Occasionally, however, we find the poet dropping a line that throws light on the pleasures and employments of the less notable classes. Such a side reference are the lines in the second book of the Iliad, where the followers of Achilles, unable to engage in the martial occupations of the rest of the army, because of Achilles’ estrangement from Agamemnon, are described as contending in games. _Il._ ii, 773-775. λαοὶ δὲ παρὰ, ῥηγμῖνι θαλάσσης δίσκοισιν τέρποντο καὶ αἰγανέῃσιν ἱέντες, τόξοισίν θ’. The word λαός, here used, is usually considered as denoting the people or multitude. The λαός before Troy, however, was undoubtedly of the minor nobility, since at this time the servants of the Greeks were, probably, the vanquished portions of other peoples. And so the “folk” regaled themselves along the shore of the sea with the diskos, spear-throwing, and archery. Of the three missiles, the diskos alone was originally invented for athletic purposes. The spear, in this case at least, was an implement of hunting, while the bow was used both in the chase and in war. The training of the Homeric youth and heroes in athletic sports was, to a considerable extent, the result of the prestige of those qualities required in war and in hunting. Athletics were a means to an end, but they were also an end in themselves. Bodily exercise was not an irksome task, but an agreeable pastime. The ancient Hellenes were therefore a very happy people, the ends that they sought to attain prescribed tasks that were congenial with their national temperament. Accordingly, we find, in a well-established condition, a system of athletic sports that were not directly related to the feats of battle. Such a sport was diskos throwing. The diskos was in shape a transverse section of a cylinder, and in Homeric times was made of stone. The contestant who hurled the diskos farthest from him was victor in the game. Doubtless the advantageous positions and movements were well understood by the skilled diskobolos.