Note 696 — Chapter XIX · BOXING

Plato, Theaet. 27. Krause, p. 323, distinguishes two games, one described as διελκυστίνδα or διὰ γραμμῆς παίζειν, a tug-of-war between teams, the other called σκάπερδα or ἑλκυστίνδα, a game in which two youths tried to lift one another off the ground by means of a rope passed through a hole in a pillar. Roulez was the first to suggest this explanation of the thongs shown on vases. His explanation is adopted in a recent article on a fine r.-f. kylix representing wrestling and boxing scenes, Pl. xxxv. in the Transactions of the University of Pennsylvania, 1907, p. 140.