
allowed, thrusting an arm or a foot into the opponent’s belly, pushing
or forcing him from the spot, which, if the hands were occupied, was
often done by means of the forehead, the two combatants dashing their
heads against each other like two angry bulls; this was a very favourite
trick, and is frequently shown on works of art. In Fig. 129, taken from
a vase painting we see two wrestlers who have grappled, each holding his
opponent’s right arm with his own left; their foreheads are pressed
together, one has drawn back his right foot in order to increase his
resisting power. The combatants in Fig. 130, are fighting in a similar
manner, the left hand of one seizes the right arm of his opponent, while
his right arm is thrown round his body; the left hand of the other
meantime attacks his enemy’s back. On the left a superintendent, who
wears a cloak, and holds a branch in his hand, stands looking on; on the
right a young man is running quickly away. Among the permitted feints
was a sudden thrust of the leg, which hit the opponent’s knee from
behind with the foot in such a manner as to throw him, or, if this was
impossible, a similar blow was attempted on the side; they also seized
an opponent by the leg or ankle in such a way as to lift it from the
ground with a violent impulse, so that he must fall backwards. Sometimes
a strong and skilful wrestler would put his arms round his opponent’s
hips in such a way as to lift him entirely from the ground, and turn him
over with his head downwards. On the vase painting represented in Fig.
131, in the group on the right, one of the wrestlers has lifted up his
opponent in this manner, and the latter is trying to free himself from
the arms which are holding him. In the other group, one of the wrestlers
with his right arm seizes the left arm of his opponent and tries to
press him down with his body, thrusting his head over the left shoulder
of the other; the latter, however, thrusts his head over his opponent’s
back, and with his right arm seizes his opponent’s right arm from
behind. The richly-clad youth standing by presents an almost feminine
appearance, holding a staff and flower in his hands, and it is not clear
for what purpose he is there. Similar tricks and manoeuvres were used in
ground wrestling. Besides this they also attempted to entangle the
opponent’s legs in theirs, in order to prevent him from standing up
again. There were a great many similar modes or plans of wrestling, all
with a special terminology, and it seems as though no gymnastic exercise
had been so thoroughly developed into a real art as that of wrestling.
Boxing, which we hear of among the funeral games in honour of Patroclus,
was also practised in the historic period, but as a mode of fighting it
was not actually necessary for the gymnastic training of every
[Illustration: FIG. 131.
Vase painting.]
Greek, but was rather studied by those who desired to win prizes in the
public games, and to obtain honour and reward by their bodily skill and
strength. We are accustomed to regard the gymnastic training of the
Greeks as tending not only to the development of the body, but also to
that of the mind; and we cannot deny that boxing, especially in the form
which it assumed in the course of centuries, was a rough sport, and that
the pleasure which the Greeks undoubtedly took in watching it, though
not quite of so degrading a nature as the cruel delight taken by the
Romans in the fights of gladiators and wild beasts, yet, considered in
connection with certain other popular sports, such as cock-fighting,
must be taken as a sign that even the high degree of culture, which the
Athenians had undoubtedly attained by the fifth century, was not quite
sufficient to suppress completely the animal instinct in man. After all,
our much-lauded nineteenth century is not unacquainted with such
amusements as boxing, pigeon-shooting, and similar sports.
Boxing, like wrestling, was subject to special rules, from which we see
that more stress was laid on artistic and elegant methods than on the
mere evidence of great bodily strength and rude force. Specially skilful
boxers, indeed, devoted themselves chiefly to wearing out their enemy by
keeping strictly on the defensive--that is, parrying all his blows with
their arms, and thus forcing him at last to give up the contest, rather
than making him unfit to fight by well-aimed blows. They distinguished,
too, in the defensive between correctly-aimed blows and mere rough
hitting, which sometimes gave a combatant the victory if he happened to
possess considerable strength, but by no means won reputation for him.
All the same, severe bodily injuries, or, at any rate, lasting
deformities, especially in the head and face, were inevitably connected
with boxing, and it was by no means unusual for boxers to have their
ears completely disfigured and beaten quite flat, and, indeed, we see
this on some of the ancient heads; afterwards it became customary to use
special bandages for protecting the ears. A practice which made boxing
especially rough, and sometimes even dangerous to life, was that of
covering the hands with leathern thongs. Originally these thongs were
tolerably harmless; they consisted merely of leather, and were put on in
such a way that the fingers remained free, while the thongs extended a
little way above the wrist and covered part of the lower arm--of course,
in such a way as not to check the motion of the hand. But this gentler
kind, which were still capable of inflicting rather serious injuries,
were afterwards in use only for the preliminary practice before a
serious contest; for the latter they used heavy boxing-gloves of
hardened bull’s hide, into which knobs of lead, etc., were worked. We
can easily imagine what terrible wounds might be inflicted by a blow
from one of these. Many of the old athletes could show bodies covered
with wounds like that of an old soldier, and the writers of epigrams
laughingly compared the bodies of athletes to sieves full of holes. And
although they were forbidden purposely to give blows which threatened
the life of an opponent, yet it sometimes happened, as in the notorious
contest between Creugas and Damoxenus, that in the excitement of the
moment the combatants forgot the established rules, and the professional
contest turned into mere brutality, from which those of the spectators
whose feelings were of a less coarse nature turned away with horror.
For the contest they generally took their position in such a manner as
not to turn their whole body to
[Illustration: FIG. 132.]
the enemy, but only one side, and, as a rule, the left. It was in the
nature of the contest that a constant change between attack and defence
must take place; the attitude represented on numerous monuments, in
which the left arm is used for parrying, the right for attack, was the
common one, not only as an opening, but repeated at each new phase,
though a change would sometimes take place, and the right arm be used in
defence, the left for attack. On the vase painting represented in Fig.
132 we see two boxers, whose huge proportions show that they were
endowed with unusual strength; both have covered their arms and hands
with heavy thongs, one is apparently countering with the left, the other
parrying with the right; his left aims at his enemy’s head. On the right
stands a winged Goddess of Victory, on the left a
[Illustration: FIG. 133.]
boxer with the thongs, raising his left arm to his head. The vase
painting, Fig. 133, represents two boxers, one of whom aims a
well-directed blow with his left at the breast of the other, who
totters. On one side lie some poles, as well as implements belonging to
the wrestling school, strigil, sponge, etc. There are also two boxers on
the vase painting represented in Fig. 127. The one to the right has “got
home” so effectively on the head with his left, that the other, who has
tried to guard with his left arm, has to give ground, and seems to have
had enough, for he is raising the first finger of his right hand, a
sign that he begs for mercy and declares himself conquered. The thongs
here are only worn on the right hand of one of the combatants, but this
was probably merely an omission on the part of the painter.
As preliminary practice in boxing, especially in learning the commonest
attacks and parries, they used a kind of quintain (κώρυκος), a bladder
or leather ball, hung up and filled with sand; this exercise is often
represented on old monuments, and most clearly on the so-called
“Ficoronese Cista.” This striking at the quintain was one of the regular
contests in the gymnasium, for though the dangerous fighting with the
leaded thongs was left to professional athletes, yet a trial of skill in
the commoner kind of harmless boxing, in which there was no risk of
losing teeth, etc., was a very favourite practice, and this, no doubt,
is meant when we find boxing mentioned even among the gymnastic
exercises of boys.
Similar was the _Pancration_, as difficult as it was dangerous, which
was unknown to the heroic age, a combination of boxing and wrestling,
which, though included among the exercises of the boys and youths, was
only of real importance for professional athletes. Here all the parts of
the body came into play, tricks and cunning feints to lead an opponent
astray were permissible, and as important as bodily strength and
powerful fists. The combatants fought naked, like the wrestlers, after
oiling and strewing dust over their bodies; but they did not use thongs,
which would have been in the way in wrestling, nor were they permitted
to strike with the whole fist, but only with the bent fingers. They
began the fight standing, as in wrestling, and the special difficulty
was, in taking the offensive, to avoid being seized by an opponent as
well as to parry an unexpected blow from his fist. Blows were dealt not
only in the standing fight, but also in the ground wrestling, and in the
pancration they made even more use of their feet for hitting and kicking
than in the separate contests in wrestling and boxing; they also tried
to twist their opponent’s hands and break his fingers, since the main
object was to make him incapable of fighting. It is, therefore, natural
that among professional athletes the pancration was regarded as the most
important of all modes of fighting.
Another contest, the _Pentathlon_, was of a very different nature. In
the pancration the two modes of wrestling and boxing were combined
together, but in the pentathlon the different contests were undertaken
one after another by a number of competitors, and he who did well in all
of them, and took the first place in some, was declared victor in the
whole. The contest consisted in jumping, running, throwing the quoit,
throwing the spear, and wrestling. Although the combination of these
five contests was arranged with a view to the public games, yet it also
had some educational importance; for difficult and easy contests were
here combined, both those which required skill as well as those in which
mere bodily strength carried off the palm, and thus the pentathlon was
well calculated to develop the whole body harmoniously, and to keep
professionals from devoting too much attention to one side of gymnastics
to the disadvantage of the others. For this reason it was introduced
among the exercises of the boys. We have no conclusive information about
the proceedings in the pentathlon, the order in which the various
contests followed one another, and the conditions on which a combatant
was declared to be victorious. There is a good deal of difference of
opinion among the moderns who have ventured hypotheses on the subject.
One great difficulty in deciding this question arises from the fact
that, though a considerable number of combatants might take part in the
four first-mentioned contests, wrestling must in the nature of things be
performed by only two; we must therefore assume that the contests were
arranged in such a manner that only two combatants should be left for
the last. Probably they began with running, for which a considerable
number could enter; supposing there were very many, they may have had
several series of combats afterwards. The five best runners would then
enter upon the second contest, perhaps throwing the spear; then the
worst of these five would be thrown out, and the remaining four enter
for the next, the jump; the three best jumpers would then throw the
quoit, and the two best quoit-throwers would wrestle finally for the
palm. Whether this or something similar was the arrangement, it might
happen that a combatant who had never taken the first place in one of
the first four contests might carry off the victory at last, but they
avoided this by the rule that, if anyone took the first place in the
first three contests or in three of the four, the two last or the last
might be left out, and he would be considered victor in the pentathlon.
Consequently, the final wrestling match only took place if after the
fourth contest the victory was still undecided--that is, if among the
two best quoit-throwers neither had taken the first place three times.
It might, therefore, happen that a man who took the first place twice
and the second place once in the first three contests was thrown out in
the fourth, and the victory fell to another who had never taken the
first place except at the last. Still, this apparent injustice was
counterbalanced by the fact that the last contest was really the most
difficult, while a certain average excellence in the former contests was
required of everyone who entered the pentathlon at all; also it was no
small merit to keep a place among the victors in all five contests,
though it might not be the first or second. Of course these are merely
hypotheses; we have not sufficient materials for attaining certainty in
this matter.
A number of other gymnastic exercises were of greater importance for the
gymnasium than for the public games. Among those which were merely
preliminary training for more serious tasks we have already mentioned
the dumb-bells and the quintain. Others bear some resemblance to our own
gymnastics; thus, for instance, exercises in bending the knees, which
were especially popular at Sparta, and also practised by girls there;
thrusting the arms forward and backward whilst standing on tiptoe,
hopping on one foot, or changing the foot, etc. Ball was also included
among the games of a semi-gymnastic character, as with us, too, it plays
some part in gymnastic exercises; rope-pulling was also a favourite
practice, but throughout the whole of antiquity far the most popular
recreative game in the gymnastic schools was ball-playing, and there
were special places devoted to it, just as there were afterwards in the
baths or thermae. The ancient writers mention several other occupations
of this kind, half-way between serious exercises and mere games;
undoubtedly there were many others concerning which we have no
information, and the relief in Fig. 134 probably shows us one of these.
It seems to represent a game with a large hard ball, which was thrown up
into the air and caught on the thigh, and, perhaps, thrown up again into
the air from there.
[Illustration: FIG. 134.]
Many exercises of a partly military character were also practised in the
gymnasia. Besides throwing the spear, which was regarded as an entirely
gymnastic exercise, and was practised at the public contests, there was
archery, which, in the Alexandrine age, as we previously mentioned, even
found a place in the curriculum of the Attic youths. This was also the
case with the Cretans, who were renowned as excellent archers at the
time of Plato, and probably even earlier. They used for the purpose a
bow constructed of horn or hard wood; bows were of two different shapes,
one which was common in the East, and was already described by Homer, in
which two horn-shaped ends were connected by a straight middle piece;
the other was a simpler shape, in which the whole bow consisted of one
piece of elastic wood, scarcely curved at all when the bow was not bent,
and which, when bent, acquired a semi-circular shape. As a rule, when
the bow was not in use the string was only fastened at one end. Before
shooting, it was attached to the hook at the other end by means of a
little ring or eye. A good deal of strength was needed to bend the bow
far enough to attach the string. In shooting, they drew back the
feathered arrow, on which a notch fitted, along with the string towards
the breast, holding the bow firmly in the left hand. The vase painting
depicted in Fig. 135 represents archery practice. The target here is the
wooden figure of a cock set upon a column; of the three youths who are
practising one shoots standing, the second kneeling, the common position
for an archer, and the third is just about to draw his bow pressing his
knee against it. All three use the second kind of bow. It is, of course,
only an artistic licence that the archers are placed so near their goal;
similarly the arrows are still flying while the two archers are about to
shoot fresh ones.
[Illustration: FIG. 135.]
We have already had occasion several times to point to the difference
between the gymnastic training of youths, continued into manhood with a
view to strengthening the body, and the professional gymnastics of the
athletes; we must, therefore, say a few words about the position as
well as the training of the latter. As the public games increased in
importance, and the glory gained by the victors induced ambitious youths
and men to strive for a wreath in the gymnastic contests, and thus gain
undying fame for themselves and their native city, it gradually became
the custom for especially strong and skilful athletes (ἀγωνισταί) to
make the development of their body for these gymnastic contests the
object of their life, in order, by constant practice, by a particular
diet and mode of life calculated to increase their strength, to attain
the highest position in this profession, and thus to be almost sure of
victory. In this way “agonistics,” which was originally only a
development of gymnastics in accordance with the rules of art, became a
regular profession, and those who devoted themselves to it were
distinctively known as athletes. As athleticism became a profession and
a means of making money, it ceased, of course, to be an occupation
worthy of a free and noble citizen; and it is, therefore, natural that
at Sparta, where every profession by which money could be made was
looked down upon, it should have made no way, and that in other places,
too, it was only men of the lower classes who devoted themselves to it,
however enticing it might seem to an ambitious youth who desired to
attain the material advantages enjoyed by the victors in these contests,
as well as the glorious honours with which they were specially
distinguished.
The athletes received their training from a trainer (γυμναστής), who
must be carefully distinguished from the gymnastic teacher of the boys
(παιδοτσριβής). The trainer instructed his pupils in the higher branches
of gymnastics, practised frequently with them, and probably also
accompanied them to the public games, in order to instruct them to the
very last moment, since the victory of a pupil was also honourable and
advantageous to the master. The exercises probably took place in the
gymnasia belonging to the trainers, or in the public gymnastic places;
and consisted not merely in a methodical increase in the usual gymnastic
exercises until the highest achievements were attained, but also in many
which were not practised elsewhere, and which were not calculated to
harden the body or make the limbs supple. Along with the gymnastic
training they observed, as already mentioned, a very careful mode of
life, which was superintended by the rubber, whose half-medical training
has been already alluded to. This diet was in part observed at all
times, but was especially severe just before the games, at which an
athlete had to appear. In ancient times the principal nourishment of the
athletes was fresh cheese, dried figs, and wheaten porridge; in later
times they abandoned this vegetarian diet for meat, and gave the
preference to beef, pork, and kid. Bread might not be eaten with meat,
but was taken at breakfast, while the principal meal consisted of meat;
confectionery was forbidden; wine might only be taken in moderate
quantities. In addition to this diet, which was prescribed to the
athletes for the whole year, a special training had to be followed at
times, especially when preparing for the games, which lasted for more
than three-quarters of the year; at these times the athletes every day,
after the conclusion of their practice, had to consume an enormous
quantity of such food as was permitted them, and then digest it in a
long-continued sleep. By gradually increasing the amount, an athlete
succeeded at last in consuming an enormous quantity of meat, and at
length this became a habit and even a necessity. By this means they
attained, not, it is true, hardening of the muscles, but the corpulence
which is often represented in the ancient pictures, and which might be
advantageous in certain contests, especially in wrestling and the
pancration, since it enabled them more easily to press down and wear out
their opponents; on the other hand, this artificially-produced
corpulence was very unhealthy, and it is natural that these athletes
were liable to many kinds of disease, especially apoplectic strokes.
The training and mode of life of the athletes just described was
obviously not suitable for all kinds of gymnastic contests. Such diet
would have been very pernicious for running and jumping; wrestling and
boxing and the pancration were their chief domain, and it was in these
that the more celebrated athletes of antiquity, whose names have come
down to us--viz., Milo, Polydamas, Glaucus, and the rest--were specially
distinguished. Their rewards were of various kinds. The victors in the
Olympian games were allowed to set up a statue in the Grove of Altis, at
Olympia, at their own expense or that of their relations, sometimes even
of the state to which the victor belonged; and at home, too, they very
frequently had the same honour of a public statue assigned to them. When
they returned from the games, they held a solemn entry into their own
town, dressed in purple, riding on a car drawn by four white horses,
accompanied by their friends and relations and a rejoicing crowd; it was
even an ancient custom to pull down a piece of the city wall, in order
to show that a city which could produce such citizens required no walls
for its defence. Then followed a banquet in honour of the victor, in
which hymns were sung in his praise. Rewards were also given in coin.
At Athens, after the time of Solon, the victor in the Olympian games
received 500 drachmae, the victor in one of the three other great
national contests a hundred drachmae; in later times they even had the
right of dining every day at the public expense in the town-hall
(πρυτανεῖον), and they also enjoyed the honour of sitting on the front
benches of the theatre (προεδρία). Moreover, most of the professional
athletes, if they lived carefully and abstained from all departures from
their customary diet and mode of life, were able to continue their
contests for a good many years, sometimes thirty or more, and were thus
able to pile honour on honour and reward on reward. The unlimited
admiration which the mass of the people, and especially the youth, who
were easily won by exhibitions of strength, gave to these combatants,
who seem to us at the present day to have been but rough prize-fighters,
stands in strong contrast to the judgment pronounced on them by men of
real intellectual development, especially by the philosophers. They
rightly complained that this one-sided development of the body was
perfectly useless to the State, since the athletes were only capable in
their own domain, but were quite unable to endure fatigues and undertake
military service; they pointed out that the mode of life which aimed
merely at increasing the bodily strength tended to dwarf the intellect,
and that, therefore, the athletes were absolutely useless for political
as well as for all intellectual purposes. Wise educators, therefore,
disapproved of athletic training, and, indeed, the greatest warriors and
statesmen of Greece seem always to have despised it.