THE FOOT-RACE
The length of the various foot-races was determined for the Greeks by
the length of the stadium. The stade-race, as its name implies, was a
single length, approximately 200 yards. The diaulos was twice the length
of the stadium, or 400 yards. The length of the dolichos or long race is
variously stated as 7, 12, 20, or 24 stades, from seven furlongs to
nearly three miles.[456] The divergence of these statements is probably
due to the fact that the distances varied at different festivals, and at
different periods, as they do at the present day. For Olympia the
evidence is slightly in favour of a 24 stades race. These three races
seem to have been universal. At the Isthmia, Nemea, and Panathenaea
there was also a double diaulos of four stades called the horse diaulos
(ἵππιος or ἐφίππιος) from the fact that the length of the course in the
hippodrome was two stades, or double that of the stadium.[457] There
were different races for different ages, and it is possible that the
boys’ races were shorter than those for men. Plato, in sketching his
ideal scheme of physical education, lays down that boys are to run half
the length of the men’s course, and the “beardless” two-thirds of the
course.[458] We do not know whether his scheme had any foundation in
fact, but it is certain that in the girls’ races at Olympia the course
was one-sixth shorter than the usual course.[459] Besides these purely
athletic events, there were races in armour, introduced for military
purposes towards the close of the sixth century, and various ceremonial
races such as the torch-race, survivals of ancient religious rites.
It will be convenient here to say a few words as to the ages of
competitors. What is true of the foot-race holds good, of course, of all
other competitions.
The classification of competitors according to age varied at different
festivals. At Olympia and Delphi there were only two classes, men and
boys. An inscription containing regulations for the Augustalia at
Neapolis lays down that competitors in boys’ events must be over
seventeen and under twenty years of age.[460] As the Augustalia were
modelled closely on the Olympia, it seems probable that these were the
Olympic limits of age. But it is reasonable to suppose that a certain
latitude was allowed, and that the Hellanodicae exercised considerable
discretion in their judgment, taking into account not merely a
competitor’s reputed age, but also his size and strength. Thus we are
told that Agesilaus induced the officials to admit as a competitor in
the boys’ competitions a young Athenian whom they would otherwise have
disqualified because he was bigger than the other boys. On the other
hand, one Nicasylus of Rhodes, who was eighteen years of age, was
actually disqualified, and accordingly entered for and won the men’s
competition.[461] The possibility of a boy winning among men proves that
the upper limit of age was a high one. It is mentioned as a remarkable
record that a youth of twenty should be victorious in the open events at
all the four Panhellenic festivals.[462] In view of these facts, we may
regard with some suspicion the story told by Pausanias that one Damiscus
of Messene won the boys’ foot-race at the tender age of twelve![463]
At the Nemea and Isthmia we find a threefold division into boys, youths
(ἀγένειοι), and men. The ages denoted by these terms varied according to
the regulations of different festivals. In later inscriptions we find
the expressions “Pythian boys,” “Isthmian boys” used to denote boys
within the limits of age prescribed at these festivals.[464]
Approximately it seems likely that the boys were those between the ages
of twelve and sixteen, the beardless those between sixteen and
twenty.[465] Elsewhere, especially in local competitions, we have a far
more elaborate classification. At the Erotidia in Boeotia the boys were
divided into “the younger” and “the older.”[466] In Chios we find five
classes—boys, younger epheboi, middle epheboi, older epheboi, men.[467]
At the Athenian Thesea there are competitions for boys of the first,
second, and third ages, confined to Athenians, and an open competition
for boys of any age.[468] Similarly, in the girls’ foot-races at the
Olympic Heraea the girls are divided into three ages.[469]
There is a general but mistaken idea that the stade-race was honoured
above all other events among the Greeks.[470] There is no evidence for
assigning pre-eminence to the foot-race over other events, or to the
stade-race over other foot-races. It is true that Xenophanes speaks of
speed of foot as honoured more than strength. The fact that out of the
eight athletic events for men existing at Olympia in his day, four were
foot-races, while the foot-race also formed part of the pentathlon, is
sufficient explanation of such a statement. But an examination of the
Epinikia of Pindar and Bacchylides, or the list of athletic statues at
Olympia, is sufficient to prove that Xenophanes’ words must not be
pressed. Out of 25 athletic odes of Pindar, 6 are in honour of victories
in the foot-race, including one for a double victory in the pentathlon
and stade-race, 19 for other events. In Bacchylides three out of nine
odes are for victories in the foot-race. At Olympia 45 statues were
erected for victories in the four foot-races, 59 for victories in
boxing, 39 for wrestling, 20 for the pankration.[471] These figures are
conclusive for Olympia and the Peloponnese. The only evidence to the
contrary comes from Athens. At the Panathenaea the winner of the
stade-race received 50 amphorae of oil, the pankratiast 40, and the
other winners only 30.[472] The inscription which records these facts
refers only to competitions for boys and youths, but probably the same
proportion was observed in those for men. The popularity of the
foot-race at Athens is shown by the fact that at the Panathenaea in the
second century there were no less than nine foot-races, not counting
that in the pentathlon. Of the Panathenaic vases which we possess many
more belong to the foot-race than to any other event. Most of the
victories gained by the Athenians at Olympia were in the short-distance
races, the only other event in which they show excellence being the
pankration. These facts are in entire accordance with all that we know
of the Athenian character, which combined with a certain reckless daring
and love of adventure a constitutional dislike of prolonged
exertion.[473] But the home of Greek athletics was not Athens but the
Peloponnese, and here at least the stade-race enjoyed no pre-eminence.
The selection of the winner of this race as eponymos for the Olympiad
has been explained already as due to the fact that this race came first
in the list; it may also be due in part to the literary supremacy of
Athens.
From a very early time the Greeks discarded the use of the loin-cloth in
racing, and ran absolutely naked. For this, as for all athletic
exercises, the body was carefully oiled. Bacchylides describes how
Aglaus of Athens in the double diaulos, as at the finish of the race he
rushed on into the cheering crowds, bespattered with oil the garments of
the spectators.[474] Competitors ran barefooted and bareheaded. The soft
leather boots (ἐνδρομίδες) which Pollux says that they wore, were worn
only by couriers and messengers, not by athletes.[475] We see no trace
of them on the vases.
We have seen that the start (ἄφεσις) of the running track was marked by
two parallel grooves a few inches apart. Though the evidence of the
excavations does not allow us accurately to determine the date of the
stone sills in which these lines are cut, the frequent allusions in
writers of the fifth century to the starting line (γράμμη) proves beyond
all doubt that this was the method of starting in the fifth century and
earlier. Here, as an old song tells us, the herald summoned the
competitors to “take their stand foot to foot,” just as we see them
represented on vases.[476] The signal to start was given by the herald
calling “Go” (ἄπιτε),[477] or perhaps as in the chariot-race, by a blast
of the trumpet.[478] Then, as to-day, runners would try to get a good
start, and poach a yard or two. But Greek methods of discipline were
more drastic than our own. “Those who start too soon are beaten,” says
Adeimantus to Themistocles in the historic council before Salamis.[479]
[Illustration: Fig. 47. R.-f. Amphora. Louvre.]
But what was the use of the double line? Here again the parallel grooves
can have been no innovation introduced with the stone sills; they must
surely represent the practice of an earlier time. Two lines were cut in
stone, because two lines had been marked in the sand previously. They
certainly cannot have been intended to give a firm foothold for the
runners’ feet, nor is there a particle of evidence for the natural and
attractive suggestion that the Greek started off his hands like the
modern sprinter, and that the grooves afforded a grip for his
fingers.[480] The lines seem only to have been intended to mark the
position for both feet. Why this was done is doubtful. The position
implied is somewhat cramped for a starter. Perhaps the object was to
render it more difficult to poach at the start. Be this as it may, it is
certain that the Greek runner did start with his feet close together in
the position required by the lines.[481] The position is depicted on
several vases; but the best example of it is the charming bronze
statuette of a hoplitodromos from Tübingen (Fig. 12).[482] He stands
with his right foot a few inches behind the left, the toes of the right
nearly level with the left instep. Both knees are slightly bent, the
body is leaning forward, and the right arm is advanced to preserve the
balance. The whole attitude is that of a man on the alert, ready to
start at any moment. The shield on the left arm has been broken away. On
a red-figured amphora in the Louvre (Fig. 47)[483] a hoplitodromos is
represented in an almost identical position. Opposite stands a draped
and wreathed official with his right arm extended and his hand turned
somewhat upwards and backwards. It is a singularly appropriate gesture,
which we often meet with in athletic scenes. We seem almost to hear him
say to the runners, “Steady on the mark.” Another drawing shows us an
unarmed runner standing beside a pillar ready to start, while a youthful
official holds over him a forked rod with which to correct him if he
leaves the mark too soon (Fig. 48). The position of the feet is the
same, but the body is inclined more forwards, and having no shield to
inconvenience him he holds both arms to the front. A more upright
position is shown in Fig. 49, which is taken from Hartwig’s
_Meisterschalen_. The attitude illustrated in these examples is in its
essence the same as that adopted by many runners in the present day, the
chief difference being that the modern runner starts with his feet
somewhat wider apart, and his position is therefore less cramped.
[Illustration: Fig. 48. R.-f. kylix. Formerly at Naples.]
[Illustration: Fig. 49. R.-f. kylix. Chiusi.]
Such was the position adopted at the start in the fifth century, and it
continued as long as and wherever the double-grooved starting lines
continued to be used. It seems, however, that sometimes the runners were
stationed behind a barrier formed by a rope (ὕσπληξ) or by a wooden bar,
and that the signal for the start was given by dropping this rope or
bar.[484] Ropes, as we know, were used in the chariot-race, a separate
rope being stretched in front of each chariot. Aristophanes uses the
phrase “from a single rope” (ὥσπερ ἀπὸ μιᾶς ὑσπλάγιδος) to denote a
simultaneous movement “of one accord.”[485] The vase paintings do not
furnish the faintest indication of the use of a rope in the foot-race.
The only possible trace of its use revealed by excavation is the line of
herms at Athens, which cannot be earlier than imperial times. The posts,
which were placed in the square sockets along the starting line, cannot
have been used to support a rope; for such a rope is incompatible with
the use of the starting lines. There is no evidence of its use in the
foot-race till the third century B.C., when we find reference to the
ὕσπληγες in inscriptions relating to the stadia at Epidaurus and
Athens,[486] and an undoubted allusion to it in the poet Lycophron, who
speaks of a “winged runner bursting through the balbis rope.”[487] Even
then we may doubt whether its use was ever universal. With a rope a
false start is impossible; and yet allusions to runners poaching at the
start occur in literature from Herodotus to Plutarch, or even
later.[488] Still, it is certain that a rope was sometimes used, that it
was raised at some height above the ground and stretched tight in front
of the runners, and that the signal to start was given by the dropping
of the rope. A late epigram tells us that this was accompanied by an
audible sound.[489] In default of definite evidence, it may be suggested
that it was worked by a spring, perhaps somewhat after the manner of the
modern starting-gate. Some support for this suggestion is afforded by
the use of the word ὕσπληξ to denote a spring hunting-trap.
Allusion is also made to a bar of wood placed in front of the runners,
the removal of which gave the signal to start.[490] Such a barrier can
hardly have been introduced earlier than the time of the Empire, and was
probably borrowed from the Roman circus. As stated in the last chapter,
it is possible that the grooves in the pillars at Athens and Epidaurus
served to hold some solid barrier of this sort.
In the stade-race, the runners were divided into heats (τάξεις), which
were drawn by putting into a helmet lots marked with the different
letters of the alphabet.[491] If, as seems probable at Olympia, each
heat consisted of four, there would be four lots marked A, four B, and
so on. It appears that there was no second draw, but that all the
winners of heats ran together in the final, so that the final winner had
won twice.[492] The starting lines at Olympia provided room for twenty
runners at once. In short races the field is often a large one, and we
hear of no less than seven Crotoniats winning their heats in a single
Olympiad.[493] There is no reason for supposing that the heats were
always limited to four. The number would naturally be determined by the
number of entries and the length of the starting lines. On the
Panathenaic vases representing this race we find usually four, but
sometimes two, three, or five runners taking part, though it is unsafe
to draw conclusions from this evidence, the number of figures being
largely determined in a drawing by considerations of space.[494] Of one
thing we may feel sure in spite of assertions to the contrary in modern
text-books: the heats were so arranged as to avoid the necessity of a
bye. A single odd runner would be attached to one of the heats, two or
more would form a heat by themselves. Whether heats were employed in the
longer races we have no evidence to determine.
The runners were separated from one another at the start by posts placed
in the stone sill, and in later times by more massive pillars, and
similar posts or pillars marked the finish or turning point. It has been
suggested that ropes were fastened to these posts, which ran the length
of the course and separated the runners from one another. Unfortunately,
there is no evidence for this natural and attractive explanation, and
such evidence as we do possess is unfavourable. We hear occasionally of
runners interfering with one another by holding, tripping, and running
across.[495] Such foul practices seem to have been rare, and were of
course strictly forbidden. The competitors at Olympia swore a solemn
oath to abstain from all foul play. But on a roped course these
practices are impossible. They may, of course, have been confined to the
long-distance races, in which the course was certainly not roped. But
this is mere supposition, and in the dearth of evidence we must look for
some other explanation of the posts. In the first place they must have
served as guide-posts for the runners, a very necessary aid in a broad
track 200 yards long,—in which it is by no means easy to run straight
without assistance. Possibly each post was distinguished by some special
sign or colour. Then in the diaulos the runners probably turned round
these posts, each turning round his own post. Finally, as the use of the
tape seems to have been unknown at the finish, they must have given the
judges a most useful line for judging a close finish. It is possible
that the first who touched his pillar won, and that in the turn the
runners had to touch their respective pillars. But this is mere
conjecture.
[Illustration: Fig. 50. Panathenaic amphora. Sixth century. (_Mon. d.
I._ I. xxii. 7 b.)]
In the stade-race each runner ran straight to the post opposite his
starting point. The manner of running the other races is more difficult
to determine. The centre socket in one of the lines at Olympia is larger
than the rest, and Dr. Dörpfeld is of opinion that in the diaulos and
dolichos the other posts were removed and only the central one was left,
round which all competitors raced. In the diaulos such a system would
have put those who started on the outside at a serious disadvantage
compared with those who started in the centre, a disadvantage
accentuated by the confusion and crowding at the turn. It seems
therefore probable that the runners raced each to his own post, and
turning round it to the left raced back along the parallel track. In the
longer races the objection is less important, and the representations of
the dolichos on vases seem to show that all the runners raced round and
round the central posts at either end. On an early Panathenaic vase
(Fig. 50) four runners are shown running to the left towards a rough
post. The foremost runner has just reached the post, his left foot just
passing it, but he has not yet turned. The style of running shows that
the post denotes the turn and not the finish.[496]
[Illustration: Fig. 51. Panathenaic amphora, in British Museum, B. 609.
Archonship of Niceratus, 333 B.C.]
The difference in style between the sprinter and the long-distance
runner is clearly marked on Panathenaic vases. The style of the latter
is excellent; his arms are held close in to the sides, yet swinging
freely without any stiffness; his body is slightly inclined forward,
with chest advanced and head erect; and he moves with a long sweeping
stride, running on the ball of the foot, but without raising the heel
unduly (Fig. 51). At the finish he, too, like the sprinter, swung his
arms violently in making his spurt, using them as wings, says
Philostratus.[497] This idea of the winged runner seems to have
influenced the early representation of the stade runner, which at first
sight appears almost grotesque. He seems to be advancing by a series of
leaps and bounds with arms and fingers spreadeagled (Fig. 52).
[Illustration: Fig. 52. Panathenaic amphora. Munich, 498. Sixth
century.]
In criticizing these drawings we must not forget that the subjects on
the Panathenaic vases are usually treated in a conventional manner. The
earliest of these vases are archaic work of the sixth century, the
latest archaistic work of the fourth century, and, as is usual in
objects connected with religion, the conventions of the earlier period
are preserved in the later. Now, if we make allowance for the
limitations of the early artist, and the extreme difficulty of the
subject, we shall find that the artists have succeeded in reproducing
the essential points of a sprint. The runners run well on the ball of
the foot, the heel somewhat higher than in the long race; their knees
are well raised and their bodies erect. The movement of the arms seems
exaggerated at first, till we compare the vase paintings with snapshot
photographs of a short-distance race. Then we see that every sprinter
uses his arms. The Americans have certainly reduced running to a
science, and I will therefore quote a passage from a well-known American
trainer and athlete: “The arms are of great service in sprinting, and
the importance of this fact is generally under-estimated. They are used
in _bent form and moved almost straight forward and back_, not sideways
across the body.”[498] This is just what we see on the vases. Why, then,
is the effect grotesque? Because the vase painter has made the right arm
move with the right leg and _vice versa_, whereas, in reality, the right
arm moves with the left leg. A similar mistake may often be observed in
the drawings of horses. In both cases the mistake is due partly to the
difficulty of representing the action accurately; partly, and this is
true especially of the finer red-figured vases, to artistic causes. A
side view of a sprinter always looks awkward, and the artist therefore
tries to improve upon nature. But that the Greek really used his arms
just as we do is shown by the fact that on some of the later Panathenaic
vases the arms are represented quite correctly (Fig. 53), and
occasionally even on sixth-century vases, as in the leading runner of
Fig. 52.[499] The grotesqueness of movement is enhanced by the stiff
manner in which the fingers are outstretched—another purely artistic
peculiarity, which we need not therefore, as a popular lecturer did
recently, hold up as an example for the imitation of modern athletes. As
a matter of fact, the action of the Greek sprinter is not so violent as
that of the modern, and this is natural, seeing that the Greeks had no
race shorter than 200 yards.
In the diaulos and hippios the style must have been less violent.
Perhaps some of the existing vases represent these events, but owing to
the absence of any inscription we cannot say for certain. One fragment
found at Athens bears the inscription “I am a diaulos runner”; and the
style, as we should expect, is a compromise between that of the sprinter
and that of the long-distance runner. The arms are swung, but not as
violently as in the sprint, while the stride is long and even, the knees
not raised unduly.[500] On another fragment found at Athens we find the
position of the arms typical of the dolichos combined with the high
action of the sprinter. Unfortunately this fragment is uninscribed.[501]
[Illustration: Fig. 53. Panathenaic amphora. Fourth century. (Stephani,
_C. R. Atlas_, 1876, Pl. i.)]
The physical types represented on these vases vary considerably. On the
earlier vases a short, thick-set, bearded type prevails, with powerful
shoulders and thighs. On the later vases we see greater length of limb.
The thinness of the sprinters is sometimes exaggerated to the point of
emaciation. On the other hand, some of the long-distance runners, in
spite of their length of limb, seem too heavy in build for the distance.
They are of the type of the Apoxyomenos, who, though he might be
excellent over 200 yards or quarter of a mile, is too heavy for a
three-mile race.
A peculiarity ascribed in our text-books to the Greek runner is the
habit of encouraging himself to greater efforts by shouting as he ran,
with all the strength of his lungs. The only evidence for so absurd and
improbable a practice is a rhetorical passage in Cicero,[502] who can
hardly be regarded as an authority on Greek athletics, even on those of
his own day, when athletics were at their lowest ebb. Nor need we credit
the statement that the Greeks raced in deep sand. Lucian, it is true,
describes the youths in the gymnasium practising running in the sand as
a severe form of exercise,[503] but the account preserved of the careful
preparation of the stadium at Delphi proves that the racing track was
something very different.
It is difficult to form any estimate of value as to the respective
merits of different districts in different branches of athletics. The
evidence is too fragmentary and extends over too vast a period. Many of
the extraordinary performances which Pausanias records belong to the
time of the Empire. For the period of Greek independence it seems safe
to say that in the Peloponnese the Spartans and Arcadians were most
successful in the foot-race, and outside the Peloponnese, the Crotoniats
and Cretans.[504] The excellence of the latter in long-distance running
is illustrated by Xenophon’s account of the games held by the remnant of
the ten thousand at Trapezus, at which no less than sixty Cretans
competed in the dolichos.[505] Most of the celebrated runners have been
mentioned in the course of our history. To these we may add the names of
Phayllus of Croton, a stadiodromos and pentathlete, of whom we shall
have more to say, and Ladas of Sparta, a long-distance runner of the
fifth century, who must not be confused with a later Ladas of Achaea,
who won the stade-race in Ol. 125. The popular idea that Ladas died as
he reached the goal, in the very moment of victory, is hardly creditable
to the training of the most famous runner of his day. It seems to be a
myth, derived from a misunderstanding of the epigram which describes the
statue of the runner made by Myron.[506] Pausanias merely tells us that
he died shortly after his victory, on his way home. We have no means of
comparing the performances of Greek runners with those of our own. We
hear of a sprinter who could outrun and catch hares,[507] of another
runner who raced a horse from Coronea to Thebes and beat it.[508]
Pheidippides, as we all know, ran from Athens to Sparta in two days;
Ageus, who won the long race at Olympia in Ol. 113, is reported to have
carried the news of his victory to Argos on the same day; and a still
better performance is recorded in a fourth-century inscription found at
Epidaurus of one Drumos, who records as an “example of manliness,” that
he brought the news of his Olympic victory from Elis to Epidaurus on the
same day. The distance as the crow flies is nearly ninety miles.[509]
All this is too vague for comparison. Such scanty evidence suggests that
the Greeks obtained a generally high standard of excellence in running,
and that such superiority as they may have possessed was shown rather in
long races than in short.
The race in armour was first introduced at the close of the sixth
century.[510] It was a military exercise, and its introduction was an
attempt to restore to athletics that practical character which under the
stress of competition was even then in danger of being lost. Its
practical character naturally won for it the approval of Plato, who
proposed to introduce in his ideal state races in heavy and in light
armour. Appealing as it did to the whole body of soldier-citizens rather
than to specialized athletes, it was an extremely popular event, and its
popularity was enhanced by its picturesqueness, which made it a
favourite subject for the vase painter. For the same reason it seems not
to have possessed, at all events in later times, the same athletic
importance as the purely athletic events: it was no race for the
specialist; rather it belonged to that class of mixed athletics, such as
obstacle races and races in uniform, which are a popular and also a
valuable feature in military sports. Hence at Olympia and elsewhere the
race in armour was an appropriate close to the athletic programme,[511]
marking as it did the connexion between athletic training and real life.
[Illustration: Fig. 54. R.-f. kylix ascribed to Euphronius. Paris,
Bibliothèque Nationale, 523.]
There were many varieties of the armed race, differing from one another
in distance, in equipment, and in rules. The most strenuous of all these
competitions was that at the Eleutheria at Plataea, partly, Philostratus
tells us, owing to the length of the course; partly owing to the
completeness of the armour worn, which enveloped the athlete from head
to foot; partly owing to a remarkable rule that any competitor who
having once won the race entered again and failed incurred the penalty
of death. Perhaps this regulation means no more than that no previous
winner was allowed to compete a second time.[512] At Nemea the race was
over the hippios course of four stades, at Olympia and at Athens it was
a diaulos of two stades.[513] Elsewhere the distance may have been
different. Similarly the equipment varied. The runners at Olympia
originally wore helmets and greaves, and carried round shields,
twenty-five of which were kept there for the use of competitors. The
wearing of greaves was discontinued at a later date.[514] The vase
paintings, which mostly represent Athenian practice, show that while the
usage varied previous to 520 B.C., greaves became general after that
date, but disappear entirely after 450 B.C.[515] There is no evidence
that the runners ever carried weapons. The danger of such a practice is
obvious. We often see processions of hoplites thus armed proceeding at a
double, and these are often described as races.[516] It seems safer and
more reasonable to regard them merely as military processions, or
perhaps competitions such as we know took place at the Athenian
festivals.
[Illustration: Fig. 55. R.-f. kylix. Formerly in Berlin. (_J.H.S._
xxiii. p. 278.)]
All the various details of the race are pictured on the vases. On a
red-figured vase by Euphronius in Paris we see the preparations for the
race (Fig. 54). In the centre stands a robed official or trainer with
his rod, and around him are various runners practising. One of them is
putting on his armour, others, perhaps, are engaged in a preliminary
canter such as is described by Statius.[517] The position at the start
has already been described. From the number of shields kept for this
race at Olympia it would seem that the field was usually a large one, as
we should expect, and certain vases representing the turn indicate that
whatever was the case in the unarmed diaulos the runners in armour
raced, not each round his separate post, but all together round the
central post, turning round it to the left. This critical moment is
perhaps represented in the left-hand group on the Euphronius kylix,
where the runner to the left has just completed the turn, and is
starting on his way back, but has not yet got into his stride. Another
vase shows a pair of runners—one checking his pace before the turn, and
another in the very act of turning (Fig. 55). Their attitude seems to
show that the turn took place round a pillar, and that the runners had
not merely to toe the line. The most complete picture of the race is
represented on a red-figured kylix in Berlin (Fig. 56). On one side we
see a group of three. To the right a runner is in the position of the
start; to the left another is almost in the act of swinging round the
post at the turn. Both these runners move to the left; the central
runner, who is already starting back, moves to the right. On the other
side we see three runners in full race, one of whom is guilty of the
fatal mistake of looking round. Is he protesting against his
fellow-runner for some unfairness?
[Illustration: Fig. 56. R.-f. kylix. Berlin, 2307.]
[Illustration: Fig. 57. R.-f. kylix. British Museum, E. 818.]
Finally, on a red-figured vase in the British Museum, we see the finish
of the race (Fig. 57). A bearded runner who has passed the winning post
looks back in triumph on his rival, who, as he reaches the goal, seems
to have thrown down his shield in disgust. The winner holds in his hand
his helmet, which he has just taken off. This gesture, which occurs on a
number of vases, seems to be symbolical of victory. What could be more
natural at the finish of a 400 yards’ race over the hot sand and beneath
the scorching sun of Olympia than to take off the heavy, cumbrous
helmet? The action reminds one, too, of a cricketer who after a fine
innings takes off his cap as he returns to the pavilion. Of the style of
the runners little need be said; it resembles the style of the stade
runner in the swinging of the arm, and for obvious reasons of symmetry
the vase painter always makes the right arm work with the right leg, the
left arm, which holds the shield, being generally stationary. The type
of runner represented on Panathenaic vases is, as we should expect,
sturdier and heavier than is shown in other races. The hoplites on one
in the British Museum exhibit that length of body in comparison with
length of leg which Philostratus mentions as a useful quality for this
event, and we may further note that they run on a flat foot (Fig. 58).
Yet in spite of such examples a foreign archeologist has maintained that
the hoplitodromos advanced by a series of leaps and bounds, and has
deduced therefrom the theory that jumping was the best training for this
race, and that therefore the statue of a hoplitodromos practising,
described by Pausanias, represented him not running, but jumping! The
Greek athlete has certainly been hardly treated by some of his admirers.
[Illustration: Fig. 58. Panathenaic amphora. British Museum, B. 608.
Archonship of Pythodelus, 336 B.C.]
The popularity of the armed race in the fifth century is partly due to
that spirit of military enthusiasm which animated athletics after the
Persian wars, and partly to its attractiveness as a spectacle. There is
something amusing in the sight of a body of men racing at full speed in
incongruous costume, and the comic element in the armed race is brought
out in the _Birds_ of Aristophanes,[518] where Peisthetaerus as he
watches the chorus of birds advancing on the stage with their quaint
plumage and crests aptly compares them to the hoplites assembling to run
the diaulos. Amusing incidents must have been frequent, especially in
the crowding at the turning post. On vases, for example, we often see a
runner who has dropt his shield, or stoops to pick it up.[519] A race of
this kind naturally lends itself to variations, and of these we have
evidence on the vases. A red-figured kylix at Munich shows two armed
runners racing to the left, holding their shields in front of them in a
decidedly quaint style (Fig. 59). Three others race in the opposite
direction, two of them with helmets only, the third unarmed. The sponge
and other implements hanging on the walls indicate that the scene is
placed in the gymnasium where athletes are practising; but the idea
suggested is undoubtedly that of a race in which the runners at the end
of the lap put down their shields and ran the next lap without them, and
then, perhaps, doffed their helmets also. No certainty is attainable as
to details, but the vases establish the general fact that such
variations did exist at different places.[520]
[Illustration: Fig. 59. R.-f. kylix. Munich, 1240.]
The comic element is still more apparent in the Lampadadromia and in the
Oschophoria described above.[521] These old ritual races hardly come
within the sphere of true athletics, although connected with the
gymnasia and the training of the epheboi. They are of the type of events
which we find in the modern gymkhana, and it is therefore unnecessary to
describe them here at length.
The torch-race was widely spread throughout Greek lands and its
popularity was maintained till Roman times. At Athens there were
torch-races at the Panathenaea, at the Epitaphia and the Thesea, and in
the time of Socrates a torch-race on horseback was instituted at the
festival of Bendis. The torch-race took place at night. There were two
principal varieties of it—one a race between individuals, the other
between teams. In the former the runners started from the altar of
Prometheus in the Academy, and raced into the city, the one who arrived
first with his torch lighted being proclaimed victor. The efforts of the
runners to keep their torches alight as they ran along stooping like
boys in an egg and spoon race caused endless amusement among the
spectators, and as they passed through the narrow gateway into the city,
the ribald dwellers in the potters’ quarter sped them on their way with
loud resounding slaps.[522] The team-race is familiar to all from the
famous simile in the _Agamemnon_. The members of the teams were posted
at intervals along the way; the first runner handed it to the second as
he reached him, and so on till it came to the last. The team that
brought their torch still lighted to the finish first was declared the
winner. The teams must have been originally representative of the
tribes. In the first century B.C. we find teams mentioned from various
palaestrae; thus victories are recorded of boys from the palaestra of
Timeas, and of Antigenes, or from the Lyceum.[523] The training of the
teams was a voluntary service (λειτουργία) performed by the
Gymnasiarchoi, or by special officials, the Lampadarchoi, whose names
are mentioned on inscriptions when their teams won. There were
torch-races for boys and youths of various ages. Aristophanes speaks of
torch-racing and hunting as the fashionable amusements of a smart
youth.[524] At a later time the torch-race is mentioned in inscriptions
as one of the duties expected from the epheboi, rather as a ceremonial
duty than as an athletic exercise.[525] The religious character of the
race was maintained in Roman times. An inscription from Scyros
prescribes penalties for any one, whether slave or freeman, found guilty
of unfair practices in the torch-races of the tribes. If a slave, he is
to be scourged and his master fined; if a freeman or one of the runners,
he is not only to be fined but considered a “sacrilegious person and
accursed.”[526]
Little is known of the methods of training employed by Greek runners.
The gymnasia at Olympia and Delphi were provided with running tracks
corresponding in length to the actual stadia, and that at Olympia was
provided with grooved starting sills. Thus the runners could practise
the start, and, what was equally important, the turn, under the same
conditions as obtained in competition. To gain endurance they ran in
heavy sand. Aristotle mentions as an exercise practised in the palaestra
running or rather waddling on the knees![527] At a later date we learn
from Epictetus that the training for the long-distance runner was
different from that of the sprinter in its regulations for diet,
massage, and food; but he gives us no details.[528] Philostratus tells
us that the long-distance runner instead of training over the whole
course would run eight or ten stades only, a practice quite in accord
with that of the present day.[529] In those degenerate days athletes had
also recourse to quack medicines and charms. A concoction of equisetum
was recommended as a cure for the stitch, and some runners for a similar
purpose wore a girdle of horses’ teeth. Athletes have always been
superstitious.[530]
Footnote 456:
Krause, _Gym._ p. 348.
Footnote 457:
Bacchylides, ix. τετραέλικτον ἐπεὶ κάμψεν δρόμον; Eurip. _Electra_,
825; Pausanias, vi. 16, 4; Ditt. _Syll._ 2nd Ed., 676.
Footnote 458:
_Leg._ viii. 833, C, D.
Footnote 459:
Pausanias, v. 16, 2.
Footnote 460:
_Ol. Inschr._ 56.
Footnote 461:
Pausanias, vi. 14, 1.
Footnote 462:
_Ib._ 15, 1.
Footnote 463:
_Ib._ 2, 10.
Footnote 464:
Mie, _Quaestiones Agonisticae_, p. 48; Ditt. _Syll._ 2nd. Ed., 677,
678.
Footnote 465:
Roberts and Gardner, _Greek Epigraphy_, ii. p. 166.
Footnote 466:
_C.I.G._ 1590.
Footnote 467:
Ditt. _Syll._ 2nd Ed., 524.
Footnote 468:
_I.G._ ii. 444.
Footnote 469:
Pausanias, v. 16, 2.
Footnote 470:
In _J.H.S._ xxiii. p. 266 I have myself made the mistake.
Footnote 471:
These figures are drawn up from the tables given in Hyde’s _De
Olympionicarum Statuis_.
Footnote 472:
_I.G._ ii. 965. _Vide supra_, p. 234.
Footnote 473:
Mr. R. E. Macnaghten, in a very suggestive paper in the _Classical
Review_, xxi. p. 13, attributes to the Athenians the degradation in
meaning of all words denoting toil, among which he cites ἄθλιος.
Footnote 474:
Bacchylides, ix.
Footnote 475:
Krause, _Gym._ p. 362.
Footnote 476:
Pomtow, _Poetae Lyrici Graeci Minores_, ii. p. 154 βαλβῖδι ποδῶν
θέντες πόδα παρ πόδα. Julian, 318.
Footnote 477:
Aristophanes, _Eq._ 1161.
Footnote 478:
Sophocles, _El._ 711.
Footnote 479:
Hdt. viii. 59.
Footnote 480:
The only vase which could possibly represent this position is a r.-f.
skyphos reproduced in _J.H.S._ xxiii. p. 283. It represents a
hoplitodromos leaning forward, his right hand resting on the ground.
But it will be remarked that his feet are in the usual position, level
with the pillar where the starting lines should be. Opposite stands an
official in the attitude shown in Fig. 47, and I am now inclined to
think that the runner in practising a start has overbalanced himself,
and that the official is telling him to get back to his mark.
Footnote 481:
_J.H.S._ xxiii. pp. 269 ff.
Footnote 482:
_Jahrb._ 1886, Pl. ix. Cp. Dr. Hauser in _Jahrb._ 1887 and 1895; M. A.
de Ridder in _B.C.H._, 1897; criticisms on the same in _J.H.S._ _l.c._
Footnote 483:
_Bull. Nap. nouv. sér._ vi. 7; _J.H.S._ _l.c._ p. 270, Fig. 1.
Footnote 484:
The passages relating to the ὕσπληξ are collected by me in _J.H.S._
xxiii. p. 263. To these may be added, Bekker, _Anecd._ 220, 31 βαλβίς.
Ξῦλα δύο τῶν δρομέων ἀφ’ ὧν σχοινίον τί διατέταται, ὃ καλεῖται βαλβίς,
ἵνα ἐνεῦθεν ἐκδράμωσιν οἱ ἀγωνιζόμενοι; Fränckel, _Antiq. Pergam._
viii. 1, p. 8, 10, epigram on the victory of Attalus in the
chariot-race; Schol. to Aristoph. _Eq._ 1159 βαλβίς· ἡ ὑπὸ τὴν ὕσπληγα
γενομένη γράμμη.
Footnote 485:
_Lysist._ 1000.
Footnote 486:
Ditt. _Syll._ 2nd Ed., 688; Ἐφ. Ἀρχ., 1884, 169.
Footnote 487:
Lycophron 13 βαλβῖδα μηρίνθου σχάσας.
Footnote 488:
_J.H.S._ _l.c._ p. 264.
Footnote 489:
_Anth. Pal._ ix. 557.
Footnote 490:
Schol. to Aristoph. _Eq._ 1159 βαλβὶς δὲ καλεῖται τὸ ἐν τῇ ἄρχῃ τοῦ
δρόμου κείμενον ἐγκαρσίως ξῦλον, ὃ καὶ ἀφετήριον καλεῖται, ὅπερ μετὰ
τὸ ἐτοιμασθῆναι τοὺς δρομέας εἰς τὸ δραμεῖν ἀφαιρούμενοι ἀφίεσαν
τρέχειν.
Footnote 491:
This is the method for drawing the ties for wrestling and boxing
described by Lucian, _Hermotim_, 40.
Footnote 492:
Pausanias, vi. 13, 2. The text of the passage is unfortunately
corrupt.
Footnote 493:
Strabo, vi. 12.
Footnote 494:
Out of fifteen such vases, one has two runners, three have three,
three have five, and eight have four. The number four is more usual
also in representations of the longer races.
Footnote 495:
Krause, _Gym._ p. 363. _J.H.S._ _l.c._ p. 262. In Vergil Nisus trips
Salius, _Aen._ v. 335; in Statius, vi. 616, Idas seizes Parthenopaeus
by the hair. More important is a passage in Lucian, _Calumn. non
temere cred._ 12 ἄναθλος ἀνταγωνιστὴς ἀπογνοὺς τὴν ἐκ τοῦ τάχους
ἐλπίδα ἐπὶ τὴν κακοτεχνίαν ἐτράπετο καὶ τοῦτο μόνον ἐξ ἅπαντος σκοπεῖ
ὅπως τὸν τρέχοντα ἐπιοχὼν ἣ ἐμποδίσας ἐπιστομιεῖ. Cp. Cicero, _de
Officiis_, iii. 10.
Footnote 496:
It is unnecessary to repeat here the arguments on which these
conclusions are based. They are stated fully in _J.H.S._ xxiii. p.
267.
Footnote 497:
_Gym._ 32 οἷον πτερούμενοι ὑπὸ τῶν χειρῶν. Winged figures are very
frequent in early Greek art: a very beautiful later representation of
a winged runner occurs on a r.-f. vase published in _B.C.H._, 1899, p.
158.
Footnote 498:
_Practical Track and Field Athletics_, by John Graham and Ellery H.
Clark (D. Nutt), p. 24. A photograph of two runners (Pl. vi.) taken in
an actual race bears a striking resemblance to the pictures on Greek
vases.
Footnote 499:
_C.R._, 1876, Pl. i.
Footnote 500:
_National Museum_, 761.
Footnote 501:
_Mon. d. I._ X. 48 h, 15.
Footnote 502:
_Tusc. Disp._ ii. 23.
Footnote 503:
_Anacharsis_ 27.
Footnote 504:
Krause, _Gym._ p. 379.
Footnote 505:
Xen. _Anab._ iv. 8, 27. The Damonon inscription records the successes
of Damonon and his son in local festivals. Damonon won many victories
in the stade and diaulos; his son twice won the stade, the diaulos and
the long race on the same day. The inscription is a good proof of the
athletic ability of the Spartans in the fifth century; specialization
in athletics found no favour at Sparta, _B.S.A._ xiii. 179.
Footnote 506:
_Anth. Plan._ iv. 54; Pausanias, iii. 21.
Footnote 507:
Philostr. _Gym._ 23.
Footnote 508:
Diodor. Sic. xiv. 11.
Footnote 509:
Jul. Africanus, Ol. 113; _I.G._ iv. 1349.
Footnote 510:
Artemidor. i. 63; Plutarch, _Quaest. Symp._ ii. 5; Pausanias, iii. 14,
3; Philostr. _Gym._ 7; Heliodor. _Aeth._ iv.
Footnote 511:
For a full discussion of the armed race _vide_ _J.H.S._ xxiii. p. 280
ff. On vases this race is frequently connected with boxing and the
pankration, the events which probably preceded it in the programme.
_Vide_ Figs. 54, 151.
Footnote 512:
Phil. _Gym._ 8, 24. I have already pointed out that Philostratus is
somewhat credulous, and too much inclined to accept without
investigation the tales poured into his ears by the authorities at
Elis and elsewhere. It was the fashion in his time to exaggerate the
Spartan severity of Greek athletics.
Footnote 513:
For Nemea _vide_ Philostratus, _l.c._; for Olympia, Paus. ii. 11, 8;
for Athens Aristoph. _Av._ 291, and Scholiast.
Footnote 514:
Paus. v. 12, 8; vi. 10, 4.
Footnote 515:
Hauser, _Jahrb._, 1895, p. 199.
Footnote 516:
_B.M. Vases_, E. 22; Gerh. _A. V._ 258, 1.
Footnote 517:
_Theb._ vi. 587.
Footnote 518:
_Av._ 291.
Footnote 519:
_J.H.S._ _l.c._ pp. 284-287.
Footnote 520:
_J.H.S._ _l.c._ pp. 282-284. The argument which I drew from the use of
the epithet ποικίλοι in the passage of Philostratus must be abandoned.
Dr. Jüthner’s recent edition of the _Gymnastik_ proves that there is
no authority for this reading; he himself suggests πάλαιοι. The
general conclusions drawn in my article are not really affected by the
change.
Footnote 521:
P. 228.
Footnote 522:
Aristophanes, _Ran._ 1087; _Lysistr._ 1002.
Footnote 523:
_I.G._ ii. 444, 446.
Footnote 524:
_Vesp._ 1203.
Footnote 525:
_I.G._ 444.
Footnote 526:
Ditt. _Syll._ 2nd Ed., 680.
Footnote 527:
_De Gressu Animal._ p. 709.
Footnote 528:
Arrian, iii. 22.
Footnote 529:
_Gym._ 11.
Footnote 530:
Pliny, _H. N._ xxvi. 13, 83; xxviii. 19, 78. The spleen was supposed
to cause stitch; Plautus, _Merc._ i. 2, 14.