Halteres (ancient Greece)

A holder (plural halteres, ancient Greek ἁλτήρ, plural ἁλτῆρες of ἅλλομαι hállomai "jump" ) was a sports equipment in antiquity, which served both as a weight to strengthen the swing the long jump (jump weight ) and as a dumbbell for weight training.

Use

Halteres as a stepping weights were always used in pairs and wore, as the long jump has been executed from a sequence of several successive jumps from the state or with only short run, much to the result. The long jump was particularly exercised at the Olympic Games as part of the Pentathlon. From illustrations and occasional literary mentions was developed that the athletes during the jump swung the halteres forward and dropped during the last jumps of the jump sequence.

Uniform weights and measures did not exist, sometimes a holder had a different weight than its counterpart. Each athlete had his own halteres, which is probably the reason for this is that they were relatively frequently offered by victorious Pentathleten as votive offerings. They were kept bound to the wall hanging.

Molding

The resulting originals and representations in vase painting show three different basic shapes: a piston shape, spheroidal and cylindrical in shape.

Piston -shaped halteres were made of lead or clay, which is probably is in earthen exclusively votive offerings that were not used. The initial shape was a rectangle with unequal sides bent ( oblongum ), the ends of which is bent to one side and formed on the ends of two pistons. Were the piston initially about the same size, the front ends were later enlarged, thereby increasing the momentum increased when jumping. By about 500 BC, this form seems to have been alone, and then used together with the spheroid. From this time, representations of both types can be found, sometimes even on a single image.

The spheroidal shape is detectable at the earliest expressed on red-figure vases, only a few copies made ​​of stone have been preserved in the original. In detail, the halteres obtained are very different, but all have an elongated shape and a reason the fingers of the athletes adapted shape. Are known halteres, which are thinner in the middle, only, have, on the one hand grips for the fingers and on the other side for the thumb or are provided with a hole for the thumb. While the length is continuous about 25-30 cm, the pieces obtained in different weights of about 2 to 4.5 kg. A literary description of this form is found in Pausanias. This describes a body set up by Dionysius of Argos Statue of personalized race Agon, which had been erected as a votive gift of Mikythos sanctuary of Zeus in Olympia. Agon holding halteres in their hands, which are described as semi- circular, but the semicircle is more elliptical than circular. They are made ​​so that the fingers just fit through, " as indicated by the handle of a shield ."

From the cylindrical form only a single copy of the Roman period is obtained. The piece is made of limestone and has recesses for the hand, representations of this type are found sporadically on wall paintings and mosaics. The fact that this type of the other two types must have completely displaced at least from the second century, create several descriptions next to Pausanias, in which halteres are referred to in ancient statues as.