(a) The Practical Style.—The soldier or hunter must have his javelin ready for use at a moment’s notice. He therefore carries it with his fingers passed through the loop (διηγκυλισμένος). He may carry it horizontally at his side, as does the warrior in Fig. [93], but a freer and more natural position is with the arm bent and the javelin sloped over the shoulder and pointed downwards. From this position he can draw his arm straight back for the throw, or raise the elbow so that the javelin is level with his head, the natural position for taking aim. This manner of holding the javelin is implied or represented in numerous scenes of war or the chase, and is equally serviceable on horseback or on foot. Perhaps the best examples of it occur on two Panathenaic vases representing the pentathlon, one in the British Museum, the other in Leyden (Figs. [107], [108]). On the Leyden vase the akontistes carries his javelin still on the slope; so does the athlete who heads the procession on the British Museum vase, but the other akontistes has raised it horizontally. This position with the javelin poised on a level with the head is the natural position for starting, whether the thrower uses an amentum or not. The javelin may remain in this position during the run, or may be at once drawn back. Where time was no object, the thrower might, before starting to run, adjust the javelin by pressing the point back with the left hand, in the manner represented on a black-figured stamnos in the Museo Gregoriano (Fig. [97]).
Fig. 97. B.-f. stamnos. Vatican.
From the carry the arm is drawn back to its full extent, as shown on the François vase (Fig. [94]). In the actual throw the movement is reversed, arm and spear travelling back through the same positions, except that when the amentum is used the hand at once releases the shaft of the spear, which is merely held by means of the thong. A realistic picture of this moment is shown on an early black-figured vase from the Acropolis, the lower zone of which contains a cavalry fight between archers and javelin throwers (Fig. [98]).
Fig. 98. B.-f. vase. Acropolis, Athens, 606.
This style of throw is typical of the black-figured vases, and quite distinct from that which we find general on the red-figured vases of the fifth century. It is the practical style of the chase and of war adapted to sport. It is, of course, the natural style for throwing at a target, and at first sight one is tempted to suppose that this is what the artists wish to represent; but the care with which they emphasize the bluntness of the javelins is conclusive for a distance throw.
(b) The Athletic Style.—The purely athletic character of the style depicted on the red-figured vases is obvious from the most casual inspection. Till the actual moment of the throw the head is turned backwards, the eyes fixed on the right hand, a position equally absurd for war, or the chase, or aiming at any sort of mark. After carefully adjusting and testing the amentum in the manner described, and inserting one or two fingers in the loop, the thrower extends his right arm backwards to its full extent, while, with his left hand opposite his breast, he holds the end of the spear, and pushes it backwards to draw the thongs tight. The spear is sometimes horizontal, sometimes pointed downwards, as we see it on the British Museum amphora, E. 256 (Fig. [99]). On this vase it will be noticed that the little finger and the third finger, which play no part in the practical style in which the spear is poised above the shoulder, are required to keep the javelin steady when the right hand is dropped.
Fig. 99. R.-f. amphora, in British Museum, E. 256.