Fig. 47.—Boxers of the late Mycenaean Period (No. 151).
Athletic and pugilistic contests were already developed on Greek soil before the Homeric Age. Thus we have a steatite vase from Crete (see Cast in First Vase Room) with boxers in all positions. A pair of boxers (of about 1100 B.C.) from a vase found at Enkomi in Cyprus is shown in fig. 47 (No. 151). In the Homeric poems athletic contests frequently occur, but only as isolated and unorganized events, without rules or system. It was only at a much later date that the games were organized on lines corresponding to those of modern sport. At Olympia, the great festivals were said, according to tradition, to have begun in 776 B.C., and it was from that year that the Greeks calculated their dates, reckoning by the periodical return of the meeting every fourth year.
The events at the games which may specially be called athletic were six in number: the pentathlon (or "five contests") was a competition made up of the jump, the foot-race, throwing the diskos, throwing the javelin, and wrestling.[30] The pentathlon was decided by a system of "heats," and the victor enjoyed a great reputation as an exceptional "all-round" man. The pankration was a combination of wrestling and boxing, which tended to develop the type of heavy professional athletes.
The victorious athlete was held in high honour by his native city. The prize at the games was indeed of no value—at Olympia it was a crown of wild olive—but on his return home the victor entered the city in triumph, feasts were held and odes were sung in his honour, he was maintained for the remainder of his life, and his statue was set up in the place where his victory had been won.
Fig. 48.—Stone Jumping-Weight (No. 154*). L. 11½ in.
We will first deal with the events of the pentathlon in order:—
The Jump.—For the ancient jumping contests the competitors used jumping-weights (halteres). Their use is shown on the vase, E 499 (No. 152). One youth is about to leap, another stands waiting, and the trainer holds a short switch. On the vase E 561 (No. 153) a youth is also on the point of leaping. Examples of the jumping-weights are shown. The pair in lead (No. 154) are of a type which is seen not infrequently on Greek vases, consisting of blocks of lead widened at each end. The weight for the left hand, which is completely preserved, weighs 2 lb. 5 oz. (cf. also fig. 52). With this pair may be compared the cast of a single stone jumping-weight (No. 154*) found at Olympia and now at Berlin (fig. 48). It differs from the pair just described, and resembles the type described by Pausanias,[31] who travelled through Greece in the second century of our era, as forming half of an elongated and irregular sphere. It probably dates from about 500 B.C. Another type is represented by a remarkable but cumbrous example in limestone, from Kameiros in Rhodes, a long cylindrical instrument with deep grooves for the thumb and fingers, to give a firm hold (No. 155; fig. 49).