The javelin used in Greek sports is called variously ????, ????t???, es???????, ?p?t???.^[593] The latter term appears to denote merely a lath or stick, and accurately describes the javelin as represented on the vases. A straight pole, in length nearly equal to the height of a man, though occasionally longer, and about the thickness of a man’s finger, it is one of the commonest objects in palaestra scenes, whether in use or planted in the ground singly or in pairs, perhaps to mark a starting-line for jump or throw. These rods were formerly described as jumping-poles, but the fact that the throwing-strap or ankyle is often attached to them proves that they are nothing more than javelins. At the same time there is no reason why they should not have served as measuring rods (?a???e?) for measuring the jump, a use which is perhaps represented on the British Museum kelebe (Fig. 77).

The athletic javelin is in the vast majority of cases pointless. On early black-figured vases such as the kelebe just mentioned, it is represented by a black line which seems to taper, but this is a mere accident of technique, the natural result of a line drawn with a single rapid stroke of brush or pen. On the red-figured vases the rod is usually square at the end, and often appears to have a blunt cap or ferule, indicated by a thickening of the end, or by a black patch or by lines which represent the binding by which it is attached. Such, we may suppose, were the javelins which Xenophon recommends cavalry soldiers to use in practice, provided with a round end (?sfa?????a) like the button on the modern foil or bayonet.^[594] These caps served not only for protection, but to give to the head of the javelin the necessary weight, without which it would not fly properly. Blunt javelins were naturally used for practice, especially for distance throws.

Pointed javelins are rarely represented in athletic scenes; but their use even in practice is shown by the speech of Antiphon in defence of a youth who accidentally hit and killed a boy who ran across the range as he was throwing.^[595] On the vases which represent javelin throwing on horseback at a target, the javelins are all pointed, and in two cases have long leaflike heads such as we see in hunting scenes.^[596] For throwing at a target, pointed javelins were necessary, at all events in competitions: but the enormous preponderance of the blunt javelins justifies the conclusion that these were generally used for practice, and that, down to the close of the fifth century distance-throwing was more usual than throwing at a target.

Whether pointed or blunt, the athletic javelin was evidently a light weapon, and Anacharsis contemptuously contrasts it with more formidable weapons which are not carried about by the wind.^[597] It was thrown by means of a thong, called ?????? or amentum, fastened near the centre of the javelin, which was therefore called es???????. The amentum was a leather thong, a foot or eighteen inches in length, if we may judge from the numerous representations of a javelin thrower (????t?st??) holding the javelin in one hand, and the thong in the other.^[598] It was detachable, but before use was firmly bound round the shaft, in such a way as to leave a loop three to four inches long, in which the thrower inserted his first, or his first and middle fingers. The point of attachment was near the centre of gravity, in the lightheaded javelins of athletics almost in the centre of the shaft, in the heavier javelins of war or the chase generally nearer to the head. Possibly, too, its place varied, according as the javelin was to be thrown for distance, or at a mark. By putting the amentum behind the centre of gravity, it is possible to increase the distance thrown, but at a sacrifice of accuracy. Hence the athlete fastened it to suit his taste shortly before use. On the British Museum hydria shown in Fig. 88 a youth is seated on the ground in the act of attaching the amentum. On a red-figured kylix at WÜrzburg (Fig. 91) we see a youth winding the amentum round the shaft, while he holds the other end tight with his foot. Some of the ways in which the amentum was fastened can be seen in the accompanying illustration. The clearest example is that from the Alexander Mosaic in Naples (Fig. 92e). In every case it is only the actual loop which is left free.

The amentum was no invention of the gymnasium but was adopted by the gymnasium from war and the chase. Whether it was used in Homeric times we cannot say. The principle of the sling was certainly known to the Homeric shepherd, and besides the long-shadowing spear of the chieftain, there was a lighter and shorter weapon (a??a???) which like the bow was used for hunting, and by the common soldiery in war and in sport. The warrior vase from Mycenae^[599] shows two types of spear, a long spear clenched firmly in the hand, and a short spear raised almost at arm’s length behind the head, the hand being pointed as if the fingers were extended as they are in holding the amentum.

From the sixth century onwards the amentum was used for throwing the javelin in war, in hunting, and in the chase. It is frequently represented on early black-figured vases. Its use is admirably shown on the interior of a Chalcidian kylix in the British Museum, where a fully armed warrior with his fingers inserted in the thong, prepares to throw a javelin with a sort of underhand throw, a throw in which certain savages to-day are said to be extraordinarily skilful (Fig. 93). The more usual overhand throw is employed by some of the warriors on the FranÇois vase (Fig. 94), who advance to the attack with arms drawn back and fingers inserted in the thong in the manner which Xenophon recommends to his peltasts.^[600] The fingering and the whole attitude are precisely the same as we find in athletic scenes, except that in the latter the head is usually turned backward, a position obviously ill-suited to the warrior or hunter. In a boar-hunting scene, depicted on a Corinthian vase in the British Museum, B. 37, javelins fitted with amenta are seen sticking in the boar’s back, a clear proof that they were fixed to the shaft and did not remain in the thrower’s hand.

The light javelin, fitted with the amentum, was primarily intended for throwing; but the vases show that it could also be used for thrusting or stabbing, in which case the thong served as a convenient handle or grip. It also marked the proper place to grasp the javelin, and is therefore occasionally represented on the long spear, which, though generally used for thrusting, could on occasions be thrown. These long spears were the weapons of the Homeric chieftains and of the hoplites who formed the chief strength of the Greek forces at the time of the Persian wars. The light javelin was the weapon of the common soldiery and light-armed troops, and its real importance dates from the closing years of the Peloponnesian War, when the value of light-armed troops and cavalry began to be realized. These light-armed troops were mostly mercenaries, Lydians, Mysians, Arcadians, Aetolians, Thessalians, Thracians. All these races were skilled in the use of the javelin. At Athens, where the cavalry were recruited from the ranks of the young nobles, the javelin was the special weapon of the ephebos, who is frequently represented on horseback, holding in his hand a pair of javelins. Javelin throwing was an important part of his training; competitions in it were multiplied, and in the third century B.C. we find special teachers of the javelin, ????t?sta?, engaged by the state to train the epheboi at Athens and elsewhere.^[601]

The distribution of the amentum^[602] is a point of some interest and importance. It does not seem to have been a Greek invention. It was known at an early date in Italy, and was freely used by Etruscans, Samnites, and Messapians, but it does not appear to have been used in the Roman army till after the Punic Wars. The tragula, the weapon of the Spanish in the second Punic War, was thrown with an amentum. In Caesar’s time it was the weapon of the Gallic cavalry. From this time it was widely used by the light-armed mercenaries. There are traces of the amentum on the Roman weapons found at Alise Sainte Reine, and we even find it attached to the heavy spear of the legionary. Going yet further afield, we find it represented on an embossed sword-belt discovered at Watsch in Austria, and there is reason to suppose that the light javelins found at La TÈne were thus thrown. Undoubtedly the amentum was known in Denmark in the early Iron Age. Remains of it have been found at Nydam. The spears found there are 8 to 10 feet long. On the middle of the shaft are often visible certain small bronze rivets, between which a cord was fastened. In some cases the cord was found still fastened between the rivets. Lastly, we find the amentum frequently mentioned in old Irish story. Thus in the battle of Moyreth “Cuanna, pressing his foot on the solid earth, put his finger in the string of his broad-headed spear and made a cast at Congal.” This loop, called suanem or suaineamh, was made of silk or flax, and the laigan or spear to which it was attached is said to have been brought to Ireland by Gaulish mercenaries in the fourth century B.C. An interesting survival of this old Irish spear with its loop is seen in a picture of Captain Thomas Lee, painted in 1594, now in the possession of Lord Dillon.

We see, then, that the amentum was known throughout Greece and Italy, in Spain and Gaul, in Central Europe, in Denmark, and Ireland. The light javelin to which it belongs is the weapon of the less highly civilized peoples. It is a weapon of the chase and of the common people, but it plays little part in the heavily-equipped citizen armies of Greece and Rome. In both lands it comes into prominence with the organization of light-armed troops, and then chiefly as the weapon of subject states and mercenaries. Hence we are forced to the conclusion that the amentum was the invention of the tribes of Central Europe, and in the course of their wanderings was carried throughout the southern and western portions of the Continent.

The fixed amentum does not appear to be known outside Europe, but somewhat similar contrivances exist to-day among savage tribes. Such is the ounep used by the people of New Caledonia and the New Hebrides. It is a thickish cord, 6 or 8 inches long, with a loop at one end and a knot at the other. The spears are 9 to 12 feet long, with a slight projection just behind the centre of gravity, behind which the cord is placed and twisted over the knot in such a way as to untie as the spear is thrown, remaining itself in the thrower’s hand. Examples of it can be seen in the Ethnographical Gallery of the British Museum, and our illustration is taken from a drawing exhibited there (Fig. 95). A combination of this thong with the throwing-stick is found in New Zealand. The throwing-stick is by far the commonest contrivance for increasing the throw of a spear. It is widely used in Australia, Melanesia, Central America, and among the Eskimos, but is unknown in Europe, although throwing-sticks made of bone appear to have been used by Palaeolithic man in France.

The working of the amentum can be easily understood from our illustration. In preparing for an overhand throw the spear rests on the web between the thumb and fingers, but is really held by the two fingers inserted in the loop and projecting above the shaft. At the moment of throw the position is reversed; the pull on the amentum gives a half-turn to the shaft, and the javelin is held only by the amentum, the fingers being below the shaft. The action of the amentum is similar to that of the rifling of a gun. By imparting a rotatory movement to the missile it not only helps it to keep its direction but also increases its carry and penetrating power. The carry is further increased by the additional leverage given to the thrower’s arm. It is obvious that, as Philostratus points out,^[603] length of finger was a considerable advantage to a javelin thrower.

The effect of the amentum on a light javelin has been demonstrated by practical experiments carried out by General Reffye for the Emperor Napoleon. It was found that a javelin which could only be thrown 20 metres by hand could, after a little practice, be thrown 80 metres, with the help of an amentum. JÜthner further records that an inexperienced thrower increased his throw from 25 to 65 metres by its use. The meaning of these figures can be realised from the fact that the record for javelin throwing made by Lemming, the winner at the Olympic games, was only 57·33 metres. It must be noted, however, that the javelin used in these games was a heavy one, weighing 800 grammes (about 2 lbs.), whereas the Greek javelin was very much lighter.^[604]

The method of throwing the javelin is clearly shown on the vases. Two things are necessary: the amentum must be firmly fastened to the shaft, and the loop must be drawn tight by the fingers before the throw. The fastening of the amentum has been already described. On a red-figured psykter (Fig. 96) we see the next stage in the preparation. A group of youths are preparing to practise under the supervision of a paidotribes and his assistant, while two other paidotribai are occupied with a pair of wrestlers. Two of the youths are testing the bindings; resting one end of the javelin on the ground, and holding it firm with their left hand, they pass the right hand along the shaft to see that the binding is secure. A third in the same position is passing his fingers through the loop, the lines of which have disappeared. A fourth has already inserted his fingers in the loop, and, raising the javelin breast-high, presses it forward with his left hand so as to draw the thong tight.

Two styles of javelin throwing can be distinguished, one in which the javelin is horizontal, the other in which it is pointed more or less upwards. The horizontal style is the practical style of war or the chase, the other the style of pure athletics. In the latter distance is the one and only object, and the thrower may take his time; in the former distance is only a secondary consideration compared with force and accuracy, and everything depends on rapidity of action. It is the difference between throwing in a cricket ball from the long field and throwing it in competition.

(a) The Practical Style.—The soldier or hunter must have his javelin ready for use at a moment’s notice. He therefore carries it with his fingers passed through the loop (d???????s????). He may carry it horizontally at his side, as does the warrior in Fig. 93, but a freer and more natural position is with the arm bent and the javelin sloped over the shoulder and pointed downwards. From this position he can draw his arm straight back for the throw, or raise the elbow so that the javelin is level with his head, the natural position for taking aim. This manner of holding the javelin is implied or represented in numerous scenes of war or the chase, and is equally serviceable on horseback or on foot. Perhaps the best examples of it occur on two Panathenaic vases representing the pentathlon, one in the British Museum, the other in Leyden (Figs. 107, 108). On the Leyden vase the akontistes carries his javelin still on the slope; so does the athlete who heads the procession on the British Museum vase, but the other akontistes has raised it horizontally. This position with the javelin poised on a level with the head is the natural position for starting, whether the thrower uses an amentum or not. The javelin may remain in this position during the run, or may be at once drawn back. Where time was no object, the thrower might, before starting to run, adjust the javelin by pressing the point back with the left hand, in the manner represented on a black-figured stamnos in the Museo Gregoriano (Fig. 97).

From the carry the arm is drawn back to its full extent, as shown on the FranÇois vase (Fig. 94). In the actual throw the movement is reversed, arm and spear travelling back through the same positions, except that when the amentum is used the hand at once releases the shaft of the spear, which is merely held by means of the thong. A realistic picture of this moment is shown on an early black-figured vase from the Acropolis, the lower zone of which contains a cavalry fight between archers and javelin throwers (Fig. 98).

This style of throw is typical of the black-figured vases, and quite distinct from that which we find general on the red-figured vases of the fifth century. It is the practical style of the chase and of war adapted to sport. It is, of course, the natural style for throwing at a target, and at first sight one is tempted to suppose that this is what the artists wish to represent; but the care with which they emphasize the bluntness of the javelins is conclusive for a distance throw.

(b) The Athletic Style.—The purely athletic character of the style depicted on the red-figured vases is obvious from the most casual inspection. Till the actual moment of the throw the head is turned backwards, the eyes fixed on the right hand, a position equally absurd for war, or the chase, or aiming at any sort of mark. After carefully adjusting and testing the amentum in the manner described, and inserting one or two fingers in the loop, the thrower extends his right arm backwards to its full extent, while, with his left hand opposite his breast, he holds the end of the spear, and pushes it backwards to draw the thongs tight. The spear is sometimes horizontal, sometimes pointed downwards, as we see it on the British Museum amphora, E. 256 (Fig. 99). On this vase it will be noticed that the little finger and the third finger, which play no part in the practical style in which the spear is poised above the shoulder, are required to keep the javelin steady when the right hand is dropped.

As the thrower starts to run, he draws his right hand still further backwards, turning his body sideways, and extends his left arm to the front. On a Munich kylix (Fig. 100) we see two consecutive positions; the youth on the left still steadies the javelin with his left hand, the youth on the right has just let go. The next moment, with the left hand fully extended to the front, is represented on a kylix in Berlin (Fig. 101). From the position of the head and arm it is obvious that the violent, rapid run, of which some authors speak, is an impossibility. Just as in throwing a cricket ball, the run consists of a few short, springy steps. Immediately before the throw a further turn of the body to the right takes place, the right knee being well bent and the right shoulder dropped, while the hand is turned outwards, so that the shaft almost rests on the palm of the hand. This attitude is vividly depicted on a Torlonia kylix (Fig. 102).

The actual throw is very rarely shown, and the artists who attempt it fall into hopeless confusion. For example, on the Munich kylix (Fig. 100) the youth in the centre is intended to be throwing a javelin to the right, but the fingering of the right hand is only compatible with a throw to the left. Not much better is the drawing of the javelin thrower on the Panaetius kylix (Fig. 17). Here, as in a red-figured amphora in Munich (Fig. 103), though the general attitude is vigorous and lifelike, the position of the hand is hopeless, the wrist being curved over the shaft instead of bent back under it. The amentum too is conspicuous by its absence. The carelessness of the painters of red-figured vases in such details is in marked contrast to the carefulness of the earlier painters. This is partly due to the fact that the athletic types have become conventional, partly to the fact that, whereas in the black-figured vases the amentum was painted black like the spear itself, on the red-figured vases it had to be added in some other colour, usually white or purple, after the rest of the drawing was finished. Hence this detail was often omitted altogether, or if inserted, was the first to be obliterated.

The javelin was usually thrown with a short run, but one or two vase paintings suggest that a standing throw was also practised. Such is the figure on a kylix in Rome (Fig. 104), the attitude being evidently borrowed from that of the diskobolos. Possibly the Torlonia kylix may also represent a standing throw.

Was the javelin thrown with the left hand as well as the right? Plato recommends the training of both hands alike, and the fact that the Greek always carried two javelins, often one in either hand, renders the suggestion possible. But the only direct proof of a left-handed throw is a figure on a kylix of Nicosthenes in Berlin.^[605] Even if a left-handed throw was practised in the gymnasia, there is no evidence of it in competitions. Nor is there any evidence to show that the Greeks ever threw the javelin without the amentum. The omission of the amentum on the vases is a detail too untrustworthy to warrant us in drawing any definite conclusion from it.

It is hardly necessary to point out that the vases in which the spear is pointed upwards offer no support at all to the remarkable theory that the Greeks practised high throwing “le tir en haut,” as it is described by a French writer. To obtain the maximum of distance it is, of course, absolutely necessary to throw high. A similar theory has been put forward for the diskos. One wonders how “le lancement en haut” of the diskos was measured.

In the games of Patroclus javelin throwing was a separate event. Here, and wherever it is mentioned in Homer as a sport, the competition is for distance only. Throwing at a mark may be implied in the association of javelin throwing with the bow, which meets us again in fourth-century inscriptions, and Pindar definitely refers to such a competition when he describes how at the founding of the Olympic games “Phrastor with the javelin hit the mark.”^[606] On a fragment of a large vase found on the Acropolis which represents the funeral games of Pelias a javelin competition is shown. The prize is a tripod, and the javelins are not the blunt weapons of the palaestra, but have broad metal points. On one of them the amentum is clearly shown.^[607]

As the weapon of the chase, every Greek boy must from boyhood have practised throwing the javelin both for distance and at any improvised target. At an early date its use was taught in the gymnasia, and its popularity is shown by the numerous representations of it in art, and by the frequent metaphors which Pindar borrows from it. But in the Greek games, at least, the javelin, like the diskos, only figured as part of the pentathlon, and with the exception of the competition on horseback at Athens, there is no evidence for any separate competition for javelin throwing, either for distance or at a target, till the fourth century.

Towards the close of the fifth century increased importance was given to the javelin as the weapon of light-armed troops and of the epheboi; and from the fourth century onwards we find ????t?s?? quoted in inscriptions as a separate competition at Athens and elsewhere.^[608] The association of the javelin and the bow suggests that in these competitions some sort of target was used, and the case cited by Antiphon proves the use of a target and pointed javelins in practice. But the only direct evidence for such a competition, apart from that on horseback, is furnished by two later inscriptions from Larisa of the time of Hadrian which mention victors s??p? pe??? and s??p? ?pp???.^[609]

What was the character of the competition in the pentathlon? The question has been discussed at wearisome length by commentators on Pindar and others, but Dr. JÜthner’s conclusion seems to me incontestable, namely, that the competition in the pentathlon was one for distance only.

On this point the evidence of the vases seems conclusive. The javelins are blunt, the head is turned backward just before the throw, and there is no sign of any target. The last point is particularly convincing because in the competition on horseback the target is always represented. Certain archaeologists, it is true, have discovered evidence of targets in the badly-drawn amenta held in the hand of the javelin thrower on the Panaetius kylix and other vases. These have been interpreted as compasses for drawing circles on the ground at which the throwers aimed; or again as a sort of croquet-hoop stuck in the ground to serve as target! The authors of these delightful suggestions forget that the hunter or soldier does not aim at his opponent’s feet but at his body, and that if a target is used it is at a reasonable height.

The literary evidence agrees with that of the vases. The passages of Pindar referring to a mark, with the exception of the passage already quoted on the Olympic games, have no necessary connexion with any competition, certainly none with the pentathlon. They are metaphors borrowed from the practice of everyday life. One passage in Pindar certainly refers to the pentathlon, two others possibly; all three indicate a distance-throw.^[610] Lastly, Lucian, in a passage referring to Olympia and therefore to the pentathlon, definitely states that in throwing the javelin athletes compete for distance.^[611]

The conditions for throwing the javelin must have been similar to those for the diskos. The competitors threw from behind a line which they were not allowed to overstep. This line was perhaps the starting-line of the stadium; it is certainly the t??a of Pindar’s Seventh Nemean Ode. It appears probable from this ode that a competitor who overstepped the line was disqualified from taking any further part in the competition. On a kylix in Berlin the line is marked by a pillar in front of, or perhaps on a level with, the thrower (Fig. 105). Further, common-sense and the safety of the spectators required that the throw should keep within certain limits as regards direction; and this is implied by Pindar when in the first Pythian he prays that his throw may not fall “outside the lists,” ??? ?????s?, but that with a far throw he may surpass all his rivals.

The javelins which we see so frequently sticking in the ground in palaestra scenes have been adduced as an argument to prove that no throw counted unless the javelin stuck in the ground; clearly an impossible condition with blunt javelins on the hard-baked ground of Greece. How the throw was measured we know no more than in the case of the diskos. Nor do we know how many throws were allowed. Various scraps of evidence have been brought forward to prove that two or three throws were allowed, but the evidence is quite inconclusive.

We have seen that from an early date the javelin was employed by horsemen, both in war and in the chase. At Athens, especially, horsemanship, was the duty and also the recreation of the richer classes. Plato tells us that Themistocles himself taught his son Cleophantus not only to ride but to throw the javelin standing on horseback, and in the Laws he recommends javelin throwing on horseback as a useful accomplishment.^[612] Xenophon,^[613] in his treatise on the duties of a cavalry officer, urges the latter to encourage his men to practise the javelin and to stir up emulation among them by offering prizes. In his treatise on horsemanship he gives further instructions. Velocity and distance are the most important points for war. To secure these, he tells us, the thrower must advance the left side of the body and draw back the right, straightening himself from the thighs and holding the javelin pointed slightly upwards. If, however, the object is accuracy, the javelin must point straight at the mark. At Athens there were competitions in this sport as early as the fifth century. At the Panathenaea five amphorae of oil were given for the first prize, and one for the second. In the second century this competition is mentioned in inscriptions relating to the Thesea. The Larisa inscription already referred to makes it probable that it still existed in Thessaly in the time of Hadrian.

Fortunately we are able to supplement these scanty details from the vases. A fifth-century aryballos from Eretria, now at Athens, a fourth-century krater in the Louvre,^[614] and a Panathenaic amphora in the British Museum (Fig. 106), give vivid pictures of the competition. The target is a shield with a crown forming a sort of bull’s-eye in the centre, raised on a post to a level with the horses’ heads. The competitors gallop past this target, hurling their javelins at it as they pass. The javelins are pointed, and are held a little above the shoulder with the point directed slightly downwards towards the target. The riders on the Panathenaic vase wear the typical dress of the Athenian ephebos, a flat, broad-brimmed hat called petasos, and a bright-bordered chiton fastened over the shoulder. On the Eretria vase they also wear high boots, and on the krater in the Louvre the hats are replaced by wreaths, and winged victories hover over the riders bearing wreaths.

The Panathenaic amphora of course refers to the Panathenaic festival, and the festal character of the other vases suggests a definite connexion with some other festival or festivals, but we can say no more. The sport was probably a common one in Attica, Thessaly, and other horse-breeding lands, and formed an attractive feature of other festivals besides the Thesea and Panathenaea. There is certainly no ground for connecting it with the Argive Heraea.