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Throwing the Javelin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

E. Norman Gardiner
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Extract

The javelin used in Greek sports is called variously ἄκων, ἀκόντιον, μεσάγκυλον, σίγυνος, ἀποτομάς. The latter term, defined by Hesychius as σχίζαν καὶ ἀκόντιον πεντάθλου, appears to denote merely a lath or stick, and apparently describes the javelin as represented on the vases. It is merely a straight pole, in length nearly equal to the height of a man, though occasionally longer, and about the thickness of a finger. It is one of the commonest objects in palaestra scenes, whether in use, or carried in the hand, or planted in the ground singly or in pairs apparently to mark the line from which the athlete is to jump or throw the diskos. These rods were formerly described as jumping poles; but of the pole jump there is no evidence, and the fact that they are precisely similar to javelins which are actually being thrown, and that they often have the throwing-strap or amentum attached, proves that they are nothing more than javelins. At the same time there is no reason why they should not have served as measuring-rods or κανόνες for measuring the jump, a use which is perhaps represented on the British Museum kelebe B. 361, published in vol. xxiv, of this journal, p. 180.

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Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 27 , November 1907, pp. 249 - 273
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1907

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References

1 v. p. 11 of this volume: also vol. xxiv. p. 186.

2 Jüthner, , Antike Turngeräthe, p. 38 Google Scholar, Fig. 32.

3 De re equest. viii. 10.

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5 v. infr. Fig. 16 and Pl. XX.

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7 Jüthner, Figs. 20, 40.

8 Lucian, , Anacharsis, 32 Google Scholar.

9 Jüthner, p. 40, Figs. 34, 35, 36. Jüthner proves conclusively that the objects represented on the Panaetius kylix (v. infr. Fig. 12) and elsewhere and commonly described as compasses are merely amenta, somewhat misdrawn.

10 Op. cit. Fig. 37.

11 Possibly the Ansata, Hasta is such, but v. infr. p. 255 Google Scholar. Such spears are known among the Indians, v. Egerton Arms of the Indians, Figs. 2, No. 6; 72, No. 25.

12 v. p. 5 of this volume (the καλαῦροψ); cp. Il. xiii. 600. Slingers are represented on a fragment of a silver vessel from Mycenae.

13 Il. xvi. 589, ii. 774. We may note that both Odysseus and Nestor speak of their skill δουρί not ἀκοντίψ Od. viii. 229; Il. xxiii. 637.

14 Schliemann-Schuchardt (Eng. Trans.), Figs. 284, 5.

15 Jüthner, Fig. 51, Berlin 3148.

16 Arch. Zeit. 1883, Pl. X.

17 The amentum occurs frequently on Hieron's vases, e.g. on a r.-f. kotyle representing Achilles and Briseis in the Louvre, , M.d.I. vi. 19 Google Scholar; on a kylix representing Theseus and Aethra, Hermitage, 830, Harrison and MacColl Greek Vase-paintings, Pl. XXII.

18 Dar.-Sagl., s.v. jaculum, p. 594 Google Scholar.

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23 Krause, F., Schleudervorrichtungen für Wurfwaffen in Internationales Archiv (Leyden) 1902, pp. 121 Google Scholar sq.

24 Dar.-Sagl. s.v. amentum, Figs. 255, 256.

25 Ib. s.v. hasta, p. 38, s.v. barbari, p. 674.

26 Ib. Fig. 254.

27 xxxvii. 41.

28 Livy, xxi. 7. 10, xxiv. 42. 2; Caesar, B.G. i. 26, v. 35, 48Google Scholar; B.C. i. 57.

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33 Joyce, P. W. A Social History of Ireland, i. 113 Google Scholar; O'Curry Manners and Customs of Ancient Ireland, I. ccccxliv.

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37 Mus. Greg. xliii. 2. b. The other figures are a diskobolos and an official. A slight variation occurs on an archaistic r.-f. amphora figured by de Witte Hôtel Lambert, Pl. XXIV, the left arm being close to the side.

38 I have received confirmation of this from a friend who has long resided in Central Africa. The natives in war and hunting throw spears much in the style described above, though without the amentum, and in throwing the spear for distance in sport they use the same style, never the purely athletic style described below.

39 Cp. Figs. 9, 10, 11, 14, 15.

40 It need hardly be said that there is no evidence for the ‘tir en haut’ of which de Ridder speaks. Dar.-Sagl. s.v. jaculum. In the r.-f. kylix from the Louvre (Dar.-Sagl. Fig. 252, Schreiber, Atlas xxii. 8) which he cites the angle of the spear hardly differs from that in Figs. 9, 11, 14. Generally speaking the higher the throw, the greater the carry. Cf. Xenophon, de re equest. xii. 13 Google Scholar, quoted below p. 271.

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49 Nem. vii. 70.

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53 Ceos, Sestos, Tralles, Samos, Larisa: v. supra, n. 21. At Athens we hear of it first in an inscription relating to the Thesea, B.C. 160–1. There is no mention of ἀκοντισμός ἀκοντισμός or ἀκοντιστὴς after the commencement of our era.

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58 Ib. ii. 444, 446, Ath. Mitth. xxx (1905), p. 213.

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60 Collignon, 1478.

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