Transcript Faster, Higher, Stronger: Olympic training and events

Faster, Higher, Stronger:
Olympic training and events
Philadelphia MS739
Main panel: runner on right
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of The University of
Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
Lucian On Slander 12 (2nd CE):
stadion, diaulos, dolichos
“[In the races,] once the husplex goes down,
the good runner puts his mind only on going
forward, and concentraing on the finish, puts
his hope of victory in his legs. He does not
foul the man next to him nor does he waste
time thinking up tricks against his
opponents. He immoral, unskilled athlete,
however, turns his hope of success … to
unsportsmanlike conduct, and … how to hold
his opponent or check him by tripping ….”
Harvard 1972.39
Side B: hoplitodromos at left
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of Harvard University
Pausanias 5.12.8 (2nd CE)
“There [in the temple at Olympia] are kept
the 25 bronze shields, which are carried by
the competitors in the hoplite race.”
Aristotle Rhetoric 1.5 1361b
(4th BCE): pentathlon
“The pentathletes have the most beautiful
bodies, because they are constructed for
strength and speed together.”
Scholiast on Aristeides 3.339
(2nd CE)
“Pentathlete is used instead of “those
competing in the five events” or “those
winning in the five events,” because not all
the pentathletes win all five events. For
three of the five events are sufficient for
them to win.”
Boston 01.8020
Tondo: discus thrower
Photograph courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Pindar Olympian Odes 10.72
(5th BCE): diskos
“And Nikeus, whirling around, threw the
stone with his arm farther than all the
others.”
Cicero On the Orator 2.5.21
(1st BCE)
“The students of teachers in the Greek
gymnasia prefer to hear the diskos than to
hear the professor.”
Toledo 1961.26, Attic red figure kylix
Side B: javelin throwers
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of
the Toledo Museum of Art
Pindar Pythian Odes 1.44-45
(5th BCE): javelin
“As for this bronze-pointed javelin which I
am shaking in my hand, I hope I will not …
throw it out of bounds but rather hurl it a
long distance, so as to surpass my
competitors.”
Scholiast on Euripides
Andromache 1133 (5th BCE)
“A mesagkylon is a kind of javelin with a
cord wrapped around the middle, which the
athletes hold on to as they throw.”
Boston 01.8020
Side A: jumper
Photograph courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Philostratos On Athletics 55
(3rd CE): long jump
“The halteres are an invention of the
pentathletes and were invented for jumping
[halma, in Greek], from which they take
their name. Considering the jump to be one
of the most difficult events in competition,
the rules permit encouragement of the
jumper by means of a flute and also assist
him even more with the halteres. For then
guidance of the hands is unfailing and brings
the feet to the ground without wavering and
in good form. The rules show how important
this is, for they refuse to have the jump
measured if the mark is not correct.”
Toledo 1961.24
Side B: pankration
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of the Toledo
Museum of Art
Philostratos Pictures 2.6
(3rd CE): pankration
“The pankratiasts … engage in a dangerous
kind of wrestling. For they have to take
blows in the face, which are considered too
dangerous for a regular wrestler, and they
take holds where it is necessary to fall in
order to win …. A pankratiast may
simultaneously grab his opponent’s ankle
and wrench his arm in addition to hitting
and jumping on him. For these moves are
permitted …, but not biting or poking.”
Philadelphia MS2444
Side A: trainer watching wrestlers
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of The University of
Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
Anonymous, Greek Anthology (5th
BCE – 5th CE): wrestling
“Milo of Kroton was once the only wrestler to show up
at the sacred games. The official in charge at once
called him forward to receive the crown. As he
approached he slipped and fell on his hip. The
spectators shouted that he should not be crowned
since he fell when he was all alone. Standing up in the
middle, Milo shouted in reply, “That is not three falls.
I fell only once; let someone give me the other two
falls.”
Semonides, fragment 153D (7th
BCE)
“This is the glorious statue of glorious Milo, who in
fighting seven times at Olympia never fell to his
knees.”
Pausanias 6.14.5-8 (2nd CE):
Milo of Croton
“The statue of Milo the son of Diotimus was made by
Dameas, also a native of Crotona. Milo won six
victories for wrestling at Olympia, one of them among
the boys; at Pytho he won six among the men and one
among the boys. He came to Olympia to wrestle for
the seventh time, but did not succeed in mastering
Timasitheus, a fellow-citizen who was also a young
man, and who refused, moreover, to come to close
quarters with him. It is further stated that Milo
carried his own statue into the Altis. His feats with
the pomegranate and the diskos are also remembered
by tradition. He would grasp a pomegranate so firmly
that nobody could wrest it from him by force, yet he
did not damage it by pressure. He would stand upon a
greased diskos, and make fools of those who charged
him and tried to push him from the diskos. He used to
perform also the following exhibition feats.”
Pausanias 6.14.5-8 (2nd CE):
Milo of Croton
“[7] He would tie a cord round his forehead as though
it were a ribbon or a crown. Holding his breath and
filling with blood the veins on his head, he would
break the cord by the strength of these veins. It is
said that he would let down by his side his right arm
from the shoulder to the elbow, and stretch out
straight the arm below the elbow, turning the thumb
upwards, while the other fingers lay in a row. In this
position, then, the little finger was lowest, but nobody
could bend it back by pressure. They say that he was
killed by wild beasts. The story has it that he came
across in the land of Crotona a tree-trunk that was
drying up; wedges were inserted to keep the trunk
apart. Milo in his pride thrust his hands into the
trunk, the wedges slipped, and Milo was held fast by
the trunk until the wolves--a beast that roves in vast
packs in the land of Crotona--made him their prey.”
Toledo 1961.26, Attic red figure kylix
Side A: boxer on near right
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of
the Toledo Museum of Art
Eustathius 1324.18 (12th CE):
boxing
“Boxers’ himantes of leather were wrapped
around their hands to make them better for
striking and to hold the fingers together,
binding them stiffly into a round shape, like
some sort of club.”
Anonymous Greek Anthology (5th
BCE – 5th CE)
“This statue of the boxer Apis was set up in
gratitude by his competitors. For he never
injured any of them.”
Tampa 86.35
Shoulder: chariot race
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of
the Tampa Museum of Art & Anthropology
Tampa 86.24
Side B: two riders
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of
the Tampa Museum of Art
Isokrates Team of Horses 3234 (4th BCE): chariot-racing
“[My father] turned his attention to raising
horses, which is the activity of the most
wealthy and not one which a poor man
should attempt, and he surpassed not only
his rivals but also all the earlier victors. For
he entered chariots in a larger number than
the largest cities could match and of such
quality that he came in first and second and
third.”
Anonymous Greek Anthology
13.16 (5th BCE – 5th CE):
chariot-racing and women
“My ancestors and my brothers were kings of
Sparta; I, Kyniska, won the chariot race with
my swift-footed horses and erected this
statue. I claim that of all Greeks I am the
only woman to have won this crown.”
Pausanias 5.16.2-3 (2nd CE):
women and the Heraia
“Every four years <at Olympia> 16 women
weave a robe for Hera, and they also put on
the Heraia. This contest is a running event
for unmarried girls. They are not all the
same age, but the first to run are the
youngest, after them the next older, and the
last to run are the oldest of the girls. Here is
their method of running. They let down their
hair, let the tunic hang down a little above
the knee, and uncover the right shoulder as
far as the breast. They use the stadium for
this event, although the length of the track
is reduced by a sixth …. The victors may set
up statues with their names inscribed.”
Toledo 1963.26, Attic black figure calyx krater
Side B: Athletes and trainers
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of
the Toledo Museum of Art
Philostratos On Athletics 20
(3rd CE): trainers
“The different psychological approaches
which the gymnastes have on their athletes,
whether encouraging them or scolding them
or through threats or trickery [include this
story]: when Glaukos from Karystos was
being forced back by his opponent in boxing
at Olympia, Tisias, his gymnastes, brought
him through to a win by shouting, “Hit him
like you did the plow!” For Glaukos’ righthanded punch was so strong that back
[home] he once straightened a bent
plowshare by using his right hand as a
hammer.”
Philostratos On Athletics 48
(3rd CE): diet
“You can recognize an athlete who overeats
by his thick eyebrows, gasping breath, and
prominent collarbones, as well as rolls of fat
around his waist. Those who drink too much
wine have an excessive paunch …. Many
signs point to the athletes who indulge in
sex. Their strength has been weakened; they
are short of breath and no longer display
initiative on offense …. When they strip,
their collarbones are hollow, their hips do
not fit properly, their ribs stick out, and
their blood is cold …..”
Philostratos On Athletics 48
(3rd CE): diet (continued)
“If you should get involved in training an
athlete like that, he would never win a crown
for you. Athletes like this have flabby
cheeks, weak pulse, insufficient perspiration,
restless sleep when they are digesting their
food; their gaze wanders and indicates their
preoccupation with sex.”
Philadelphia MS2445, Attic red figure kylix
Side A: lyre player in center, singing
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of The University of
Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
Homer Iliad 9.186-189 (8th
BCE): music
“They found him delighting his heart with
his handsome clear-toned lyre, beautiful and
carefully wrought, and the crosspiece was
made of silver. He had taken this from the
spoils when the Greeks destroyed the city of
Eetion. With this he was pleasing his spirit,
and he was singing of the fair deeds of men.”