. The life of the Greeks and Romans. of gymnastic exercise is the throwing of thediskos (ci(TKopo\). Our illustration (Fig. 255) is taken fromthe statue of a Diskobolos found in 1781 at the Villa Palombara,belonging to Principe Massimi. It is undoubtedly a copy of thecelebrated statue by the sculptor Myron. The upper part of thebody is bent down towards the right, and rests on the left arm,the left hand itself resting on the knee of the right leg, which isslightly bent. The weight of the body, therefore, is thrown onthe right foot; while the left one, with the toes bent slightly, onlytouche
. The life of the Greeks and Romans. of gymnastic exercise is the throwing of thediskos (ci(TKopo\). Our illustration (Fig. 255) is taken fromthe statue of a Diskobolos found in 1781 at the Villa Palombara,belonging to Principe Massimi. It is undoubtedly a copy of thecelebrated statue by the sculptor Myron. The upper part of thebody is bent down towards the right, and rests on the left arm,the left hand itself resting on the knee of the right leg, which isslightly bent. The weight of the body, therefore, is thrown onthe right foot; while the left one, with the toes bent slightly, onlytouches the ground to keep up the equilibrium. The heavy diskoslies on the lower part of the arm and the right hand. The rightarm is bent backwards up to the height of the shoulder, so as toadd force to the throw. The neck and head are turned towards thehand holding the diskos, so as to control the right direction of thethrow. The same position is also mentioned by Philostratos( Imag,, I., 24) in his description of a diskobolos, and was,. Fig. 254. SPEAR-THR O WING. 223 undoubtedly, the regular one. It somewhat resembles that of our players at nine-pins, with the difference, however, that in our game the ball is thrown in a straight line, while the diskos was propelled in a curve. This game is connected with mythical gods and heroes ; Homer mentions it as a favourite occupation of men. The Homeric diskos (aoKoi) consisted of a heavy piece of cast iron (avroyowvos) or of stone ; as, for instance, amongst the Phaiakai. The historic diskos has the shape of a lens. It resembled a small round shield without a handle, and was, therefore, difficult to manage. The dis- kobolos bent his fingers over the side of the diskos which rested on his palm and on the lower part of the arm (Fig. 255). A diskos found at iEgina is 7 7 in diameter, and weighs 3 lbs. 29 oz. It is at present in the antiquarium of the Royal Museum of Berlin (Bronzeny No. 1273) ; on it are represented two epheboi, one of them
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