Olympic Victor Monuments and Greek Athletic ArtHyde, Walter Woodburn
History
Olympic Victor Monuments and Greek Athletic Art
Hyde, Walter Woodburn
Olympics; Sculpture, Greek; Sports -- Greece
The reliefs are arranged in four horizontal zones.[29] One of these,
the second from the top, represents a bull-grappling scene, showing
two racing bulls, upon the head and horns of one of which a gymnast
has vaulted (not being tossed and helpless, as most interpreters
think).[30] The other three represent boxers in all attitudes of
the prize-ring, hitting, guarding, falling, and even kicking, as in
the later Greek pankration. Some are victorious, the left arm being
extended on guard and the right drawn back to strike; one (in the
top zone) is ready to spring, just as Hector was ready to spring on
Achilles;[31] others are prostrate on the ground with their feet in
the air. The violence of the action recalls the boast of Epeios in the
famous match in the Iliad that he will break his adversary’s bones.[32]
The method of attack by the right arm and defense by the left is the
same as that formerly used by English pugilists. In the topmost zone
the combatants wear helmets with visors, cheek-pieces, and horse-hair
plumes, and also shoes; in the third zone down the pugilists also wear
helmets, though of a different pattern, while the bottom zone shows
figures, perhaps youths, with bare heads. Some of the boxers appear to
wear boxing-gloves. In the lowest zone we see the well-known feat of
swinging the antagonist up by the legs and throwing him—if we may so
conclude from the contorted position of the vanquished, whose legs are
in the air.
A similar figure appears in relief on the fragment of a pyxis found at
Knossos.[33] A youth with clenched fists stands with left arm extended
as if to ward off a blow, while his right arm is drawn back and rests
on his hip; below we see the bent knee of a prostrate figure, evidently
that of his vanquished opponent. The boxer has a wasp-like waist and
wears a metal girdle. His left leg is well modeled, the muscles not
being exaggerated.
ATHLETICS IN HOMER.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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