The principle of the throw is clearly shown in Myron’s Diskobolos (Fig. 13). The thrower, taking his stand with the right foot forward, swings or lifts the diskos to the front in his left hand, and then grasping it with his right hand, swings it vigorously downwards and backwards, turning both head and body to the right until he reaches the position represented by Myron. The right foot is the pivot on which the whole body swings. This swing of the body round a fixed point is of the essence of the swing of the diskos as it is of the swing of a golf club. The force comes not from the arms, which merely connect the body and the weight, but from the lift of the thighs and the swing of the body. If we confine ourselves to the two statues, we see that no movement of the feet is necessary in the preliminary movements; but this simple scheme fails to explain a number of vase paintings and bronzes representing intermediate positions in which the diskobolos has his left foot forward. There are two types of such frequent occurrence that we may feel sure that they belong to the usual method of throwing the diskos. [Illustration: Fig. 76. R.-f. kylix, in _British Museum_, E. 6.] 1. The diskobolos holds the diskos in front of him in both hands (Fig. 76). 2. He holds the diskos flat in his right hand which is turned outwards so that the diskos rests against the forearm. The left hand is usually raised above the head.[582] [Illustration: Fig. 77. B.-f. kelebe. British Museum, B. 361.] The first of these positions is the natural connecting link between the preliminary stance and Myron’s statue. If no movement of the feet took place, we should expect to find that the right foot was always advanced. In many cases this is so, but in the majority the left foot is advanced (Fig. 77). This circumstance can hardly be due to accident, or carelessness, or even to the tendency general in Greek sculpture to put the left foot forward. The uniformity of other details is remarkable. The advanced leg is always straight or nearly so, the other leg more or less bent. The right hand always grasps the diskos, the left merely supports it. We are forced to conclude, therefore, either that the thrower took up his stand with the left foot forward, or that, as the diskos swung forward in the left hand, the left foot was advanced. How then did he pass from this position with the left foot forward to the position of Myron’s statue? The change of feet may be effected in two ways—either by making another step forward with the right foot, or by drawing back the left foot. The former was the method adopted by some of the competitors in the Olympic games of 1896. Starting with the left foot forward, the thrower raised the diskos in both hands to a level with the shoulders and at the moment of swinging it back advanced the right foot, stepping forward again with the left in making the actual throw. This method requires room for three steps, the impetus being