The Ancient
Olympics
by CTCWeb Editors
The Events (con't)
Discus
|
Origin |
Though it was not used as a weapon
in war, the discus has a reputation for being an instrument of
accidental death in mythology. In Homer’s Iliad,
the discus is an event at Patroklos’ funeral games. |
|
Equipment |
Originally made of stone, later
discuses were made of bronze, iron, or lead. The ancient discus
looked a lot like the ones used today. It weighed between 1.3
and 6.6 kilograms and was anywhere from 17 to 32 centimeters
in diameter. Boys threw a different, smaller discus than the
men. |
|
Rules |
The technique used to throw a discus
at the ancient Olympics is much the same as it is today. Officials
marked a legal throw with wooden pegs and measured the distance
with rods. |
|
Images |
See these two vases for images
of discus throwers, Boston 01.8020 and Philadelphia MS2444. |
|
Text |
See Homer, Iliad, 2.770 and 23.430 |
|
Modern Athlete |
Alfred Oerter, an American discus
thrower, just casually picked up a discus at track practice one
day and threw it further than anyone else on the team. Oerter
went on to win four consectutive gold medals at the 1956, 1960,
1964, and 1968 Olympic games. Between 1962 and 1964, Oerter set
new world records four times. |
Pankration
|
Origin |
Introduced at the 33rd
Olympics in 648 BCE, the pankration was thought to be
invented by Theseus since, to defeat the Minotaur on Crete, Theseus
combined boxing with wrestling. A brutal sport, the event  combined skills
needed by a warrior or any man fighting an enemy without weapons. |
|
Equipment |
No equipment was used. |
|
Rules |
There were very few rules in the
two versions of the pankration, the kato pankration,
in which the competitors could fall to the ground, and the ano
pankration, in which the competitors had to remain standing.
All boxing blows and wrestling holds were allowed. Competitors
could use moves like the gastrizein, or stomach trick,
a kick to the gut, as well as the apopternizein, or heel
trick, where a foot was grab to throw an opponent off balance.
Also an opponent could hold another and punch him during a match.
Biting and eye gouging were not allowed. |
|
Images |
Click here to see an image of the pankration. |
|
Text |
See Pausanias, Description
of Greece, 5.8.4. |
|
Ancient Athlete |
The son of a priest at the temple
of Herakles, Theagenes of Thasos, earned fame for his athletic
abilities at age nine. According to the story of Theagenes, at
age nine, he tore a bronze statue from its base and took it home.
His punishment was to bring the statue back, which he did. Later
in life Theagenes won numerous competitions including Olympic
championships in boxing and the pankration. Proud of their
prodigal son, the people of Thasos erected a statue of Theagenes
after his death. A man, who was unable to defeat Theagenes while
he was alive, would go to the statue every night and beat it.
One night, while beating the statue, it fell on him and killed
him. The statue was exiled for committing murder. Eventually
retrieved from the sea where it was exciled, the statue was reinstalled.
Thasos came to think of Theagenes as a god of healing because
they attributed the ending of a plague that ravaged their city
to the return of the statue. |
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