Boxing, or the Pancratia.—This combat was performed either by the naked fist, or with the addition of the Cæstus, which was made of straps of leather, lined with metal. Boxing was one of the most dangerous of the gymnastic contests, and frequently terminated in maiming, or death.
Judges called Hellanodics were appointed to preside at the Olympic festival; and their office conveyed great authority. They inflicted corporal punishments and pecuniary penalties on those who infringed the Olympic laws: and that vast assembly of combatants and spectators, which was composed of men of every rank and degree, was thus kept in order and regularity. For ten centuries, religion and custom consecrated their powerful influence to the maintenance of the sacred games—the period of their revival by Iphitus, being seven hundred and seventy-six years before the birth of Christ. The duration of this institution shews its perfect organization, and that, while it comprized so many different states, its laws were administered with justice and impartiality.
The games were celebrated every fifth year; and the candidates for the Olympic crown, termed Athletæ, were obliged, previously, to enter their names, that they might be known to the Hellanodics, and their pretensions to the honor of competition investigated. Ten months of preparatory training were requisite; of which one was devoted to exercise in the stadium in the presence of the judges, in order to qualify the competitor for the arduous trial; and FREE citizens only, whose characters were irreproachable, and who, in other respects, had complied with the rules of the institution, were permitted to contend. So important was the prize of victory, that none but men of spotless reputation were allowed to enter the lists, which were carefully guarded against the intrusion of unworthy or improper persons.
The games lasted five days, and commenced with the FOOT-RACE, which was the first in order, and the highest in estimation of all the gymnastic exercises.
At first, the race, as instituted by Iphitus, was SIMPLE. It consisted of running once from the barrier to the goal, or from the one extremity of the stadium to the other. But in the fourteenth Olympiad, the Diaulus was introduced, which, as the word implies, was double the former distance. The runners in this race turned round the goal, and finished their course at the barrier, whence they had started. In the next Olympiad, the Dolichus, or LONG COURSE, was added, which consisted of six, twelve, or twenty-four stadia, or in doubling the goal three, six, or twelve times.
In the simple foot-race, fleetness or agility only was required; but in the long course, strength of body, and command of WIND, were indispensable to enable the candidate to gain the prize. Strength and agility are seldom united in the same person; yet there are some modern examples of the union of both; and, in antiquity, Leonidas of Rhodes obtained the triple crown, in four Olympiads, and was thus distinguished in the list of conquerors by twelve victories[4].
The competitors in the gymnastic exercises contended naked; but in the sixty-fifth Olympiad, the race of ARMED MEN was introduced, as particularly applicable to the duties of war: and, according to Pausanias, lib. v. twenty-five brass bucklers were kept in a temple at Olympia for the purpose of equipping the candidates, who wore also helmets and bucklers. Damaretus gained the first victory in this race, which in no respect differed from the stadium, or simple foot-race, but that the Athletæ were covered with armour.
While the runners waited the sound of the trumpet as the signal to start, they exercised themselves by various feats of agility, and short experimental excursions.
“They try, they rouse their speed with various arts,