Note 31: — VI.—ATHLETICS. (Wall-Cases 107-108.)

The Jump.—For the ancient jumping contests the competitors used jumping-weights (halteres). Their use is shown on the vase, E 499 (No. 152). One youth is about to leap, another stands waiting, and the trainer holds a short switch. On the vase E 561 (No. 153) a youth is also on the point of leaping. Examples of the jumping-weights are shown. The pair in lead (No. 154) are of a type which is seen not infrequently on Greek vases, consisting of blocks of lead widened at each end. The weight for the left hand, which is completely preserved, weighs 2 lb. 5 oz. (cf. also fig. 52). With this pair may be compared the cast of a single stone jumping-weight (No. 154*) found at Olympia and now at Berlin (fig. 48). It differs from the pair just described, and resembles the type described by Pausanias,31 who travelled through Greece in the second century of our era, as forming half of an elongated and irregular sphere. It probably dates from about 500 B.C. Another type is represented by a remarkable but cumbrous example in limestone, from Kameiros in Rhodes, a long cylindrical instrument with deep grooves for the thumb and fingers, to give a firm hold (No. 155; fig. 49).