stas apaneuthe pyrês xanthên apekeirato chaitên, tên rha Spercheiô potamô trephe têlethoôsan.] ] [Footnote 22: [Greek: Tô Apollôni tô Priêlêi m' anethêken Hêphaistiôn.]] [Footnote 23: [Greek: Lophios m'anethêke.]] [Footnote 24: [Greek: Tas Hêras hiaros | emi tas en pedi|ôi Qunisqo|s me anethê|ke hôrtamo|s wergôn | dekatan.]] [Footnote 25: Inscribed: [Greek: Tô Panepi m' anestase Sôkydês].] [Footnote 26: ii. 153.] [Footnote 27: I(ovi) O(ptimo) M(aximo) Dolicheno, u|bi ferrum nascit|ur, Flavius Fidelis et Q. Iulius Posstim|us ex imperio ipsi|us pro se et suos (_sic_).] [Footnote 28: Cf. Livy, xxii. 1, 18: ... ut libertinae et ipsae, unde Feroniae donum daretur, pecuniam pro facultatibus suis conferrent.] [Footnote 29: Ov., _Her._ vi. 91 f.] VI.--ATHLETICS. (Wall-Cases 107-108.) Athletic and pugilistic contests were already developed on Greek soil before the Homeric Age. Thus we have a steatite vase from Crete (_see_ Cast in First Vase Room) with boxers in all positions. A pair of boxers (of about 1100 B.C.) from a vase found at Enkomi in Cyprus is shown in fig. 47 (No. =151=). In the Homeric poems athletic contests frequently occur, but only as isolated and unorganized events, without rules or system. It was only at a much later date that the games were organized on lines corresponding to those of modern sport. At Olympia, the great festivals were said, according to tradition, to have begun in 776 B.C., and it was from that year that the Greeks calculated their dates, reckoning by the periodical return of the meeting every fourth year. The events at the games which may specially be called athletic were six in number: the _pentathlon_ (or "five contests") was a competition made up of the jump, the foot-race, throwing the _diskos_, throwing the javelin, and wrestling.[30] The pentathlon was decided by a system of "heats," and the victor enjoyed a great reputation as an exceptional "all-round" man. The _pankration_ was a combination of wrestling and boxing, which tended to develop the type of heavy professional athletes. [Illustration: FIG. 47.--BOXERS OF THE LATE MYCENAEAN PERIOD (NO. 151).] The victorious athlete was held in high honour by his native city. The prize at the games was indeed of no value--at Olympia it was a crown of wild olive--but on his return home the victor entered the city in triumph, feasts were held and odes were sung in his honour, he was maintained for the remainder of his life, and his statue was set up in the place where his victory had been won. We will first deal with the events of the _pentathlon_ in order:-- [Illustration: FIG. 48.--STONE JUMPING-WEIGHT (NO. 154*). L. 11-1/2 in.]