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36 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
The Pentathlon |
708 BCE 5 events Winning without dust, with no competition could happen The ultimate pentathlete was good at light events and heavy events |
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"None of the competitors fell more quickly than I, and none ran the stadion more slowly. I never came near the others with the disks, my legs never got strong enough to jump, and someone with a club foot could hurl the anon better than I. I am the first in the pentathlon to be proclaimed vanquished in all five." |
Anthology Graeca, Miller Arete 60 CE A commentary on the fact that you can lose all 5 events but still win overall, which is an early criticism of the event |
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"He who enters the Pentathlon ought to be heavy rather than light and light rather than heavy." |
Philostratus, Gymnasticus You have to be good at both sports |
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"In youth, beauty lies in the possession of a body capable of enduring all kinds of labours, both in the racecourse and in bodily strength, and the youth himself is as pleasant delight to look at. It is for this reason that Pentathletes are the most beautiful. They are naturally adapted for exertion of the body and swiftness of foot." |
Aristotle Rhetoric Miller Arete Pentathletes look good and perform well |
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Event 1 of the Pentathlon |
Discus 3 disco used in competition Not a personal possession of the athlete, they couldn't dedicate it to anyone |
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The Discobolus of Myron |
Bronze Created by Myron of Elitherae Multiple Romain copies made in marble |
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"Springing up with cloak and all, he took a discus, Broad and much bigger and heavier than the ones the Phaeacians there. He whirled it around and shot it from his strong hand... It flew past the marks of all, speeding quick from his hand. Athena measured it, similar in body to a man, she spoke out: 'Even a blind man, stranger, could make out this mark by feeling it, since it is not mingled at all the crowd, but is by far the first." |
Odyssey The idea of motion |
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Diskobolus |
Disc thrower Representation of motion |
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usually statures recreate states positions, but this one shows a figure in motion Captured in the middle of motion A "pregnant moment," capturing a moment that speaks to the action beforehand and the action afterwards Capturing a single, fruitful moment Important- the head is looking at the discus, which is how Myron says is the right way to throw the discus |
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"A balbis has been separated off; it is small and adequate only for a single standing man, and even then it holds back only the rear and the right leg (the back is bending forward) with the weight on the left leg reduced, for it is necessary that this leg is straightened and advanced together with the right arm. The attitude of the man holding the disks must be that he turn his head to the right and bend over so far that he can see his side, and to throw he must draw himself up and put his whole right side into the throw." |
Philostratus, Imagines Does philostratus actually know was a discus was? Doesn't sound like it in this passage |
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Event 2 of the Pentathlon |
The Long Jump (Halma) Performed in the Skamma Jumping weights (Halteres) Halteres were in possession of the athlete Athletes used jumping weights to propel themselves forward |
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Halteres that was dedicated by Akmatidas of Sparta 550 BCE Akmatidas of Lakedaimonia having won the five without dust (akoniti) dedicated this If you were successful you could dedicate your jumping weights to the Gods after Proving philostatus wrong, since victory without competition can happen within the pentathlon Weights show the role of technology even in the games |
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Phayllos |
Man who jumped beyond the pout Good at the long jump, bad at the discus |
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Phayllos was a pentathlete from Pontos (or Croton) who seems to have been a great disks thrower and jumper. Since he jumped beyond the dug-up area 50 feet onto the hard ground, the event passed into the proverbial." |
Miller Arete Zenobius 150 CE Athlete jumped very very far |
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Long jump with jumping weights |
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Longjump |
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Longjump |
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Event 3 of the Pentathlon |
Javelin Throw (Akon) Use of Ankyle (leather strap) wrapped around the javelin 2 fingers to propel the javelin forward Longest of 5 attempts wins Use the ankyle to propel the javelin |
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The Javelin throw |
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The Hippikos Agon |
Chariot racing event 2nd most important event (after the stadion) The premier event Demonstration/competition of wealth and power |
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The Hippikos Agon |
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Event 4 of the Pentathlon |
Chariot Race (Tethrippon) 12 laps around a horse track (hippodrome) turned around a turning post (kampter/nyssa) Metis needed Turn it a critical point Victor was the owner of the horse, not the rider |
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This image shows the first chariot race of the funeral games of Patroclus |
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Chariot Racing and Prestige |
Alcibiades entered 7 chariots in the games to give him a high chance of winning Alcibiades= political playboy of athens was accused of violations of religious behaviour |
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"During the years my father was married to my mother he saw that the festival of Olympia was beloved and admired by all men, and it was there that the Greeks made a display of wealth and strength and training (education) and the athletes were envied (experienced zeros) while the cities of the victor became renowned. He thought these things through and through and, although in no way untalented (aphuesteros) nor weaker in his body, he looked down on the gym games since he knew that some of the athletes were lowborn and from small city-states and poorly educated. Therefore, he tried his hand at horse-breeding, work of the most wealthy and not possible for a poor man, and he beat not only his competitors, but all previous winners. He entered a number of teams, something that not even the biggest city-states, as public entities, had ever done in the competitions. And their aerate (physical excellence) was such that he came in first, second and third. |
Young Alcibiades defends the memory of his father, who was sued for stealing horses Didn't compete in other naked events because he learned that there are people of lower status than himself who were participating in these sports and if he lost to someone with a lower social status that would look bad on him (principle of elitism) The democratic principle of how people of all different classes can come together and compete together Alcibiades going beyond a single Olympic victory (trying to establish records, wants his memories to go on well past any Olympic victor. Single individual competing with a city Arete= superiority Physical excellence of the horses becomes a representation of the physical excellence of Alcibiades' body |
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Keles |
Horse Back Race 648 BCE |
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Synoris |
Two Horse Chariot Race 408 BCE Small, young, slave boys 8 laps of Hippodrome |
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Apene |
Mule Cart Race 444 BCE mule= absolute sign of wealth because you can't breed them Sport that ended because it was too elitist |
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Kalse |
496-444 BCE Rider jumped off horse and ran alongside it for the last lap |
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Altar of Taraxippos |
Horse Frightener An altar on the side of the course that "spooked" the horses Pausanias's Explanation for the event: Pelops made Myrtilus an empty tomb to relax Myrtilus' curses against him (Myrtilus= the chariot race winner who Pelops killed) |
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Kyniska |
Entered a Chariot Victorious Female empowerment Equestrian victory= wealth, not arete |
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Aristophanes' Clouds |
423 BCE Performed at the Dionysian Festival in Athens Plays on Athenian Politics and Peloponnesian War Came in last place at Theater competition "Comedy of Ideas," intellectual commentary Lampoons the figure of Socrates, who was a sophist This is a play that acts as an attack on Socrates who burns down in a house Plato should be punished for this rude play |
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Aristophane's Clouds play Lampoons the figure of Socrates, who was labeled as a "sophist" |
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Plato's Apology |
Socrates says he should be punished by getting free meals for the rest of his his life, comparing himself to an olympic victory |
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Aristophanes Clouds Plot |
1. Strepsiades enrolls in a "think tank" (Phrontisterion) run by Socrates, who is defined as a "sophist" The Prontisterion is supposed to be a school for "sophists" who can make the weaker argument stronger If Strepsiades can learn how to argue, he can get out of his debts caused by chariot riding 2. Strepsiades unrolls his son unto the Prontisterion, and his son learns to have no respect for authority (son begins beating his father) 3. In revenge for the harm done from "sophistic education," Strepsiades burns down the Prontisterion with Socrates in it |
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"What is a fitting penalty for a poor man who is your benefactor and who needs leisure time for advising you? There is nothing more fitting, men of Athens, for such a man than that he be given free meals for the remainder of his life in the prytaneion. And that is much more fitting than such a reward for one of you who has won the synods or the tethrippon at the Olympic games. He makes you seem to be happy. I make you happy. And he does not need free meals; I do. If then, I have to be penalized in accordance with my just worth, I should be penalized with free meals in the Prytaneion. |
Plato's Apology Apologizing for the offensive play Didn't ask for a fair punishment (free meals isn't a fair punishment) Put to death instead |