[1583] Published by H. G. E. White in J. H. S., XXXVI, 1916, pp. 16 f., Pls. I, II and 3 figs, in text. Pl. I is the more archaic: Museum no. 6615; Arch. Eph., 1883, p. 86; Staïs, Marbres et Bronzes, p. 267; de Ridder, pp. 281–2, no. 757, and fig. 265. Pl. II is the less archaic: Museum no. 6614; Arch. Eph., 1883, p. 46; J. H. S., X, 1889, pp. 268–9 (E. A. Gardiner); Staïs, op. cit., p. 267; de Ridder, pp. 275–7, no. 750, and fig. 257.
[1584] Pliny, H. N., VII, 201, traces its origin to Aetolus, son of Mars. Phrastor won a victory in such a contest at Olympia: Pindar, Ol., X, 71. See Krause, pp. 465 f.; Juethner, pp. 36 f.; Gardiner, Ch. XVI, pp. 338 f.; id., J. H. S., XXVII, 1907, pp. 258 f.; Dar-Sagl., I, 1, pp. 226 f.; Pauly-Wissowa, I, pp. 1183 f. (Reisch); Girard, L’éduc. athén., pp. 203 f.; Grasberger, Erziehung und Unterricht, I, pp. 327 f., and III, pp. 168 f.; etc. In the following account we are chiefly indebted to Juethner and Gardiner.
[1585] See Stassoff apud Stephani, Comptes rendus de la comm. impér. archaéol., St. Petersburg, 1872, p. 302. Cf. Juethner, Ph., p. 64.
[1586] Iliad, XXIII, 884 f.; cf. 637.
[1587] The athletic style appears on many vases, especially on r.-f. ones; see infra, pp. 223–4 and notes.
[1588] The javelin is held horizontally by the warrior on the interior of a b.-f. kylix in the British Museum: B. M. Vases, B 380; J. H. S., XXVII, p. 252, fig. 2; Gardiner, p. 342, fig. 93. It was commonly held slopingly over the shoulder level with the head in representations of the athletic style; e. g., the second athlete from the left in the sixth-century B. C. b.-f. Panathenaic amphora in the British Museum (Fig. 44): B. M. Vases, B 134; cf. also a similar figure on the sixth-century B. C. amphora in Leyden: A. Z., XXXIX, 1881, Pl. IX; Gardiner, p. 361, fig. 108.
[1589] At Athens as early as the fifth century B. C. there were practical javelin contests from horseback with a target, and such contests kept up in Thessaly to the time of Hadrian: Gardiner, pp. 356–8. Throwing the javelin at a target from horseback is seen on a Panathenaic amphora in the British Museum: Gardiner, p. 357, fig. 106; J. H. S., XXVII, Pl. XX. Pindar mentions javelin-throwing three times, and in each case the throw was for distance: Nem., VII, 70–1; Isthm., II, 35; Pyth., I, 44. Lucian, in a passage referring to the pentathlon at Olympia, says that athletes competed for distance: Anacharsis, 27. On this question, see Juethner, pp. 54 f.
[1590] Hesychios calls it ἀποτομάς, s. v.; see also Pollux, X, 64.
[1591] A. Z., XLI, 1883, Pl. XIII, 2, and cf. p. 228 (Milchhoefer).
[1592] See Juethner, figs. 34, 35, 36 on pp. 40–41 (representing akontistai holding the javelin in one hand and the amentum in the other). Fastening the thong is commonly depicted on vases: e. g., a youth seated on the ground attaching the amentum is pictured on a r.-f. hydria in the British Museum: B. M. Vases, E 164; J. H. S., XXVII, p. 32, fig. 25; Gardiner, p. 334, fig. 88; B. C. H., XXIII, 1899, p. 164, fig. 3; on a r.-f. kylix in Wuerzburg (no. 432), a youth is seen winding the amentum around the akontion, drawing one end of the thong tight by means of his left foot: Juethner, p. 42, fig. 37; Gardiner, p. 340, fig. 91; Dar.-Sagl., III, 1, p. 599, fig. 4116; Hoppin, Hbk. Attic r.-f. Vases, I, p. 93, no. 7. On a r.-f. amphora from Vulci attributed to Euthymides, and now in the British Museum, we see an akontistes holding the spear pointed to the ground and drawing the amentum tight preparatory to the throw: B. M. Vases, E 256; J. H. S., XXVII, Pl. XIX; Gardiner, p. 348, fig. 99; Hoppin, Euthymides and his Fellows, p. 49, Pls. IX, XI; id., Hbk., I, pp. 442–3, no. 19. For the various methods of attaching the amentum, see collection of drawings from vases in Gardiner, p. 341, fig. 92 = J. H. S., XXVII, p. 250, fig. 1.