Attic red-figure lekythos with representation of a javelin thrower

A young athlete is preparing to throw the javelin. He has already slipped the index and the middle finger in the ankyle, i.e. the leather loop tied to the centre of gravity of the javelin, which he holds with the other hand from its end. The so-called hekevolos akontismos (distance javelin), in which the young man is practising, was performed with a wooden javelin without metal head. The palaestra, where the practice takes place, is indicated by the diphros (stool) on which the athlete has placed his himation, as well as by the aryballos and the sponge, both suspended above the latter.