Diskos-throwing was a good preparation for war, as it developed great skill in stone-throwing--a very important feature in the war practices of the ancients. This exercise must have developed to a remarkable degree the muscles of the upper part of the body, shoulders, arms and hands--especially those of the right side of the body. At the same time the feet were trained in a firm and secure step, and, although the diskos was thrown at no fixed point, the eye was nevertheless used and trained. So beneficial was the exercise in certain cases that it was often ordered by the ancient physicians. Among the Spartans the diskos was especially loved, ostensibly on account of Apollo’s contest with Hyakinthos on Spartan soil. III. THE OLYMPIC GAMES IN ANCIENT TIMES. The third event of the pentathlon was spear-throwing. In the athletic training of an Hellenic youth, spear-throwing came after the hand and arm had been strengthened by ball-playing and diskos-throwing. Spear-throwing, as has been shown, growing out of the very early necessity of war-training, was a primitive mode of exercise. The spear (δόρυ, λόγχη) used by the Homeric heroes was very large, and as heavy as they could handle effectively. None but that warrior himself could wield the spear of Achilles. Hector’s spear was 16 feet long; the shaft was made of ash. A socket was fitted to the upper end of the spear, in which was inserted a bronze spear point. But that used at the pentathlon, and denoted by the term ἄκων, was smaller and lighter. The attitude of the body, the movement of the arms and shoulders, and the carriage of the head were very different in spear-throwing from those in diskos-hurling. The athlete stood erect, and raised his right arm upward and slightly backward; his right foot was generally placed backward, while his left was advanced; his eye was fixed on a goal straight ahead. He grasped the spear in the middle and held it in a horizontal position on a level with his right ear; sometimes he moved it backward and forward before throwing, but as often omitted such preliminary exercise. Sometimes it was thrown by means of a strap attached to it, as is still the custom in many countries. In the pentathlon, spear-throwing was a test rather of skill than of strength; an athlete who could win the victory with the diskos might suffer defeat with the spear, although diskos-throwing required more strength than spear-throwing. 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 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.