Edward M. Plummer

“ Enough has been said to show that the Hellenic ideal of manhood was not the mere scholar and subtle thinker, but the naked athlete with firm flesh and swelling muscle. It may be asserted that the mass of their young men reached during the best age of Greek history a stage of physical perfection which has never been attained in any other age or country. This is attested by thousands of statues of victorious athletes, not only in Olympia but throughout Greece. ”

“ From the standpoint of education, games for children are worthy of consideration. For, if human nature is most plainly shown in sport, then from these games one can obtain a clear idea of a child’s character, inclination and intellect, the recognition of which should be of utmost importance to the educator. Games also furnish endless and varied material for the cultivation of the child’s mental powers and natural talents, which are developed by physical exercise. ”

“ The athletic sports of Greece remained great and respected until excessive training and extreme specialization brought ruin to them; that is, when a boxer devoted all his time to boxing, and a wrestler to wrestling at the expense of a harmonious development of the body. The influence of the old Greek games upon sculpture, painting and poetry, as well as upon athletics, will continue to keep alive for centuries to come the ideal of a sound body for a sound mind. ”

“ No other gymnastic exercise was so popular among the Greeks and Romans of different periods as the ball games, though regarded less as a game than as an exercise for strengthening the muscles and cultivating grace and symmetry of body.
They were a favorite pastime in the Heroic age of the Hellenes as well as in later times when Greece was at the height of its glory. The Romans of the old Republic, and even in the reign of the emperors, also sought recreation in ball-playing. The continued favor which ball-playing enjoyed is sufficient proof of its benefit to the body. ”

“ The clear, serene sky over Hellas, the mild, bracing air which permitted nudity but did not dispose to indolence, the picturesque country, girdled by the sea, and presenting such a wonderful interchange of mountains and valleys, smiling plains, and beautifully winding rivers, must necessarily have aroused in the hearts of its people the desire for a free life full of activity in the open air, and thus have contributed to the formation of strong minds in vigorous bodies. ”

“ Corpulency was considered advantageous for a wrestler for two reasons: first, the increased weight rendered it less easy for an opponent to lift him off the ground; second, it was easier for him, on the other hand, to overpower his adversary at the opportune moment. Nevertheless, a graceful style of wrestling, while less easy to attain under this condition, was much sought after. And oftentimes grace is the concomitant of a skill that possesses a sure advantage over mere bulk. Very joyous were the Olympic spectators when this fact was demonstrated. ”

“ Athletics were a means to an end, but they were also an end in themselves. Bodily exercise was not an irksome task, but an agreeable pastime. The ancient Hellenes were therefore a very happy people, the ends that they sought to attain prescribed tasks that were congenial with their national temperament. Accordingly, we find, in a well-established condition, a system of athletic sports that were not directly related to the feats of battle. Such a sport was diskos throwing. The diskos was in shape a transverse section of a cylinder, and in Homeric times was made of stone. ”

“ That athletics were regarded as a mode of enjoyment, as well as of military training, is shown by the fact that when for any [Pg 8] reason the exercises of war were suspended, the heroes and their followers resorted to games. It was hardly necessary for warriors with years of experience, to train for the next day’s battle; they exercised, because to do so was a congenial pleasure. Habitual fighting will not alone explain this temperament. With the Hellenes, bodily exercise was almost synonymous with life itself. ”

“ Archæologists have demonstrated, however, that the legends, of which the two Homeric epics are the poetic form, and that attested the vanished Achæan civilization, were in very many details faithful to the facts of the Mycenæan age. There is every reason to believe that the Achæan nobility practiced athletics as Homer represents them. But it must be said in addition that the authors of the Iliad and the Odyssey do not speak as if athletic sports were a spectacle unfamiliar to themselves. It is recorded by Plutarch that Hesiod won a tripod, as prize, in the funeral games in honor of Amphidamos. ”

“ In order to understand Homeric athletics—the substantial basis of all subsequent athletics—one must become interested in the method and details of Greek warfare. For to the Greek the road to distinction lay in the acquisition of the qualities required of the successful warrior, and it was only natural that pleasure and expediency should combine to make a pastime of the feats of war. Victory in modern warfare is achieved largely by the use of superior machines and by advantage of position. ”

“ The victory in a game gratifies the child as a real victory in battle delights the conqueror. Besides, most games are imitations of the various occupations of adult life and cause the child to show a decided inclination for some particular branch. Plato, as well as other philosophers, recognized this fact. He claimed that a boy, in order to be skilled in a special line of work, should be trained to that work from childhood, and that his first training should be by means of his games. ”

“ In Sparta physical culture was a stern business and could by no means be styled a pastime; it was almost the sole requisite of education. But it was in Sparta that professional athletics were held in least favor. Spartan authorities did not delude themselves; being thoroughly in earnest to produce a race that was hardy and valiant to the last degree, and regarding physical culture as a serious and all-engrossing business rather than an exciting amusement, they quickly discerned that the specialism of professional athletics was detrimental to this end. ”

“ The beneficent results of this exercise were recognized at a very early period by the Hellenes, although in the heroic world the leap was not considered so important as the other modes of contest. In the games of Achilles the leap is not mentioned. In the Odyssey, however, the Phæacians, a light-hearted people, more fond of amusement than of war, are said to be skilled in leaping. It is in historic times, however, that leaping, as an important event in the pentathlon of the public games, acquires its technique, and receives the careful attention of athletes. ”

“ We have already mentioned how Homer, in the games of Achilles, causes the powerful Telamonian Aias and Odysseus to engage in a wrestling bout. Wrestling matches were among the chief events in the famous games at Olympia and elsewhere. They were introduced earlier than boxing and were believed to show off the strength, activity and grace of the body to more advantage than any other contest. No other exercise required such perfect development of every muscle in the body, or an equal combination of strength and agility. ”

“ Then the benevolent Alkinoös endeavors to soften the stern mood of the visitor. “We are not faultless boxers,” says the king, “no, nor wrestlers; but in the foot-race we run swiftly, and in our ships excel. Dear to us ever is the feast, the harp, the dance, changes of clothes, warm baths, and bed. Come then, Phæacian dancers the best among you make us sport, that so the stranger on returning home may tell his friends how we surpass all other men in sailing, running, in the dance and song.” ”

“ The equestrian contests at Olympia were succeeded by boxing. Boxing for men was introduced at the Olympic festival in the twenty-third Olympiad, and for boys in the thirty-seventh Olympiad. But the sport was already very old, and its introduction at Olympia was probably a recognition of its popularity and antiquity. In fact, as the fist is the simplest and most natural weapon of mankind, it is not surprising to find that boxing was one of the earliest athletic games among the Hellenes. ”

“ To fight successfully from the chariot, to dismount and grapple with the adversary, necessitated not only muscular strength, but also unabating alertness of mind, an ability to seize instantly the advantageous opportunity, to dodge or fend instantly the deadly thrust. ”

“ Battle itself was an effective, even if a very perilous, mode of physical culture. It often involved, to be sure, the death of the weaker adversary, who was weak only comparatively, and who, considered by himself, was usually an admirable specimen of man. But, throughout all historic time, a branch of athletic sports has existed that could not be practiced without risk, as fencing, boxing, or wrestling. ”

“ We have no accounts to show as to how far a Greek athlete could hurl a spear, but we know that savages of today can hurl it to a great distance. It is said by travellers that a Kaffir who suddenly comes upon game will hit an antelope ten or fifteen yards away without raising his arm.
The three events that have been described, leaping, diskos-throwing and spear-throwing, were probably the essential features of the pentathlon; that is to say, an athlete who won in all three events was probably crowned victor. ”

“ In a famous Greek painting of boxers, one of the men stands with his left foot and hand advanced, his left arm slightly bent, and his right arm held across his lower chest, in fact, just as Fitzsimmons or Corbett would stand when expecting a blow. In the beginning of the contest, the boxer was sparing of his strength and preferred to assume the defensive position, and so wear out his opponent. It was, of course, considered a merit for a boxer to conquer without receiving wounds. ”

“ In the language of John Fiske, “young men [Pg 19] of the noblest families and from the farthest Greek colonies came to them, and wrestled and ran, undraped, before countless multitudes of admiring spectators.”
The victor in the foot-race at Olympia was regarded as an honor to his country, and gave his name to the current Olympiad, and on reaching home entered his native city to the notes of a triumphal song written by a Pindar or Simonides. Another significant fact is that the Greek era began with the Olympic games; every period of four years was called an Olympiad. ”

“ In the Odyssey, on the other hand, the poet seems to evince a greater inclination to linger over the scenes of sport, as being more in harmony with his theme. A certain voluptuousness pervades the Odyssey; the stern scenes of war, have vanished from the poet’s imagination, and have been replaced by those of festivity and pleasure. A new generation is described. Athletics have become less violent and the scenes are embellished by the interspersion of music, dancing, and poetry. ”

“ On the contrary, the Homeric athletics especially presuppose a long antecedent course of development. Hellenic legend strengthens this inference. According to a myth, Apollo enjoyed the diskos no less than music. He practiced for amusement with his favorite Hyakinthos, whom, as it is related, he accidentally killed by an unlucky throw. Other traditions inform us, that Orion challenged Artemis to a contest with the diskos, and that Autolykos, son of Hermes, instructed young Herakles in the art of wrestling. ”

“ Wrestling insures not only health and strength, but also a fine [Pg 14] carriage, and is an exercise well adapted to draw out all the resources of the athlete. Plutarch then rightly calls wrestling the most artistic and cunning of athletic exercises.
In heroic times, it should be noted that athletes did not wrestle entirely naked. The oil which the Homeric heroes employed after the bath and in anointing the dead, was never used in their gymnastic exercises. The poet, who often minutely describes minor and unimportant things, does not mention oil in this connection. ”

“ Spear-throwing trained the eye and made the arm deft in executing the eye’s direction.
It conferred upon the body other peculiar benefits; the organs [Pg 36] of respiration were stimulated; the chest was strengthened and enlarged; the right arm was strengthened; in order to throw the spear effectively the athlete must maintain a graceful poise and have command of his entire body; to do so with a weight held aloft, strengthened the lower limbs, made their muscles more facile, and the step more sure. ”