In the pentathla, leaping never took place without ἁλτῆρες, which the athlete usually held directly in front of him, and then, as he sprang, brought behind him, thus helping to propel his body forward.
In addition to the ἁλτῆρες, professional athletes made use of another aid—the βατήρ. The latter was a board on which they stood before taking the leap, and which may indeed have been provided with a spring.
Pausanias especially mentions the fact that the leaping of the pentathli in the Olympic festival was accompanied by airs on the flute. This music was probably to open the pentathlon, the most splendid and stirring of gymnastic contests, as well as to increase the courage of the leapers.
The only leap that belonged to the pentathlon was the standing long jump. There is no trace of anything like the hop, step and jump. The figures of athletes on vases are represented not as running, but as standing and swinging the ἁλτῆρες. Then, too, it would seem that in the running jump the weights would be an impediment rather than an aid. With the aid of the ἁλτῆρες and the βατήρ enormous distances were covered. Phaÿllos of Rhegium is said to have covered more than fifty-five feet at a leap. But the record is incredible. Some German professors, however, are inclined to credit the record on the ground that the ancients had studied the theory of leaping more scientifically than have the moderns. For the sake of comparison the modern records in jumping may be introduced. On May 28, 1890, J. Darby of England, without the aid of weights, made a standing long jump of 12½ feet. At Romeo, Mich., October 3, 1879, with 22-pound weights, G. W. Hamilton made a standing jump of 14 feet, 5½ inches. A record of 23 feet, 6½ inches, in the running long jump has been made twice: by C. L. Reber at Detroit, July 4, 1891, and by C. B. Frye of England, March 4, 1893. A jump of 48 feet, 8 inches, without weights and preceded by a hop and a step, was made October 18, 1884, by T. Burrows of Worcester.
In the palæstra and the gymnasium, leaping was practised in many different ways, as through a hoop, or over a rope. That the high jump also was practised is evident from the fact that the athletes leaped not only over pointed poles fixed in the ground, but also over one another’s heads, after the manner of modern circus performers. Leaping from a higher place to a lower was also practised. Leaping took place in dancing and in various other sports. A dance, consisting principally of leaping was practised at Sparta, particularly by young women and girls. In this the dancers aimed to hit their backs with their heels. Aristophanes alludes to this custom in the following dialogue between Lysistrata and Lampito:
Lysistrata.
Hail! Lampito, dearest of Lakonian women.
How shines thy beauty, O, my sweetest friend!
How fair thy colour, full of life thy frame!
Why, thou couldst choke a bull.