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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 December 2013
The recent discoveries at Olympia, Epidaurus, and Delphi have forced us to modify the old idea of the Greek race course based on the stadium of Athens and the Roman circus. It may perhaps be useful shortly to state the evidence which we now possess.
Running is the most universal, the oldest of all forms of sport, and the primitive form of a race is that which the competitors run from one point to another—the germ of the stadium or straight race—or where they race round some distant object and back to the starting place—the germ of the diaulos and other turning races, as the Greeks call them (κάμπειοι) This simple type of race, which we may see to-day at school treats and rustic meetings, requires no apparatus but two posts, stones, or other objects to mark the starting point, and the finish, or turning point; and it is this primitive type that we find in Homer.
1 Iliad xxiii. 757, cf. 358–361.
2 Cf. Hartwig, Meisterschalen xvi.
3 For the stadium at Athens v. Frazer, , Pausanias ii. 205 Google Scholar; at Olympia v. Olympia ii. 63 and Frazer, iv. 78; at Delphi, , B.C.H., 1899, pp. 601–615 Google Scholar; at Epidaurus v. Frazer, v. 576.
4 Luc., cal. non tem. cred. § 12 Google Scholar; Paus. v. 24. 2. v. Krause, , Gymnastik, der Hellenen, p. 363 Google Scholar, n. 1.
5 Stat. Theb. vi. 616.
6 Aen. v. 335.
7 Schol. to Pind., Pyth. ix. 118 Google Scholar ἐχάρασσον δὲ γραμμήν τινα ἤν ἀρχὴν καὶ τέλος εῖχον οἰ ἀγωνι ζόμενοι
8 Paus. vi. 20.
9 Aristophanes, Lysistr. 1000 Google Scholar.
10 Anth. Pal. ix. 557.
11 Lycophron 13.
12 Aeth. iv. 3 f.
13 Lucian, , Tim. 20 Google Scholar.
14 Anth. Pal. xi. 86
τὸ στάδιον Περικλῆς εἴτ᾿ ἔδραμεν εἴτ᾿ ἐκάθητο οὐδεὶς οῖδεν ὄλως δαιμότιος βραδυτήσ ὀ ψόφος ἦν ὔσπληγος ἐν οὔασι καὶ στεφανοῦτο ἀλλὸς καὶ Περικλῆα δάκυλον οὐ προέβη
15 Jahrb. 1895, p. 193.
16 P. 282, Fig. 10.
17 B.C.H. 1897, p. 233.
18 Hdt. viii. 59.
19 Eq. 1162.
20 Plutarch, , Apophth. Lac. (Leont. fil. Eurycr. § 2 Google Scholar).
21 ἐπί τὸν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐπανἁγομεν ὤσπερ οἰ προεκ θέοντες ἐν τοῖς δρόμοισ3s (Julian περὶ βασιλείασ).
22 γραμμή, Aristoph, . Acharn. 481 Google Scholar. Eurip., El. 955 Google Scholar. Frag. 169. Pindar, , Pyth. ix. 118 Google Scholar.
23 Phil., Imag. i. 24 Google Scholar.
24 Pyth. ix. 118.
25 Eustathius, , Il. ix. p. 772 Google Scholar. 9.
26 The sum of 36 staters was spent on the καμπτῆρєς, , B.C.H. 1899, p. 565 Google Scholar.
27 Lucian, , Anacharsis, 27 Google Scholar.
28 Arist., De Gressu Anim. p. 709 Google Scholar. οἶον ἐν ταῖς παλαίστραις οἱ διὰ τῆς κονίας προιόντєς ἐπὶ τῶν γονάτων.
29 C.I.A. ii. 2. 965.
30 Krause, , Gymnastik der Hellenen, p. 348 Google Scholar.
31 Anth. Pal. xi. 82.
32 Anth. Pal. vi. 259
ἔτρεχε γάρ καὶ πρῶτος ἐλών τίνας ἐννέα τίνας ἐννέαα παῖδασ
33 Mahaffy, , Rambles and Studies in Greece,3 p. 310 Google Scholar. Mahaffy speaks of an ἔφεδροσ but I can find no proof of the existence of a bye in the races, though proofs are frequent of a bye in wrestling and boxing. The analogy of the chariot race where we hear of ten chariots racing together (Soph. Electra) is an additional argument against the general use of heats.
34 Paus. v. 17. 3.
35 Mon. d. I. x. 48. e. 4 and f. 6.
36 Mon. d. I. x. 48. f. 7, Gerh., A.V. 259 Google Scholar; cf. a very beautiful representation of winged runners published by MissHutton, B.C.H. 1899, p. 158 Google Scholar.
37 Mahaffy, , Rambles and Studies,3 p. 308 Google Scholar.
38 Il. xxiii. 772.
39 Phil., Gymn. 32 Google Scholar.
40 B.C.H. 1897, p. 222.
41 B. M., Vases B. 608 Google Scholar.
42 Jahrb. 1886, Pl. ix.
43 Bull. Nap. nouv. sér. vi. 7.
44 Jahrbuch, 1887, p. 99.
45 Ger. A.V. 271.
46 The vase is figured iu Dubois-Maisonneuve. Taf. xxv. and Inghirami, , Mon. Etrusc. v. 2 Google Scholar. Taf. lxx. It was at Naples, but I have failed to discover where it is now. This is the more to be regretted as the differences between the two drawings show that they cannot be accurately drawn.
47 Meisterschalen, p. 45, f. 6; cf. a similar figure on a vase belonging to Sir F. described below p. 288.
48 Hancarville, , Ant. étr. gr. et rom. T. iii. 66 Google Scholar. Krause ix. 23, Hauser, , Jahrbuch, 1887, p. 106 Google Scholar. cf. Jahrbuch, 1895, Figs. 3, 4 in Hauser's article, and B.M.E. 101.
49 Jahrbuch, 1895, loc. cit. Figs. 7, 8, 9, 10.
50 B.M. Vases B. 628.
51 B.M. Vases E. 6.
52 Cf. Zannoni. Scavi di Bologna. Taf. xxii. where the central figure is clearly talking to the Paidotribes, and the supposed resemblance of the attitude to the Vatican Running Girl is utterly worthless.
53 I. 23. 9.
54 So Reinach, describes the Hoplite on an amphora mentionod above ‘Athlète armé en hoplite, sur le point de sauter en présence d'un arbitre des jeux.’ Répertoire des Vases peints, i. 494 Google Scholar.
55 Cf. B.M. E. 78 (Fig. 13 below).
56 Murray, , Greek vases in B.M. 18 Google Scholar.
57 Similarly a Duris kylix in the B.M. E. 53 shows all the successive stages in boxing. Cf. Jüthner, Antike Turngeräthe, p. 67 Google Scholar.
58 Aeth. iv. 3 f.
59 Theb. iv. 587.
60 C.I.A. ii. 2. 968.
61 Gymn. 7.
62 Hauser, , Jahrb. 1895, p. 199 Google Scholar.
63 Fig. 2, p. 271.
64 A.Z. 1877, Pl. xiv.
65 Part III. 75.