It is difficult to form any definite conclusion as to the size and weight of the diskos used in competitions. The diskoi are all more or less worn, and the weights are therefore only approximate. They seem, however, to fall into certain groups. The best marked group is formed by Nos. 8-11 and perhaps 12, which suggest a standard of about 2·1 kilos. Heavier standards are suggested by Nos. 2 and 3, and by Nos. 4 and 5, say 4·0 and 2·8 kilos respectively, while Nos. 14 and 15 point to a standard of 1·3. The difference between these standards is partially due to the fact, vouched for by Pausanias, that boys used a smaller and lighter diskos than men.[570] No doubt the standard varied greatly at different times and places. At Olympia three bronze diskoi were kept in the treasury of the Sicyonians[571] for the use of competitors in the pentathlon, and it seems probable that the diskos used there was heavier than that in use elsewhere.[572] Unfortunately, though there was only one competition with the diskos at Olympia, there are great differences in the eight diskoi found there, and no conclusion is possible even for Olympia. If any inference can be drawn from the heavy votive diskos dedicated by Publius in the third century A.D., it would be that in later times the weight of the diskos was greatly increased, much, of course, to the detriment of the sport. Certainly the lightest diskos which we possess is the sixth-century diskos from Cephallenia. The scanty records which we possess give us little help towards determining the weight used. Phaÿllus is said to have thrown the diskos 95 feet, and Philostratus speaks of the hero Protesilaus throwing beyond a hundred cubits, and that with a diskos twice the size of the Olympian.[573] Statius, again, describes Phlegyas as hurling a diskos across the Alpheus at its widest.[574] As far as they go, these data agree with the one fact emphasized by ancient writers that the diskos was a heavy object. In the revived Olympic games a diskos is used weighing 2 kilos. It is made of wood with a metal core, and is a clumsy, ugly object for which there is absolutely no authority, infinitely inferior in every way to the ancient diskos. J. Sheridan threw it 135 ft. 8 in. at Athens in 1906, throwing in the free style, while in the cramped and artificial Greek style he succeeded in throwing 124 ft. 8 in. in the games of 1908. It would seem then that the men’s diskos was probably heavier than 2 kilos; usually but not always, for Exoïdas, as we have seen, used one much lighter.