Red-figure kylix depicting an athlete with jumping weights
On the inside of the cup, a young athlete is depicted bending and opening his stride to the left, holding jump weights in his outstretched hands, in preparation for a jump.
Athletes of the long jump held jump weights, usually made of stone or lead, weighing 1.5 to 2 kg in each hand and jumped with their feet together. The swinging of the weights backwards produced a counterweight during landing, to avoid falling forward. A trained athlete could not exceed three meters in a single standing jump.
The reference that Fayllos from the city of Croton, one of the greatest ancient long jumpers, jumped 55 feet (16.3 m.) and landed outside the sandpit (Anthologia Palatina, 297), has led to speculations that the long jump may have been multiple (probably fivefold), so that the landing position of the first jump was the starting position of the next. As the multiple jump required an excellent coordination of the body parts as well as a perfect movement synchronization, an aulete (flute player) used to accompany this athletic event.
- Ephorate of Antiquities of the City of Athens
- Athenian Agora Museum, inv. n. P 1272
- 510 BC
- H. 0.052 m. Rim diam. (with handles) 0.172 m.
- Clay
- Provenance: Athenian Agora excavations
Bibliography
- Matthieu, L., Dirk, De Clercq, & Willy, L. (2005). The ‘‘how’’ and ‘‘why’’ of the ancient Greek long jump with weights: A five-fold symmetric jump in a row?, Journal of Sports Sciences, October 2005, 23(10), pp. 1033 – 1043.
- Moore, M, B. (1997). Attic Red-Figured and White-Ground Pottery. The Athenian Agora, Vol. 30, pp. iii–419, (no. 1571, pl. 148), The American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
- Neils, J. & Stephen V. Tracy (2003). The Games at Athens, Vol. 25, Excavations of the Athenian Agora: Picture book, pp. 18, fig. 14, The American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
