The take-off (βατήρ) was at one end of the skamma. It is marked in vase paintings, sometimes by spears or poles placed in the ground, sometimes by pillars similar to those that mark the start of the running track.[541] Possibly the stone starting-lines of the stadium may have served as the bater. The word merely denotes a stepping-place or threshold. We know that the bater must have been hard and firm,[542] but whether it was made of wood or stone we cannot say. There is no evidence for the use of any kind of spring-board in athletics.[543] The jumps were measured by rods (κανόνες),[544] and the individual jumps were marked either by pegs or by lines drawn in the sand. On a vase in the British Museum (Fig. 67) three vertical lines are drawn beneath the figure of a jumper in mid-air, and three similar lines occur under a jumper depicted on an Etruscan carnelian. They mark the jumps of previous competitors, but may equally well be interpreted as pegs or as lines in the sand. Certainly they are not, as has been sometimes suggested, spikes or arrows set there to give zest and danger to the sport. The acrobat might turn somersaults over swords and spikes, but the acrobat was a slave-girl usually, not a free citizen, and the Greeks fully appreciated the difference between acrobatics and athletics. [Illustration: Fig. 60. Leaden halter found at Eleusis. Athens, National Museum, 9075.] The Greek jumper generally used jumping weights (ἁλτῆρες). These halteres were of stone or metal, and differed considerably in shape and weight. We cannot say when their use came in. Homer does not mention them, but we find them already in existence at the very beginning of the sixth century, if not earlier. To this period belongs an inscribed halter of lead found at Eleusis, perhaps one of a pair, dedicated by a certain Epaenetus to commemorate his victory in the jump (Fig. 60).[545] It is merely an oblong piece of lead about 4-1/2 inches long, 1-1/2 broad, and with the sides slightly concave, varying in depth from 1-1/4 inch at either end to less than an inch in the centre. It weighs 4 lbs. 2 oz. (1·888 kg.). [Illustration: Fig. 61. Halteres in the British Museum. (_a_) Cast of halter found at Olympia, L. 11-1/2 in. (_b_) Limestone halter found at Camirus, L. 7-1/2 in. (_c_) Leaden halter, L. 8 in.]