Τhe contest in throwing the discus at Olympia and at other games was part of the pentathlon, the five event competition,that also included long jump ,javelin,the stadium race on foot and wrestling.All of these events were held in the stadium ,where the banked up sides allowed the crowds of spectators to see over the heads of those in front.
Ancient discuses survive in iron ,stone and,most commonly,in bronze .They vary greatly in size but average around twenty centimeters in diameter and about two kilos in weight.Most examples come from religious sanctuaries and are often engraved with dedicatory inscriptions and sometimes with outline representations of athletes .According to the ancient author Pausanias ,there discuses used in the games were kept one of the treasuries at Olympia .This may suggest that the competition involved throwing discuses of varying weights .Representations of the discus thrower in Greek art are many and various.Most numerous are bronze statuettes,scenes in Athenian red -figured painted pottery and miniature images carved into seal stones.
The popularity of Myron's discus-thrower is attested by Roman writers on art and the fact that more than twenty Roman marble copies survive ,whole or in part .Beside these full scale replicas,there is striking large bronze statuette in Munich.Reproducing Myron's composition,it is free of the tree stump that was necessarily introduced into the large marble copies in order to strengthen their ankles and lower legs.The head,however, is entirely different from Myron's mid fifth century B.C, type,and the silvered eyes blaze with an intensity that belongs to the later Hellenistic or Roman periods of Greek art.
The great variety of pose pictured in Greek and Roman art makes it impossible to say whether ,like today's athletes the ancient discus thrower stood with his back to the direction of the throw.It is equally unclear whether ,as today the athlete did a half spin or whether he simply twisted his body round with feed rooted to the spot.
Ancient discuses survive in iron ,stone and,most commonly,in bronze .They vary greatly in size but average around twenty centimeters in diameter and about two kilos in weight.Most examples come from religious sanctuaries and are often engraved with dedicatory inscriptions and sometimes with outline representations of athletes .According to the ancient author Pausanias ,there discuses used in the games were kept one of the treasuries at Olympia .This may suggest that the competition involved throwing discuses of varying weights .Representations of the discus thrower in Greek art are many and various.Most numerous are bronze statuettes,scenes in Athenian red -figured painted pottery and miniature images carved into seal stones.
The popularity of Myron's discus-thrower is attested by Roman writers on art and the fact that more than twenty Roman marble copies survive ,whole or in part .Beside these full scale replicas,there is striking large bronze statuette in Munich.Reproducing Myron's composition,it is free of the tree stump that was necessarily introduced into the large marble copies in order to strengthen their ankles and lower legs.The head,however, is entirely different from Myron's mid fifth century B.C, type,and the silvered eyes blaze with an intensity that belongs to the later Hellenistic or Roman periods of Greek art.
The great variety of pose pictured in Greek and Roman art makes it impossible to say whether ,like today's athletes the ancient discus thrower stood with his back to the direction of the throw.It is equally unclear whether ,as today the athlete did a half spin or whether he simply twisted his body round with feed rooted to the spot.
