. Greek athletic sports and festivals . all events in later times, the same athleticimportance as the purely athletic events : it was no race for thespecialist; rather it belonged to that class of mixed athletics,such as obstacle races and races in uniform, which are a popularand also a valuable feature in military sports. Hence atOlympia and elsewhere the race in armour was an appropriate ^ Anth, Plan. iv. 54 ; Pausanias, iii. 21. ^ Philostr. Gym. 23. Diodor. Sic. xiv. 11. •* Jul. Africaiius, 01. 113 ; iv. 1349. ^ Artemidor. i. 63 ; Plutarch, Quaest. Symp. ii. 5 ; Pausanias, iii. 14, 3 ;
. Greek athletic sports and festivals . all events in later times, the same athleticimportance as the purely athletic events : it was no race for thespecialist; rather it belonged to that class of mixed athletics,such as obstacle races and races in uniform, which are a popularand also a valuable feature in military sports. Hence atOlympia and elsewhere the race in armour was an appropriate ^ Anth, Plan. iv. 54 ; Pausanias, iii. 21. ^ Philostr. Gym. 23. Diodor. Sic. xiv. 11. •* Jul. Africaiius, 01. 113 ; iv. 1349. ^ Artemidor. i. 63 ; Plutarch, Quaest. Symp. ii. 5 ; Pausanias, iii. 14, 3 ;Philostr. Gym. 7 ; Heliodor. Aeth. iv. 286 GREEK ATHLETIC SPORTS AND FESTIVALS CHAP. close to the athletic programme,^ marking as it did the connexionbetween athletic training and real life. There were many varieties of the armed race, differing fromone another in distance, in equipment, and in rules. The moststrenuous of all these competitions was that at the Eleutheriaat Plataea, partly, Philostratus tells us, owing to the length 1. Fio. 54.— kylix ascribed to Euplironius. Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, 523. of the course ; partly owing to the completeness of the armourworn, which enveloped the athlete from head to foot; partlyowing to a remarkable rule that any competitor who having \ For a full discussion of the armed race ride J. II. S. xxiii. p. 280 ff. On vasesthis race is frequently connected with boxing and the pankration, the eventswhich probably preceded it in the programme. Vide Figs. 54, 15L I XllI THE FOOT-RACE—RACE IN ARMOUR 287 once won the race entered again and jailed incurred the pocialtyof cleath. Perhaps this regulation means no more than thatno previous winner was allowed to compete a second time.^ AtNemea the race was over the hippios course of four stades, atOlympia and at Athens it was a diaulos of two stades.^ Else-where the distance may have been different. Similarly theequipment varied. The runners at Olympia originally wore
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