The Pentathlon



An ancient Olympic competitor, ready to throw his discus.

The ancient Greek pentathlon consisted of five events: discus, javelin, long jump, a foot-race which was most likely a stade long, and wrestling. Of these five events, the first three belonged solely to the pentathlon while running and wrestling were also separate events in and of themselves. Aristotle said of those who competed in the pentathlon, "The pentathletes have the most beautiful bodies, because they are constructed for strength and speed together" (Sweet, p.38).

While the modern discus weighs four pounds, 6.4 ounces and is made out of metal or wood and metal, the ancient discus weighed a great deal more and was made first out of stone and later out of bronze. One ancient discus in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston weighs 14 pound, 10 ounces; it has an inscription that reads "from the games". While a modern thrower must stand within an eight foot circle, Philostratos tells us that the ancient throwing area, the balbis, is quite small. He writes, "the balbis is small, large enough for one man standing erect and marked off in all directions except the rear" (Philostratos, On Statues, 1.24). Only one record of a throw was recorded in ancient times. In the epigram of Phayllus it said "he jumped five over fifty feet, but threw the discus five short of a hundred," (Harris, p.90).

The modern day record for the longest discus throw is 230 feet, (but the today's discus is likely ten pound lighter!).


An ancient javelin thrower.

While the modern javelin is made of metal and must be at least 8.5 feet long and 1.765 pounds, the body of the ancient Greek javelin appears to be 6 feet long and as thick as a finger, according to pictures. It was made of wood, with a metal point on the end. The javelins they threw in war were most likely a great deal heavier, but this athletic event gave soldiers much practice for war.

The ancient throwers used a throwing strap about a foot long, wrapped around the center of the body of the javelin. Although there is no definite idea of how far an ancient competitor could throw a javelin, a good guess could be about 300 feet (Harris, p. 97).

The Greeks only practiced one jump, the long jump. The big difference between the ancient and the modern long jump is that the ancient jumpers carried weights, which were called halteres. These weights were made out of stone or metal, weighed four to eight pounds, and were shaped like telephone hand-pieces, dumbbells or flat-irons (Harris, p.81). The essential equipment for both the modern and ancient long jump is the runway, the takeoff board and the landing pit. Sextus Julius Africanus tells us "In the twenty-ninth Olympics, Chionis of Sparta won the stade; in the jump he did 52 feet." Again, from Phayllos's epigram, we learn that he jumped fifty-five feet (Harris, p.90). For information on running events see the foot races section. For information on wrestling, look under the section for combat sports.


An ancient long jumper. Notice the weights he is carrying in his hands.

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