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]]
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.
