CITIUS

1
Faster, Higher, Stronger Olympic training and
events
2
Philadelphia MS739Main panel runner on
rightPhotograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of
The University ofPennsylvania Museum of
Archaeology and Anthropology
3
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 .

4
Harvard 1972.39Side B hoplitodromos at
leftPhotograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of
Harvard University Art Museums
5
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.

6
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.

7
Boston 01.8020Tondo discus throwerPhotograph
courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
8
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.

9
Toledo 1961.26, Attic red figure kylixSide B
javelin throwersPhotograph by Maria Daniels,
courtesy of the Toledo Museum of Art
10
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.

11
Boston 01.8020Side A jumperPhotograph courtesy
of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
12
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.

13
Toledo 1961.24Side B pankrationPhotograph by
Maria Daniels, courtesy of the Toledo Museum of
Art
14
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
  opponents ankle and wrench his arm in addition
  to hitting and jumping on him. For these moves
  are permitted , but not biting or poking.

15
Philadelphia MS2444Side A trainer watching
wrestlersPhotograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy
of The University ofPennsylvania Museum of
Archaeology and Anthropology
16
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.

17
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.

18
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.

19
Toledo 1961.26, Attic red figure kylixSide A
boxer on near rightPhotograph by Maria Daniels,
courtesy of the Toledo Museum of Art
20
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.

21
Tampa 86.35Shoulder chariot racePhotograph by
Maria Daniels, courtesy of the Tampa Museum of
Art Anthropology
22
Tampa 86.24Side B two ridersPhotograph by
Maria Daniels, courtesy of the Tampa Museum of
Art
23
Isokrates Team of Horses 32-34 (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.

24
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.

25
Pausanias 5.16.2-3 (2nd CE) women and the Heraia

• Every four years ltat Olympiagt 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.

26
Toledo 1963.26, Attic black figure calyx
kraterSide B Athletes and trainersPhotograph
by Maria Daniels, courtesy of the Toledo Museum
of Art
27
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 right-handed punch was so strong that
  back home he once straightened a bent plowshare
  by using his right hand as a hammer.

28
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 ..

29
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.

30
Philadelphia MS2445, Attic red figure kylixSide
A lyre player in center, singingPhotograph by
Maria Daniels, courtesy of The University
ofPennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and
Anthropology
31
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.