[691]. For mythological references vide Krause, pp. 498 ff.
[692]. Philostr. Gym. 9, 12.
[693]. For a fuller account of this subject the reader is referred to the admirable chapter in Dr. Jüthner’s Antike Turngeräthe, pp. 66-95, where he will find full references both literary and monumental.
[694]. Paus. vi. 23, 4; viii. 40, 3. Plato, Leg. viii. 830 B.
[695]. Ant. Turn. p. 67.
[696]. Plato, Theaet. 27. Krause, p. 323, distinguishes two games, one described as διελκυστίνδα or διὰ γραμμῆς παίζειν, a tug-of-war between teams, the other called σκάπερδα or ἑλκυστίνδα, a game in which two youths tried to lift one another off the ground by means of a rope passed through a hole in a pillar. Roulez was the first to suggest this explanation of the thongs shown on vases. His explanation is adopted in a recent article on a fine r.-f. kylix representing wrestling and boxing scenes, Pl. xxxv. in the Transactions of the University of Pennsylvania, 1907, p. 140.
[697]. Op. cit. p. 69.
[698]. Gym. 10 ὥπλιστο δὲ ἡ ἀρχαία πυγμὴ τὸν τρόπον τοῦτον· ἐς στρόφιον οἱ τέτταρες τῶν δακτύλων ἐνεβιβάζοντο καὶ ὑπερέβαλλον τοῦ στροφίου τοσοῦτον ὅσον, εἰ συνάγοιντο, πὺξ εἶναι, συνείχοντο δὲ ὑπὸ σειρᾶς ἣν καθάπερ ἔρεισμα ἐβέβληντο ἐκ τοῦ πήχεος. Cp. Paus. viii. 40, 3.
[699]. Sometimes the thongs are drawn only on the hand, sometimes only on the wrist, sometimes they are completely wanting. This is probably due to nothing but carelessness, but in some cases these lines, which were usually painted in after the rest of the figure was finished, may have simply worn off.
[700]. Jüthner, Fig. 59.