Fig. 90. B.-f. hydria. Vienna, 318.
We see then that the principle contained in Myron’s statue remains fixed, while there is room for considerable diversity in style and detail, especially in the movement of the feet. This scheme differs essentially from both the styles employed in the modern Olympic games. The “free style” abandons the principle; the so-called Hellenic style demands a slavish adherence to an artificial model. When diskos-throwing was first revived in Athens in 1896, the Greeks and other competitors, taking for model Myron’s statue and untrammelled by theories, naturally developed a style which certainly approximated to the true style of the ancients. A new method was invented shortly afterwards by foreign athletes, particularly Americans, who applied to the diskos the principles employed in throwing the hammer and the heavy weight, in which the force is gained by one or more complete turns of the body. This method was certainly effective, but it was not Greek, and it destroyed the distinctive character of the exercise. This annoyed the Greeks, and to check such innovations they devised the so-called “Hellenic style,” and in the last two Olympic games there were separate competitions in the two styles. Unfortunately “the Hellenic style” is as far removed from the true style as the free style. The throw is made from the ridiculous sloping balbis already described, and it is ordained that because Myron’s diskobolos has his right foot forward, the right foot must be kept forward till the completion of the throw. A more senseless restriction it is hard to imagine. Not only is it fatal to all grace and freedom of movement, but it shows a complete misunderstanding of the statue, and is, as we have seen, contrary to all the evidence of literature and art. The mistake is much to be regretted. Diskos-throwing is a valuable and graceful exercise, which well deserves to find a place in our modern sports; but if ever it is to regain its popularity, it must be by a return to the true methods of the ancients.
In heroic times throwing the diskos was a separate event, and various gods and heroes excelled therein; in historical times it only occurs as part of the pentathlon, and as such it was accompanied by the flute as represented in Fig. [77]. The only separate competition with the diskos was at Olbia, a Milesian colony in Scythia, at the festival of Achilles Pontarches.[[589]] The diskos, however, seems to have played an important part in the life of the gymnasium and palaestra if we may judge from the frequent allusions to it in literature and the countless representations of it in art. It even won favour with the Romans, who despised most Greek sports, and Horace mentions throwing the diskos and the javelin as manly exercises fit for a young soldier.[[590]] As a physical exercise it was certainly valuable. According to Lucian it strengthened the shoulders and gave tone to the extremities.[[591]] Doctors approved of it, and Aretaeus recommends it as a cure for chronic headache and dizziness.[[592]]
CHAPTER XVI
THROWING THE JAVELIN
The javelin used in Greek sports is called variously ἄκων, ἀκόντιον, μεσάγκυλον, ἀποτομάς.[[593]] The latter term appears to denote merely a lath or stick, and accurately describes the javelin as represented on the vases. A straight pole, in length nearly equal to the height of a man, though occasionally longer, and about the thickness of a man’s finger, it is one of the commonest objects in palaestra scenes, whether in use or planted in the ground singly or in pairs, perhaps to mark a starting-line for jump or throw. These rods were formerly described as jumping-poles, but the fact that the throwing-strap or ankyle is often attached to them proves that they are nothing more than javelins. At the same time there is no reason why they should not have served as measuring rods (κανόνες) for measuring the jump, a use which is perhaps represented on the British Museum kelebe (Fig. [77]).
The athletic javelin is in the vast majority of cases pointless. On early black-figured vases such as the kelebe just mentioned, it is represented by a black line which seems to taper, but this is a mere accident of technique, the natural result of a line drawn with a single rapid stroke of brush or pen. On the red-figured vases the rod is usually square at the end, and often appears to have a blunt cap or ferule, indicated by a thickening of the end, or by a black patch or by lines which represent the binding by which it is attached. Such, we may suppose, were the javelins which Xenophon recommends cavalry soldiers to use in practice, provided with a round end (ἐσφαιρωμένα) like the button on the modern foil or bayonet.[[594]] These caps served not only for protection, but to give to the head of the javelin the necessary weight, without which it would not fly properly. Blunt javelins were naturally used for practice, especially for distance throws.
Pointed javelins are rarely represented in athletic scenes; but their use even in practice is shown by the speech of Antiphon in defence of a youth who accidentally hit and killed a boy who ran across the range as he was throwing.[[595]] On the vases which represent javelin throwing on horseback at a target, the javelins are all pointed, and in two cases have long leaflike heads such as we see in hunting scenes.[[596]] For throwing at a target, pointed javelins were necessary, at all events in competitions: but the enormous preponderance of the blunt javelins justifies the conclusion that these were generally used for practice, and that, down to the close of the fifth century distance-throwing was more usual than throwing at a target.
Whether pointed or blunt, the athletic javelin was evidently a light weapon, and Anacharsis contemptuously contrasts it with more formidable weapons which are not carried about by the wind.[[597]] It was thrown by means of a thong, called ἀγκύλη or amentum, fastened near the centre of the javelin, which was therefore called μεσάγκυλον. The amentum was a leather thong, a foot or eighteen inches in length, if we may judge from the numerous representations of a javelin thrower (ἀκοντιστής) holding the javelin in one hand, and the thong in the other.[[598]] It was detachable, but before use was firmly bound round the shaft, in such a way as to leave a loop three to four inches long, in which the thrower inserted his first, or his first and middle fingers. The point of attachment was near the centre of gravity, in the lightheaded javelins of athletics almost in the centre of the shaft, in the heavier javelins of war or the chase generally nearer to the head. Possibly, too, its place varied, according as the javelin was to be thrown for distance, or at a mark. By putting the amentum behind the centre of gravity, it is possible to increase the distance thrown, but at a sacrifice of accuracy. Hence the athlete fastened it to suit his taste shortly before use. On the British Museum hydria shown in Fig. [88] a youth is seated on the ground in the act of attaching the amentum. On a red-figured kylix at Würzburg (Fig. [91]) we see a youth winding the amentum round the shaft, while he holds the other end tight with his foot. Some of the ways in which the amentum was fastened can be seen in the accompanying illustration. The clearest example is that from the Alexander Mosaic in Naples (Fig. [92]e). In every case it is only the actual loop which is left free.
Fig. 91. R.-f. kylix. Würzburg, 432.