P. Valavanis Hysplex, The Starting Mechanism in Ancient Stadia

Reconstruction of the Hysplex System at Nemea. Drawing by Ruben Santos.

HYSPLEX

The Starting Mechanism in Ancient Stadia

A Contribution to Ancient Greek Technology

Panos Valavanis

Translated from the Greek and with an Appendix by Stephen G. Miller

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS Berkeley · Los Angeles · London

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONS: CLASSICAL STUDIES

Editorial Board: John K. Anderson, David Blank, Richard Janko, Donald Mastronarde, Ronald Mellor, Jo-Ann Shelton

Volume 36

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS BERKELEY AND LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS, LTD. LONDON, ENGLAND

© 1999 BY THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Valavanes, Panos. Hysplex: the starting mechanism in ancient stadia: a contri

bution to ancient Greek technology / Panos Valavanis; translated from the Greek and with an appendix by Stephen G. Miller.

p. cm. — (University of California publications. Classical studies; v. 36)

Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-520-09829-3 (alk. paper) 1. Stadiums—Design and construction—Greece—History.

2. Running—Greece—History. I. Title. II. Series. GV413.V35 1999 796'.06'838—dc21 99-11989

CIP

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R 1997) (Permanence of Paper)

Contents

List of Figures ix

Prologue xv

Abbreviations and Bibliography xvii

Introduction 1

Documents and Documentation of the Mechanism 3 Written Sources and Terminology 3 Architectural Features of Stadia 10 The New Panathenaic Amphora 20 The Parts of the Hysplex and Its Means of Operation 31 Reconstruction of the Form of the Hysplex 35 The Operation of the Mechanism 44 The Chronology of the Hysplex 49 Representations of a Hysplex in Monuments of a Roman Date 53

Observations on the Starting Lines of Various Stadia 57 Mainland Greek Stadia 57

Olympia 57 Delphi 61 The Athenian Agora 63

Stadia of Asia Minor and the Islands 64 Didyma 64 Priene (Stadium I) 67 Miletos (Stadium I) 68 Miletos (Stadium II) 70 Rhodes 72

Monumental Hyspleges Of Later Hellenistic Date 95 Epidauros (Stadium II) 96 Priene (Stadium II) 113 Kos 119

Conclusion 143

Appendix: The Rebirth of the Hysplex at Nemea 145 General Purpose 145 Materials 145 The Posts of the Balbis and the Kampter 146 The Release System 159 The Barriers 159 The System in Use 164

vii

viii Contents

The Finish 169 The Cost 172 Conclusion 173

Summary in Greek 175

Glossary 179

Index 181

?•

List of Figures

Reconstruction of the hysplex system at Nemea frontispiece 1 Isthmia. Plan of the balbis and reconstruction of the hysplex system

with the start of the runners in Stadium I 7 2 Isthmia. Plan of the balbides and bases for the hyspleges 8 3 Epidauros. Plan of the balbides and bases for the hyspleges 8 4 Corinth. Plan of the balbides and bases for the hyspleges 9 5 Nemea. Plan of the balbides and bases for the hyspleges 9 6 Isthmia. Plan and cross-section of the single base of the hysplex (the

left one) excavated in Stadium II 10 7 Epidauros. Plan and cross-section of the right base of the hysplex . . 11 8 Corinth. Plan and cross-section of the two bases of the hysplex 12 9 Corinth. Plan of the left base of the hysplex 13 10 Corinth. Left base of the hysplex, from the west 13 11 Corinth. Plan, side elevations, and cross-section of the right base of the

hysplex 14 12 Corinth. Right base of the hysplex, from the west 15 13 Corinth. Plan and cross-section of the central base of the hysplex. . . . 16 14 Corinth. Central base of the hysplex, from the west 17 15 Nemea. Plan of the bases of the hysplex of the southern starting line. 18 16 Nemea. Left base of the hysplex, from the north 18 17 Nemea. Right base of the hysplex, from the north 19 18 Obverse of the Panathenaic amphora from Athens 22 19 Reverse of the Panathenaic amphora from Athens with a representation

of the start of the hoplitodromia 23 20 Detail of the right hysplex on the Panathenaic amphora 26 21 Detail of the left hysplex on the Panathenaic amphora 27 22 Rolled-out drawing of the representation on the reverse of the Pana

thenaic amphora 28 23 Rolled-out drawing of only the hysplex elements in the representation

on the reverse of the Panathenaic amphora 28 24 Imaginary and improbable reconstruction of the kind of hysplex shown

on the Panathenaic amphora 29 25 Schematic reconstruction of the whole hysplex based on the represen

tation of half of it on the Panathenaic amphora 31 26 Simplified drawing of the frame, the neura, and the ankon of the simple

monankon 34 27 Schematic reconstruction of all parts of the hysplex, with high and or

thogonal parastades of the frame set in the stone base at Nemea. . . . 36 28 Schematic reconstruction of all parts of the hysplex, with the parastades

of the frame cut down in a stepped fashion and set in the stone base at Nemea 37

29 Corinth. Plan of the stone and wood elements of the left hysplex. . . . 39

ix

χ List of Figures

30 Drawing showing terms and materials of the basic elements of ancient stone-throwing machines 40

31 Schematic drawing of the neura and the metallic elements that made up the moving parts of the hysplex 41

32 Wooden scale model of the hysplex 43

33 Corinth. Plan of the two bases of the hysplex showing the brackets that would create the cord barriers in an application like the Nemea system. 45

34 Corinth. Suggested schematic reconstruction of all parts of the hysplex. The ankon was significantly taller than shown here 46

35 Nemea. Plan of the sphendone of the stadium. The semicircular depression for the aphetes is visible near the top of the semicircle of the water channel 47

36 Codex Vaticano Latino 3439 54

37 Mosaic at Gafsa 55

38 Mosaic at Tebessa 56

39 Olympia. Brick foundation next to block y at the southern end of the western balbis with cuttings for the receipt of the hysplex 58

40 Olympia. Detail of block i in the eastern balbis with the semicircular cutting intended to receive the hysplex 60

41 Didyma. Plan and longitudinal cross-section of the bases of the balbis and hysplex 66

42 Didyma. Schematic reconstruction of the balbis and the hysplex. . . . 66

43 Priene. Plan of the bases of the first phase of the starting line 67

44 Miletos. State plan and separated plan of the bases of the first phase of the starting line at the eastern end of the stadium 68

45 Miletos. Cross-sections through the bases of the starting lines at the eastern end of the stadium 69

46 Miletos. General schematic reconstruction of the first phase of the balbis and hysplex 70

47 Miletos. General schematic reconstruction of the second phase of the hysplex starting mechanism 72

48 Rhodes. Plan of the stadium 74 49 Rhodes. General view of the stadium from the odeion in 1973 74

50 Rhodes. General view of the stadium from the sphendone 75

51 Rhodes. Plan with the various phases of the stadium and its starting lines 76

52 Rhodes. Remains of the left base of the hysplex of the first phase, from the southwest, probably 1973 77

53 Rhodes. Remains of the left base of the hysplex of the first phase, from the east, probably 1973 77

54 Rhodes. Plan of the city with the new position of the stadium of the 4th century BC shown in dotted lines 78

55 Rhodes. The right base of the northern hysplex of the second phase, from the northwest, 1973 80

56 Rhodes. The right base of the northern hysplex of the second phase, from the southwest, 1973 81

List of Figures xi

57 Rhodes. The remains of slabs of the balbis of the third phase and the base of the hysplex of the second phase on the northern end of the stadium, from the west, 1973 82

58 Rhodes. The remains of slabs of the balbis of the third phase and the base of the hysplex of the second phase on the northern end of the stadium, from the east, 1973 83

59 Rhodes. The left base of the southern hysplex of the second phase, from the east, 1973 84

60 Rhodes. The left base of the southern hysplex of the second phase, from the west, 1973 85

61 Rhodes. Plan of the remains of the southern starting line 86 62 Rhodes. The operating channel and circular pit for the aphetes at the

southern starting line of the third phase, from the south, 1973 88 63 Rhodes. The operating channel and circular pit for the aphetes at the

southern starting line of the third phase, from the north, 1973 89 64 Rhodes. The circular pit for the aphetes, from the northeast, 1973. . . 90 65 Rhodes. Poros underpinning of the left hysplex of the southern starting

line of the third phase, from the east, 1992 92 66 Rhodes. Schematic reconstruction of the southern starting line of the

third phase of the stadium 93 67 Rhodes. The channel for the meta, from the south, 1973 94 68 Epidauros. Plan of the second phase of the starting line at the eastern

end of the stadium 96 69 Epidauros. Foundation and base of a half column of the eastern starting

line, from the west 97 70 Epidauros. Foundation and base of a half column of the eastern starting

line, from the west 97 71 Epidauros. Restored drawing of front, rear, and side of one of the end

half columns of the starting line at the eastern end of the stadium. . . 99 72 Epidauros. The first drum of an end half column from the eastern start

ing line, with a carved vertical taenia, or strip, on the side 100 73 Epidauros. The first drum of the central half column from the eastern

starting line 102 74 Epidauros. The upper surface of the first drum of a half column with

the deep cuttings for the insertion of the horizontal ankones at the side edges 103

75 Epidauros. Detail of the cutting for the insertion of the horizontal ankon on the top of the first drum of the central half column from the eastern starting line 104

76 Epidauros. The double foundations of the central half column of the eastern starting line showing the sloping top surface of one block and the channel between the blocks, from the west 104

77 Epidauros. Drawings of two views of the central half column at the eastern end of the stadium 105

78 Epidauros. Drawings of details of the central half column of the eastern starting line 105

xii List of Figures

79 Epidauros. Bottom and one side of the base of the central half column. 106 80 Epidauros. Bottom of the base of the central half column 106 81 Epidauros. Front view of the base of the central half column set in place

on its foundation, from the west 107 82 Epidauros. Rear view of the base of the central half column set in place

on its foundation, from the east 107 83 Epidauros. Rear view of the first drum of the central half column. . . 108 84 Epidauros. Rear view of the base of the central half column 109 85 Epidauros. Reconstruction of the starting mechanism on one side of a

half column 110 86 Epidauros. Schematic reconstruction of the hysplex of phase II at the

eastern end of the stadium, with wood barriers and wood epistyle through which ran a cord (dotted line) 112

87 Priene. Plan of the bases of the first and second phases of the starting line 113

88 Priene. Elevation of the base and cross-section of the epistyle of one of the pillars of the starting line 114

89 Priene. Schematic reconstruction of the mechanism for the introduction of torsion on one side of the pillar 115

90 Priene. Schematic reconstruction of the hysplex with the two systems for the introduction of torsion and its release 117

91 Kos. General view of the architectural remains of the balbis-hysplex, from the west, 1992 118

92 Kos. General view of the architectural remains of the balbis-hysplex, from the east, probably 1973 119

93 Kos. Top surface of one of the bases of a half column 121 94 Kos. Plan of the top of a base for a half column 122 95 Kos. Parts of the entablature of the hysplex 122 96 Kos. Parts of the entablature of the hysplex 123 97 Kos. The central funnel-shaped cutting of the epistyle as it appears

from above 124 98 Kos. Capital of a half column in the Kastro Museum, probably from

the hysplex 125 99 Kos. View of the architectural elements of the hysplex from above. . . 126 100 Kos. Architectural elements from the half columns of the hysplex, from

the west 127 101 Kos. Side view of the lower elements of the half columns of the hysplex,

from the west 129 102 Kos. Drawing of the side of the lower part of a half column 130 103 Kos. Side view of the easternmost of the extant half columns, from the

west 131 104 Kos. Detail of the half-cylindrical cutting on the back part of the third

of the extant half columns, from the east, with the extant part of an iron ring visible at the back of the cutting, from the west 132

105 Kos. Detail of the half-cylindrical cutting on the back part of the third of the extant half columns, from the east 133

List of Figures xiii

106 Kos. Detail of the half-cylindrical cutting on the back part of the third of the extant half columns, from the east 134

107 Kos. Drawing of the back side of the front, half-round, element of the half column of the hysplex 136

108 Kos. Reconstruction of the mechanisms for the introduction of torsion (broken line) and its release (dotted line) in the interior of a half column. Metallic elements in heavy solid black line 137

109 Kos. Schematic reconstruction of the hysplex with its two systems for the introduction of torsion (broken line) and its release (dotted line). . 139

110 Nemea. Modern wooden post inserted in ancient lead-lined socket of balbis 146

111 Nemea. Wooden column and frame of hysplex inserted in right (eastern) support base, from the north 147

112 Nemea. Petros and Voula Briles working wood to fit into left (western) support base 149

113 Nemea. Left (western) hysplex from the northwest with wooden blocks A, B, and Γ (from right to left) and column at rear 150

114 Nemea. Right (eastern) hysplex from the northeast with wooden blocks Ζ, Ε, and Δ (from left to right) and column at rear 151

115 Nemea. Detail of right hysplex from the north showing ankon inserted in neura (rope) above cut-down part of central block Ε 152

116 Nemea. Left (western) hysplex from the west showing a washer {choinikis) countersunk in a wooden frame and supporting one end of a pipe (syrinx) through the other end of which is passed the iron pin (epizygis) around which is tied the neura (rope) 154

117 Nemea. Right (eastern) hysplex from the east showing a washer (choinikis) countersunk in a wooden frame and supporting one end of a pipe (syrinx) through the other end of which is passed the iron pin (epizygis) around which is tied the neura (rope) 155

118 Nemea. Left hysplex with release ring at the top of the ankon 158 119 Nemea. Right hysplex with a guy tied to a block set against the western

water channel, from the north 160 120 Nemea. Left hysplex with a guy tied to a block set against the eastern

water channel, from the north 161 121 Nemea. Hysplex and turning posts set up, with horizontal barrier cords

stretched tight between ankones and lanes marked out for the diaulos race, from the north 162

122 Nemea. Lanes marked out for the southernmost half of the track, from the south and above 163

123 Nemea. Hysplex system set up and ready, from the west 164 124 Nemea. Dividing line for a lane passing just west of the center of the

kampter, from the north 165

125 Nemea. The start of the first heat on July 18, 1993 168 126 Nemea. The start of the second heat 168 127 Nemea. The start of the third heat 169 128 Nemea. The start of the fourth heat 169

Prologue

Nothing shows so clearly the state of research on the starting mechanism in the ancient stadium as the following quotations from two important students of the stadium and of ancient athletics in general, 0. Broneer and J. Jüthner. The first introduces the problem to us gently: "Architecturally the Greek stadium appears to be a simple structure, the principal features and the use of which can be readily understood. Actually both its construction and its functioning have given rise to many questions that still remain unanswered. The most difficult problem has to do with the lines and devices for regulating the s tar t and finish of the various forms of foot races. In spite of much study on the part of several competent scholars, it is still a matter of uncertainty what signal or mechanical operation gave the runners the cue for the start of the race at any given period."1 The second is more laconic and authoritative: "Es gibt wenige Einzelfragen der Altertumskunde, bei denen eine solche Fulle wertvoller Nachrichten zu Gebote steht und wo doch so wenig sicheres zu ermitteln ist, wie bei der Untersuchung der Ablaufeinrichtungen im griechischen Stadion."2

In fact, despite our relatively good state of knowledge about various aspects of ancient Greek athletics, areas of darkness exist which continue to stimulate further study, discussion, and research. One of these dark areas is the means of starting the foot races of ancient competitions and especially the way in which a simultaneous start for all the competitors was guaranteed.3

My interest in this subject began by chance from my special area of study—the Panathenaic amphora. During preparations for the exhibition "Mind and Body" that was organized in the National Archaeological Museum in 1989, I noticed on a Panathenaic amphora from the Third Ephoreia a unique representation of the start of the hoplitodromia in which, in addition to the athletes, there appeared at the sides some "strange" objects that clearly showed a type of mechanism that had to do with the start of the race. And so I began a fascinating journey into areas previously unknown to me, such as the architecture of the stadium, the relevant ancient epigraphical and especially literary texts, and the specialized bibliography concerning the technology of the ancient Greeks. Despite the problems that nonetheless sometimes make research more provocative, I had the good fortune to come to some interesting conclusions and to feel the satisfaction that a scholar understands when he sees emerge, in the middle of the fog and the uncertainty of isolated and obscure data, details that enable him to recover objects and devices of the ancients that have been lost with the passage of centuries.

1. Broneer 137. 2. Jüthner 51. The need for research on the details of the hysplex has been noted most recently

by Aupert 59 n. 11 and by W. Decker, review of Nemea: A Guide, in Nikephoros 4 (1991) 276 ff. 3. In general for the footraces see the bibliography in T. Scanlon, Greek and Roman Athletics: A

Bibliography (1984) 23, 37 ff., 74 ff. For the different types of footraces in antiquity, see Jüthner 95 ff. Sweet, 27 ff., has collected the more important sources for the footraces. To his collection should be added that in Arete, 21 ff.

XV

XVI Prologue

I could not have finished this study without the help of many friends and colleagues to whom I wish to express my gratitude. N. Prokopiou granted me permission to study and publish the vase despite her intention to study Panathenaic amphoras. My friend the architect Ntinos Kyriakopoulos, with his great knowledge of ancient technology, his talent for synthesis and for drafting, and his—all too rare in our day—sincerely altruistic generosity, helped to check and solve many problems and so made it possible to provide very detailed reconstructions of the mechanisms. Also, I was helped greatly by the discussions I had from time to time with M. Korres, A. Matthaiou, and M. Tive-rios, who read and made important comments on an earlier version of this study. Finally, for every kind of information, assistance, and criticism, I must thank V. Bar-dani, Ch. Bouras, E. Brouskari, G. Despinis, S. Halatsis, Ch. Kantzia, Th. Karagiorga, V. Kontorini, E. Kondylaki, M. Kreeb, Ch. Kritzas, M. Michalake-Kollia, I. Ninnou, F. Pachyianne, I. Papachristodoulou, M. Philimonos, E. Stasinopoulou-Kakarougka, M. Theochari, D. Tsouklidou, and A. Yiannikouri. I also benefited from the comments and suggestions of three anonymous readers for the University of California Press and the editorial assistance of R. A. White and S. Berg. The photographs of the vase are by G. Maravelias, and the drawings, aside from the reconstructions by Nt. Kyriakopoulos, are by L. Vranopoulou. J. Parsons prepared the camera-ready copy of this book. I thank all warmly.

But my greatest good fortune was meeting S. G. Miller. From the first moment when he heard of my ideas he supported the enterprise with great interest. Not only did he have the courtesy to permit me to study and to provide me with photographs and drawings of the stadium at Nemea—the final publication of which is now in press— but he also undertook two initiatives that stand as shining exceptions in the self-centered and self-serving world that we occupy, especially the world of archaeology. First, he undertook to translate my manuscript into English so that it would be more accessible to the community of international scholars. During the course of the translation he made significant comments and several corrections. Secondly, with great and inexhaustible enthusiasm, he undertook the responsibility and the expenses for the construction of a life-size working model of the hysplex, the operation of which was tested for the first time on July 18, 1993, in its original position at the starting line in the stadium at Nemea. A description of the details and the results of that experiment are appended to this study.

This book is dedicated to my wife, Effie Baziotopoulou, as a small repayment for her great and constant generosity at every level.

Panos D. Valavanis Athens 1993

Abbreviations and Bibliography

In addition to the standard internationally recognized bibliographic abbreviations, the

following are used here:

Arete = S.G. Miller, Arete: Greek Sports from Ancient Sources (second edition, Berkeley, 1991).

Aupert = P. Aupert, Fouilles de Delphes II, Le Stade (Paris, 1980). Baatz (1979) = D. Baatz, "Teile Hellenistischer Geschiitze aus Griechenland," AA

(1979) 68 ff. Baatz (1982) = D. Baatz, "Hellenistische Katapulte aus Ephyra (Epirus)," AM 97

(1982) 211 ff. Baatz (1985) = D. Baatz, "Katapultteile aus dem Schiffswrack von Mahdia (Tune-

sien)," A A (1985) 679 ff. Bean = G. Bean, Aegean Turkey, an Archaeological Guide (London, 1966). Broneer = 0. Broneer, Isthmia II, Topography and Architecture (Princeton, 1973). Fiechter = E. Fiechter, "Stadion, der Bau," RE IIIA2 (1929) 1967 ff. Gardiner = E.N. Gardiner, "Note on the Greek Foot Race," JHS 23 (1903) 261 if. Harris (1960) = H.A. Harris, "Stadia and Starting Grooves," Greece & Rome 7 (1960)

30 ff. Harris (1964) = H.A. Harris, Greek Athletes and Athletics (London). Harris (1972) = H.A. Harris, Sport in Greece and Rome (Ithaca). Hellmann = M.C. Hellmann, Recherches sur le vocabulaire de I'architecture grecque

d'apres les inscriptions de Delos (Paris, 1992). History = N. Yialouris (ed.), History of the Olympic Games (Athens, 1976). Humphrey = J. Humphrey, Roman Circuses (London, 1986). Juthner = J. Juthner, Die athletischen Leibesubungen der Griechen II (SB Wien 249,

2 [1968] ed. Fr. Brein). Kavvadias = P. Kavvadias, "Άνασκαφαί έν Έπιδαυρω," ΠΑΕ (1902) 79-84. Kondis = I.D. Kondis, "Zum antiken Stadtbauplan von Rhodos," AM 73 (1958) 150-

156. Krinzinger = Fr. Krinzinger, Untersuchungen zur Entwicklungsgeschichte des griechis-

chen Stadions (Diss. U. Innsbruck, 1968). Kyle = D. Kyle, Athletics in Ancient Athens (Leiden, 1987). Lee = H.M. Lee, "Some Changes in the Ancient Olympic Program and Schedule," in

Proceedings 105-112. Maffre = J.J. Maffre, "Deux pelikai attiques de Thasos," BCH 96 (1972) 336 ff. Mallwitz = A. Mallwitz, "Das Stadion," OlBer 8 (1967) 16-82. Marsden I = E.W. Marsden, Greek and Roman Artillery I, Historical Development

(Oxford, 1969). Marsden II = E.W. Marsden, Greek and Roman Artillery II, Technical Treatises (Ox

ford, 1971). Miller (1976) = Stephen G. Miller "Excavations at Nemea, 1975," Hesperia 45 (1976)

193-202.

XVII

XVIII Abbreviations and Bibliography

Miller (1980) = Stephen G. Miller, "Turns and Lanes in the Greek Stadium," AJA 84 (1980) 159-166.

Morgan = C. Morgan, II, "Excavations at Corinth, 1936-37," AJA 41 (1937) 549 if. Morricone = L. Morricone, "Scavi e Ricerche a Coo (1935-1943). Relazione Preli-

minare," Boll.d'Arte 35 (1950) 222 if. Nemea: A Guide = S.G. Miller (ed.), Nemea: A Guide to the Site and the Museum

(Berkeley, 1990). Patrucco = R. Patrucco, Lo Sport nella Grecia Antica (Florence, 1972). Proceedings = W. Coulson and H. Kyrieleis (eds.), Proceedings of an International

Symposium on the Olympic Games, 5-9 September 1988 (Athens, 1992). Romano = D.G. Romano, The Stadia of the Peloponnesos (Diss. U. Pennsylvania,

1981). Roos = P. Roos, "The Start of the Greek Foot Race," OpAth 6 (1965) 149-156. Schilbach = J. Schilbach, "Olympia, die Entwicklungsphasen des Stadions," in Pro

ceedings 33-38. Schramm I = E. Schramm, Die antiken Geschutze der Saalburg (1918) reprinted with

an introduction by D. Baatz in Beiheft zum Saalburg-Jahrbuch (1980) Schramm II = E. Schramm, "Poliorketik," in J. Kromeyer and G. Veith (eds.), Heer-

wesen und Kriegfuhrung der Griechen und Romer, HdA 4, 3, 2 (1929) 209 ff. Shear = T.L. Shear, Jr., "The Athenian Agora: Excavations of 1973-74," Hesperia 44

(1975) 362 ff. Sweet = W. Sweet, Sport and Recreation in Ancient Greece (Oxford, 1987). Valavanis = P. Valavanis, "La Proclamation des vainqueurs aux Panathenees," BCH

114 (1990) 325 ff. von Gerkan = A. von Gerkan, Milet II1, Das Stadion (Berlin, 1921). Wiegand and Schrader = Th. Wiegand and H. Schrader, Priene (Berlin, 1904). Williams = C.K. Williams, "Corinth: Excavations of 1980," Hesperia 40 (1981) 1-33. Zschietzschmann = W. Zschietzschmann, Wettkampf- und Ubungsstatten in Griechen-

land I. Das Stadion (Stuttgart, 1960).

Introduction

The need to guarantee a simultaneous start for all the footraces and especially for the stadion race was certainly one of the more important problems that the officials of the competitions in ancient Greek city-states and sanctuaries had to confront and solve.4 This was because the execution of the games was a reflection of the authority, the reputation, and the more general prestige of the various competitions. It was not by chance that the whole of ancient Greek literature—from Herodotus to Plutarch and Julian—is filled with references to early, or false, starts by athletes and to their consequent punishment.5 The oldest and best known is found in Herodotus (8.59) and concerns the discussion by the Greek generals about their plan of action shortly before the battle of Salamis. In response to the proposal by Themistokles for immediate action, the Corinthian general Adeimantos said: "Themistokles, in the games those who start too soon get flogged." To which the Athenian general gave his instant and immortal reply: "But those who start too late do not get crowned." This passage is usually cited as evidence that in that period barriers had not yet been set up in front of the runners, even though such an interpretation assumes that false starts ceased to exist once barriers came into existence. Clearly, the barriers did not prevent false starts; rather, they prevented subjective interpretations by the judges about whether a false start had occurred.

Similar references to false starts that are to be found in much later writers have, to an overwhelming degree, a metaphorical character. They are not, therefore, good evidence for the solution of problems because it is impossible for us to know if they refer to the time of the writer or if they are simply good literary devices—the more likely of the two possibilities—that do not reflect the actual state of affairs.6 For the early period of athletic displays, that is, before the construction of monumental stadia, it is thought that the runners began from "some line that was the start and the finish for the competitors" in front of which there was no barrier.7 Simple oral commands must have sufficed for the start of each race as we are informed by several imperatives that appear first in Aristophanes and recur in the works of other authors throughout

4. Although we regard it as preferable to duplicate in English the original Greek spelling as closely as possible, in the case of the word stadion we fear the potential for confusion between the unit of length, the footrace, and the racetrack. We therefore use stadium to denote the racetrack, and stadion to denote the unit of length and the footrace, and try to make the distinction between those two usages clear from the context. We know that this policy will result in aesthetically unhappy juxtapositions, for example, "in stadium and gymnasion", but we hope that the task of the reader will be simplified—PDV/SGM.

5. See Gardiner 261 and Harris (1964) 67. 6. Compare also Julian, Κωνσταντίνος ή περί βασιλείας 16 = 69d, "επί τον εξ αρχής έπανάγομεν,

ώσπερ οι προεκθέοντες έν τοίς δρόμοις." (we bring him back to the start like those who falsestart in the races). A lesson for all, especially for those of us who have an anguish-filled way of life, is the question of the comic poet Strattis of the 4th century BC (apud Pollux 3.146): "τί ώσπερ οι σταδιοδρόμοι προανίστασθε;" (why are you so eager to start like the stadion-runners?").

7. Schol. Pindar, Pyth. 9.118: "γραμμήν τίνα ην αρχήν και τέλος είχον οι αγωνιζόμενοι"; cf. Aristophanes, Ach. 481; Sophokles, Ant. 131; Euripides, El. 955. See the relevant comments of Jiithner, 52, n. 107; Broneer, 139, n. 17; and Harris, 66.

1

2 Introduction

the whole of antiquity.8 It is also not impossible that the sound of the salpinx was used, not only because of its impressiveness but also for practical reasons since this was perhaps the only way for the signal to be heard above the cheers and shouts of the spectators. The great significance of the salpinx in ancient Greek games is well known. We are certain that it was used during the proclamation and awards of prizes to the victors and also during the course of many competitions.9

A possible indication that the start of the race, at least in some times or circumstances, was given by the salpinx might come from the lively description by Heliodorus (Aeth. 4.3) of the start of a hoplitodromia at Delphi with the handsome Thessalian Theagenes as protagonist under the gaze of the love-smitten Charikleia: "He spoke thus and jumped out, and going into the middle of things, he announced his name and his nationality, and was allotted his position on the track. Donning the panoply, he stepped on the balbis, panting for the race and hearing the warning blast of the trumpet and hardly able to wait—a solemn and notable spectacle."1 0

It seems, however, that these means did not turn out to be effective, despite the punishment suffered by the falsestarters, with the result that problems during the course of the games threatened to weaken their prestige and popularity. And so the authorities conceived a kind of barrier that, set in front of the runners, impeded false starts since athletes could begin the race only at the moment the barrier was removed by the official responsible for this task, the aphetes.11

8. Aristophanes, Hipp. 1160: "απιτε" (take off!); see Jiithner 90 and Broneer 139, n. 18. 9. See Jiithner 90 and n. 175. For the use of the salpinx at the start of races, see Ovid, Met.

10.652. For representations of athletic competitions in the presence of a trumpeter, who probably signaled the start for the athletes, see M. Tiverios, Περίκλει,α Παναθήναια. Ένας κρατήρας του ζ. του Μονάχου 2335 (1989) 38 and pis. 6, 9, 19. For the probable use of the trumpet instead of a bell to signal the final lap, see H.A. Harris, "The Starting-gate for Chariots at Olympia," Greece and Rome 15 (1968) 113 if., esp. 125. For representations of proclamations and awards of prizes to the victors, see Valavanis 325 ff.

10. Heliodorus (Aeth. 4.3): "ταϋτα είπεν και άνήλατο. παρελθών τε εις μέσους τό τε δνομα προσήγγελλε και. τό έθνος έδήλου και τοϋ δρόμου τήν χώραν έκληροϋντο και τήν πανοπλίαν ένδϋς έφεστήκει τη βαλβίδι, τον δρόμον ασθμαίνων και τό πάρα της σάλπιγγος ένδόσιμον άκων και μόγις αναμένων, σεμνόν τι θέαμα και περίβλεπτον." For warnings about the trustworthiness of Heliodorus in such matters, see Jiithner 89. It is also possible that the trumpet here announces that the race is about to happen, for it is later in the text, after the herald announces the runners—apparently following the trumpet blast that signaled the crowd to be silent—that the race actually begins.

11. For bibliography relevant to this subject see Roos 155 ff. and Jiithner 51 n. 105. For some thoughts about the lack of barriers at least in the earlier period, see Gardiner 264, and Harris (1964) 66 ff.

Documents and Documentation of the Mechanism

Written Sources and Terminology

The sources offer little information on the barriers that impeded false starts. Most that doe exist come from scholiasts and lexicographers cited under the words hysplex12 and balbis.13 However, there are many simple mentions of these two words throughout ancient Greek literature. We note that both words first appear in Aristophanes, who is accustomed to using metaphors and similes from the athletic world and especially from the competitions in footraces and wrestling. Balbis first appears in the Hippeis (line 1159), which was produced in 424 BC, where it is used with its literal meaning since it refers to the starting place of a race between Allantopolis and Paphlagon.1 4

The word hysplex makes its earliest appearance in the Lysistrata (line 1000), which was produced in 411 BC, as a metaphor for the characteristic of unanimity, or accord, which was needed in a specific project of the women.15 In other words, we see in the 5th century BC use of the two terms without any definition. This suggests that both terms were already well established in popular parlance.

The same undifferentiated use is to be found in the later lexicographers who give us descriptions of the system. It is referred to as a hysplex by the scholiast (Eustathius?) to Dionysios Periegetes: "hysplex, properly the machinery that knocks off the kanon of the foot racer."1 6 But the scholiast to Aristophanes, Hippeis 1159, refers to it as a balbis: "Balbis is called that wood which lies crosswise at the start of the track—the so-called apheterion,—and which, after the runners are ready to run, they remove to

12. The word appears in various other forms, for example, Οσπληγξ, gen. -ηγγος; Οσπλαξ, ύσπλαγίς, and ύσπλατίς. Also, the genitive singular ϋσπλακος, the dative plural ϋσπληξιν and ΰσπλήγεσσιν. See Errikos Stephanos, TLG, and LSJ, s.v. The word ϋσπληξ is of uncertain etymology. See Chantraine, s.v. ("obscure"), who rejects the older view of Curtius for a compound from -πληξ (πλήσσω) and 6σ-(ϋστερος) as a folk false etymology. Frisk, having described the meanings of the word, concludes: "Aussehen unbekannt. Deswegen schwebt die Etymologie in der Luft." J. Jiithner, "Herkunft und Grundlagen der griechischen Nationalspiele," Die Antike 15 (1939) 251 regards the word as prehistoric but the attempt by Boisacq for a derivation from the Sanskrit root ud ( = toward the top) + -πλαγ (πλάζω) as not leading to the Greek δσ- for particular linguistic reasons. Since all the meanings of the word ϋσπληξ in ancient Greek literature have to do with ropes (e.g., a whip or a trap for birds; see Errikos Stephanos and LSJ, s.v.) compare the ancient view for the etymology of the word in EM 785: "ϋσπληξ οΰν λέγεται παρά το από των τριχών των ύών γίνεσθαι τήν μάστιγα. Οϊμαι δε και ή αφετηρία εκ τοϋ έκεϊσε πλήττεσθαι τη μάστιγι τους 'ίππους (It is called a hysplex from the fact that the whip was made from the hair of pigs. I think that the apheteria was from that place where the horses were whipped.). Perhaps all these meanings are parallel without excluding the possibility that the latter may have come from the first, the barrier. See also the Scholia Tzetzes to Lykophron 22.

13. For the word, see Jiithner 52 ff. The derivation of this word is also obscure: "Bildung auf -is wie κρηπίς, κνημίς etc. aber sonst dunkel. Vorgriechish." (Frisk, s.v.).

14. "'Άφες από βαλβίδων έμέ τε και τουτονί, 'ίνα σ' εΰ ποιώμεν εξ ίσου" (Start him and me from the balbides so that we will have a good and fair start).

15. "γυναίκες άπερ από μιας υσπλαγιδος άπήλαον τους άνδρας από των ΰσσάκων" (women threw their men out from their vaginas as if from a hysplex). See J. Henderson, Aristoph. Lys. (1987) 187.

16. Περιήγησις της Οικουμένης 121. "ϋσπληξ, κυρίως το μηχάνημα το άποκροϋον τον κανόνα τοϋ δρομέως." See C. Muller, Geogr. Gr. min. 2 (1861) 102.

3

4 Hysplex

start them running." 1 7 It is referred to as balbis also in Bekker: "two wooden pieces for the runners, from which the cord is stretched, which is called balbis, since the competitors should run thence." 1 8 Finally, in the Etymologicum Magnum we read: "balbis the apheteria . . . is the start of the footraces. They were two pieces of wood from which the cords were stretched."1 9

If we combine these definitions and leave aside the question of nomenclature for the moment, we may conclude that we have to do with a barrier that was located in front of and parallel to the apheteria and that consisted of two pieces of wood, between which was stretched a cord or a piece of wood that impeded the start of the race. The start of the race automatically and immediately followed the removal of that rope or piece of wood.20

If we accept, then, that the same system is represented by two different words, we still need to elucidate an apparent confusion between the terms balbis and hysplex. We may note that the word balbis is used almost always only in contexts relevant to runners and never to horse races and, to be sure, always with regard to the feet of the runners (e.g., "βαλβίδα ποδός θέτε πόδα παρά πόδα" 2 1) and with prepositions and verbs that mean "on top of" (e.g., "έπί της βαλβίδος"22 or "έφεστήκει τήι βαλβίδι"2 3). Clear definitions also occur: "Balbides, the bases cut into for the starts, upon which the runners stand so that they may have an equal stance." 2 4 It is therefore proper that the word balbis is usually applied to the row of slabs that define the starting line in most ancient Greek stadia and gymnasia and that frequently have grooves along their length for the placement of the toes of the athletes for the start of the race.2 5

17. "βαλβίς δε καλείται το έν τη αρχή τοϋ δρόμου κείμενον έγκαρσίως ξυλον, δ και άφετήριον καλείται, δπερ μετά το έτοιμασθήναι τους δρομέας εις το δραμείν αφαιρούμενοι άφίεσαν τρέχειν."

18. Bekker, Anecdota Graeca (1814) I 220, 31 s.v. βαλβίς, "ξΰλα δυο τών δρομέων, άφ' ών σκοινίον τι διατέταται, δ καλείται βαλβίς, 'ίνα εντεύθεν έκδράμωσιν οι αγωνιζόμενοι."

19. ΕΜ 186.14: "βαλβίς ή αφετηρία . . . ήγουν ή αφεσις τών δρομέων, ήσαν δε ξϋλα δύο άφ' ών σκοινιά διατείνετο."

The words hysplex and balbis are also included frequently in general references to the start of the races, for example, "και δθεν μεν άφίενται άφεσις και ϋσπληξ και γραμμή και βαλβίς" (the starting place is the aphesis and the hysplex and the line and the balbis: Pollux 3.147), without further explanation; see also Bekker, op. cit. 426.19. It is obvious that such references do not help toward a precise differentiation between the terms, but they do show a more general tendency to mix up the various names by which the starting place of the race was called.

20. Jiithner, 51 ff., has collected and commented on all the sources relevant to the start of the race. For the word hysplex, see especially 54 ff. Jiithner properly understood the meaning of the word hysplex as "Startseil, Ablaufseil" but Brein, in his added note 111, did not accept this interpretation. Broneer, 137 ff., made proper use of the sources with reference to the form of the barrier but not, however, with regard to the nomenclature (see below, pp. 9 ff.). See also Patrucco 26, 102-106, 113-115,140-150.

21. Moeris 104: "put your feet side-by-side on the balbis." 22. Lucian, Cal. 12: "on the balbis." 23. Heliodorus, Aeth. 4.3: "he stood on the balbis." 24. Moeris, s.v. balbides. "Βαλβίδες, αϊ έπί τών αφέσεων βάσεις κεχαραγμέναι, αϊς έπέβαινον οι

δρομείς ίνα έξ ίσου ΐσταιντο." It is characteristic that the existence of the grooves carved in the balbis establishes the equality between the runners ("so that they may have an equal stance"), while the hysplex ensures equality with regard to the time of starting.

25. Jiithner, 57 ff., provides some details for the better-known stadia with balbides. A complete study of ancient stadia does not exist. It would be, of course, an enormous job. Unfortunately, the doctoral dissertation of Fr. Krinzinger, Untersuchungen zur Entwicklungsgeschichte des griechischen Stadion (1968), has not yet been published and is therefore not accessible. In Athens there is only a single, badly photocopied version in the French Archaeological School. (Since this is an unpublished

Documents and Documentation of the Mechanism 5

The word hysplex, in contrast, appears in regard to both footraces and horse races, a fact that favors the use of this term for some element that is indispensable both in stadia and in hippodromes. It is reasonable to hypothesize that the original concept of a kind of barrier at the start began with horses and was later adopted for runners. It might be possible to control the start of humans without a barrier but not, I think, the start of animals.26 Moreover, since verbs that signify some motion, such as σχάζειν ("to separate") and πίπτει ν ("to fall"), are connected with the hysplex, it seems that the hysplex is a movable device, and that interpretation agrees entirely with the barrier and its characteristics as defined by the lexicographers. We have many good instances of verbs of motion, usually downward, that are connected with the hysplex, for example, "The hysplex dropped and the track stretched out" 2 7 or "while the hysplex fell straight down"2 8 or "At the moment the hysplex fell I was already proclaimed as having won."2 9 A final important detail is that as the hysplex fell it made a sudden and harsh sound: "The noise of the hysplex was in our ears and already someone else was being crowned."30

With this evidence from ancient authors as a base, we can unreservedly attribute the word hysplex by itself to some kind of barrier that was in front of the runners and that, at the moment of the start, fell or was forced down with the help of a mechanism, leaving the field free to the athletes.3 1

work I have not thought it proper to discuss it fully and at length. I refer to it only where there are subjects that touch on some of my own thoughts and suggestions.) Aupert, 181 ff., gives a complete bibliography of extant stadia. The stadia of the Peloponnesos are treated in the dissertation of Romano. For a general picture, see also RE IIIA2 (1929) 1970 ff., s.v. "stadion" (der Bau) by Fiechter, as well as Zschietzschmann. Finally, I mention also the doctoral dissertation of P. Mylonas, Περί σταδίων (1952), in the first part of which the general characteristics of ancient Greek stadia are discussed with selected examples and S.G. Miller, Nemea II: The Early Hellenistic Stadium forthcoming.

26. Even today in the revival of the medieval horse races in Sienna, Italy, a horizontal cord is stretched in front of the horses. It is not possible in this study to deal with the data (sources, representations, and monuments) of the hysplex of the hippodrome, and especially of that in the hippodrome at Olympia. In general on this subject, see H.A. Harris, "The Starting-gate for Chariots at Olympia," Greece and Rome 15 (1968) 113 ff.; Harris (1972) 166 ff.; and more recently H. Wiegartz, "Zur Startanlange im Hippodrom von Olympia," Boreas 7 (1984) 41 ff.; Humphrey 8 ff.; J. Ebert, "Neues zum Olympischen Hippodromos," in A. Rizakes (ed.), Αρχαία Αχαία και Ηλεία. Ιο διεθνές συμπόσιο Μελετήματα 13 (1991) 99 ff.; W. Decker, "Zum Wagenrennen in Olympia—Probleme der Forschung," Proceedings 129-139, esp. 134-135. Here we will deal only with one passage from Plato, Phaidros (254E), about which there is divided opinion in the scholarship whether it refers to a hysplex in a stadium or in a hippodrome. I think that there can be no doubt that it refers to a hippodrome. This is not only because it has to do with a charioteer but also because the movement that is described ("ο δ' ηνίοχος ετι μάλλον ταυτόν πάθος παθών, ωσπερ από ΰσπληγος άναπεσών" [the charioteer suffers this even more as if falling back from the hysplex]) very clearly signifies a movement of the human body toward the rear, which has no relevance to the stance and movement of the start of athletes in the footraces, while it is most probable that a charioteer could experience such a movement because of a sudden jerking start of the horse. I think that those who relate this reference of Plato to the stadium (see Harris (1964) 69; Roos 154; Bean 279 ff.) have been influenced by the translation of the passage in the Loeb series where H.N. Fowler (1914) writes: "He [the charioteer] falls back like a racer from the starting rope (497)". The same correction has already been made by Maffre 350.

27. Heliodorus, Aeth. 4.3: "εσχαστο μεν ή ΰσπληξ, τέτατο δέ ό δρόμος." 28. Lucian, Cal. 12: "της ΰσπληγος ευθύς χαταπεσούσης." See also Arete 22 # 1 3 . 29. Lucian, Timon 20: "αμα γ' οΰν επεσεν ή ΰσπληξ, κάγώ ήδη ανακηρύττομαι νενικηκώς." 30. Pal. Anth. 11.86: "ό ψόφος ήν ΰσπληγος έν οΰασιν και στεφανοΰντο άλλος."; cf. Plutarch,

Moralia 804E. 31. Broneer 142.

6 Hysplex

That the ancients themselves often felt no need to distinguish between balbis and hysplex is shown by the fact that they frequently assigned the characteristics of one to the other as, for example, in associating the verb σχάζει ν ("to separate") with the balbis,32 or in using the phrase "on the hysplex" instead of "on the balbis."33 In any event, this "confusion" should not surprise us since, as we shall see, balbis and hysplex are parts of one and the same system, they are to be found close to one another, and the working of the one depends on the existence of the other. To be sure, in some cases—in later Hellenistic starting lines—balbis and hysplex are actually parts of the same construction with the result that it is not possible to distinguish which parts belong to one and which to the other.3 4 It is typical that references from the lexicographers and scholiasts display the close relationship and interdependence of the two parts: "Balbis takes its name from the racers. It was a line made beneath the hysplex so that the runners could take their stance upon it ." 3 5 Also typical is the tendency to equate the two terms, as in "As if from a single hysplex instead of an aphesis, a balbis. In front of an apheteria was a kanon and a kampter."36

Here it should be noted that of the two starting lines in the stadia, one was the more important because it was the start of most of the footraces and the finish of all.3 7 For this reason the words balbis and hysplex can also sometimes mean terma ("finishline"). Typical are the references of Hesychios (βαλβιδοϋχος = τερματοϋχος) and of the Roman orator L. Annaeus Cornutus, who uses the image of the end of the race at the hysplex in a nice metaphorical way: "Bring into the stadium two runners to compete, the one to fall first into the hyspleges, the other to carry away the prize."3 8 But in this study the words balbis and hysplex will be used only with regard to the apheteria and not with the terma, even though sometimes the notion has been

32. Lykophron 13: "εγώ δ' δκραν βαλβίδα μηρίνθου σχάσας." 33. Josephus, BJ 3.5.4: "έστάσιν ώσπερ εφ' υσπληγος έξορμάν έτοιμοι." Note that in this case the

"εφ" ' is corrected from " ΰ φ " ' . See LSJ, s.v. ϋσπληξ [3]. 34. See below, pp. 70-141. 35. Souda, s.v. Βαλβίς. "Βαλβίς· εΐρηται δε από των δρομέων, ή γαρ υπό την υσπληγα γινομένη

γραμμή, δια το έπ' αυτής βεβηκέναι τους δρομέας βαλβίς καλείται." Compare the scholia to Aristophanes, Hippeis 1159: "βαλβίς, ή υπό την υσπληγα γενομένη γραμμή (balbis: the line beneath the hysplex).

36. Souda, s.v. ύσπλάτιδος. "ώσπερ από μιας ύσπλάτιδος αντί τοϋ αφέσεως, βαλβίδος. 'Από μιας αφετηρίας ήγουν από ενός κανόνος και καμπτήρος." See also above, n. 19. Some ancient scholiasts typically attempt to explain, with the usual method, the "confusion" especially in the Atticist Moeris, that is, to attribute one of the two names of an object to the Attic dialect and the other to Greek in general: "Βαλβίδες, αϊ επί των αφέσεων βάσεις . . . Αττικώς, υσπληξ δε κοινόν" (Balbides, the bases at the starting lines . . . in Attic, commonly the hysplex; Moeris, s.v. βαλβίδες).

37. For the stadium at Olympia, for example, and based on the description of Pausanias (6.20.9): "προς δε τοϋ σταδίου τω πέρατι, ή τοις σταδιοδρόμοις οίφεσις πεποίηται" (toward the end of the stadium where the stadion runners have their aphesis), we understand that the more important starting line was that at the entrance. For other stadia, however, especially after the introduction of the sphendone, where most of the spectators sat (the oldest example is at Nemea—cf. P. Aupert, "Athletica I. Epigraphie archaique et Morphologie des Stades anciens," BCH 104, 1980, 309 if.), it is there that the more important of the two balbides is to be found, for there will have been the start and the finish of all the races except the start of the stadion. See the characteristic plans that Miller, 159 ff., figs. 1 and 2, presents. We do not know if the introduction of the sphendone brought with it also changes in the competitions. Cf. Fiechter 1969 ff.

38. Ars Retorica 202.5: "φέρε γαρ έν σταδίω δρομείς δυο άμφισβητεϊν, τον μεν ε'ις τους ϋσπληγας πρότερον είσπεσόντα, τον δε το βραβεϊον κεκομισμένον".


Figure 1: Isthmia. Plan of the balbis and reconstruction of the hysplex system with the start of the runners in Stadium I (after K. Iliakis in History of the Olympic Games (Athens, 1976) figs. 67-68).

supported, albeit with hesitation, that some of the installations that concern us had to do with the finish of the races.39

But the problems of terminology do not end here, since modern scholars—reflecting some of the ancient sources mentioned above—also confuse the two terms. 4 0 Broneer more than any other scholar has worked with the problem of terminology as he had the fortune to uncover the bases for two different starting systems at Isthmia: the older was the system of the earlier stadium (Isthmia I), the operation of which he himself studied and convincingly reconstructed and which he dated around "470/60 BC or not much later." 4 1 More recent stratigraphic research in the sanctuary that was conducted by Broneer's successors indicated that the stadium with the triangular balbis is to be dated "in the second half of the 5th c." 42

With regard to the well-known balbis of Stadium I at Isthmia and the reconstruction of the operation of its hysplex (fig. I ) , 4 3 we will note here only that it has in plan the

39. See H. Berve and G. Gruben, Griechische Tempel und Heiligtumer (1961) 144; cf. Krinzinger 219 ft.

40. See, e.g., LSJ, s.v. βαλβίς: "rope drawn across the race-course at the starting and finishing point." One will fully appreciate the confusion if one reads p. 57 in Jiithner.

41. Broneer 49 if., 65.

42. E. Gebhard and F. Hemans, "University of Chicago Excavations at Isthmia, 1989:1," Hesperia 61 (1992) 1 ff., especially 58 n. 132.

43. My figure 1 is based on the reconstruction by K. Iliakes in N. Yialouris (ed.) History of the Olympic Games (1976), fi gures 67—68. A model of it was constructed for the exhibition Le Sport dans la Grece antique. Du Jeu a la Competition in the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels. See the catalog of the exhibition (ed. D. Vanhove 1992) 301 ff., no. 168. So far as I know the reconstruction has been universally accepted. Harris (1964) 68-70, figs. 1-2, and Harris (1972) 27, figs. 1-2, suggested minor changes in Broneer's reconstruction, while A. Metzner (see the reference in Krinzinger, 218 ff., esp. 221 ff., figs. 70-72) suggested other, equally minor, changes. Finally, only G. Gruben regards the construction as a finish line (Zielvorrichtung); see op. cit. (n. 39 above).

8 Hysplex

Figure 3: Epidauros. Plan of the balbides and bases for the hyspleges.

exact shape of an isosceles triangle at the peak of which was a well-like construction, or "manhole." From within this the starter held the ends of the operating cords, which radiated outward on the pavement, passing through bronze staples and finally ending at the top of wooden posts that had horizontal barriers, also made of wood. It is worth noting that already in this early form of hysplex the central position on the athletes' line was wider than the rest and probably remained empty for the use of the starter. Thus, by letting go from his hands the ends of the cords, he allowed the horizontal wooden barriers to fall down driven by their own weight and to strike against the vertical wooden posts, simultaneously allowing the runners to start. I believe that the dramatic high point in the whole operation of the start was the noise from the slap of wood on wood, operating in some way like the starter's gun in modern races. As the excavation data revealed, this system did not last for a very long time, perhaps because there were some problems with its operation. It is likely that these problems had to do with the inability to guarantee an absolutely simultaneous start for every athlete without exception since the system consisted of isolated individual barriers that might not always have fallen and consequently not slapped the posts at exactly the same moment.44

Broneer found a newer starting system in the later stadium at Isthmia (Isthmia II). Here he noted a stone block that had been set a little in front of the balbis and at one

44. Romano, 68 n. 6, also believes that problems existed with the simultaneous fall of the barriers in Isthmia I, for which he even presents mathematical evidence.


Figure 5: Nemea. Plan of the balbides and bases for the hyspleges.

end of it (and assumed another similar block at the opposite end; figs. 2, 6).45 This block has on its upper surface a strange—at first glance—set of rectilinear cuttings that most likely were intended to receive some starting mechanism. Similar blocks with the same characteristics had been discovered earlier in the northeastern Peloponnesos, in the stadium of Epidauros (fig. 3) and in the Forum at Corinth (fig. 4), which Broneer associated with a similar mechanism.46 To the examples noted by Broneer there came to be added that from the stadium of Nemea where, in 1975, similar blocks were found in front of the southern starting line (fig. 5).47

Leaving aside for the moment the architectural elements of these stadia, we will confine our attention to the problem of terminology. Broneer applied the word hysplex only to the mechanism of the later stadium at Isthmia as well as to that of the other stadia of the northeastern Peloponnesos, insisting that the mechanism of Stadium I of Isthmia should be called a balbis (fig. I).48 However, in view of the above discussion, the term balbis can be applied, in Isthmia I, only to the triangular paving on which was set the starting system and on which the athletes also stood. Thus we should accept that the starting system of Isthmia I ought to be called a hysplex because it already has all the characteristics of the hysplex that are mentioned in the ancient sources.

Although Broneer did not attempt to distinguish clearly the information that is embedded in the sources, his contribution is still highly significant, not only in his

45. Broneer 55 ff., 59, 140 ff. 46. Broneer 140 ff. 47. Miller (1976) 197-198. 48. Broneer 137 ff. For a summary of Broneer's views on this terminology, see also "Starting

Devices in Greek Stadia," AJA 76 (1972) 205 ff. Kyle, 62 n. 30, has also dealt with the subject of this terminology. See also below, n. 85.

10 Hysplex

0 0.50 1

Figure 6: Isthmia. Plan and cross-section of the single base of the hysplex (the left one) excavated in Stadium II (after Broneer, pl. 96a).

proper reconstruction of the mechanism of Stadium I but also in his association of the stone blocks added to the starting line of Stadium II at Isthmia with those in other stadia of the Peloponnesos. These had a different starting system with a mechanism the operation of which will concern us in the following chapters.

Architectural Features of Stadia

Perhaps it is fortuitous but until now the remains of one type of hysplex have been found only in four stadia in the northeastern Peloponnesos. To be precise, well-preserved blocks that supported hyspleges exist in the stadia of Epidauros, Isthmia, Nemea, and in the track of the Forum at Corinth (figs. 6-17) . 4 9 To judge from the completely excavated stadium at Epidauros, support bases for the hysplex existed at both ends of the track of the stadium where there was also a balbis. At all the other stadia and their tracks, only one of the two balbides with the added blocks for the hysplex has been uncovered to date. But nothing prevents us from hypothesizing similar constructions at the other end of those tracks just as we have seen at Epidauros.5 0 The

49. For those bases known before 1970, see Broneer 140 ff. For Corinth, see also Williams 11 ff. For Nemea, see Miller (1976) 197-198; Nemea: A Guide 182-183. For arithmetic data and analytic details in general, see Romano 10 ff. (Epidauros), 53 ff. (Isthmia), 71 ff. (Nemea), 115 ff. (Olympia), and 150 ff. (Corinth), with older bibliography. A similar hysplex ought to have existed at the starting line of the Agora in Argos where the blocks that were noted at the ends and immediately in front of the balbis ought to have supported such a system. But due to the extent of damage no certain traces of sockets or other cuttings have survived. See BCH 111 (1987) "Chronique des Fouilles," 585 ff. and fig. 2, and AD 41 (1986) Χρον. 35. Compare also Romano 188. Probably similar bases exist at the south end of the stadium at Amantia in modern Albania. See the description of Sk. Anamali, "Amantie," Iliria 2 (1972) 84 ff., esp. 87, fig. 9, where the existence of a balbis is not, however, mentioned.

50. See also above, n. 37. With the data now available, the only stadium that has been found with a single starting line is that at Priene. See Zschietzschmann 38, 56 pi. 7, where are mentioned the other idiosyncrasies of that stadium due to a lack of adequate space at the site. Note that the other


Figure 7: Epidauros. Plan and cross-section of the right base of the hysplex (after Kavvadias, pls. Β 6 and 6')·

example of the stadium at Epidauros with its two precisely similar constructions—for both the balbis and the hysplex—at each of the two ends shows that there was no difference in the method of starting the various types of footraces regardless of at which end of the stadium they began.51

The special characteristics of the support bases for the hysplex in the four stadia of the northeastern Peloponnesos are the following:

(1) In every case we have two blocks of similar dimensions, frequently reused in their present position, that were placed at the ends of the balbis either immediately in front of it (Epidauros, Isthmia, Nemea; figs. 2, 3, 5), or immediately next to the end of it (Corinth; fig. 4). In the last case a third base, smaller than the others, was placed in front of the balbis and exactly halfway between the two end bases.52

(2) The base for each hysplex consists of a single block, except for the left base at Corinth (figs. 8, 9, 10) and the right base at Nemea (figs. 15, 17), which are made from two blocks.53 It is interesting that in the cases in which both bases of a hysplex have been found (Corinth, Nemea; figures 8, 15) they are not identical but have small differences in dimensions and details.54 More but not significant differences are to be

end of the stadium at Nemea—the northern—was eroded away in the Byzantine period so that the balbis and hysplex at that end can never be recovered. See Nemea: A Guide 172.

51. For example, and in accordance with an older suggestion of Gardiner, 268, which Miller, 159 ff., revived after his discoveries at Nemea, the runners in the diaulos and the hoplitodromia must have stood at the start not side by side but leaving a space empty between each of them. This was so that each could make his 180° turn around the kampter without running into his neighbor. To be sure, such an order is not indicated from the representation on our Panathenaic amphora, where the hoplitodromoi are pictured next one other. See below, p. 20. . Of course, there is always the cautionary warning that the vase painters did not show their subjects as if in photographic representations. For the different ways by which the turn of the runners in the diaulos and the hoplitodromia might have been made, see Jüthner 122 ff. as well as Kl. Palaiologos in History 164.

52. For this base see below, p. 14. 53. The terms "left" or "right" for the bases of the hyspleges are always from the viewpoint of the

athletes standing on the balbis and preparing for the start. 54. These small differences may be due to the fact that sometimes the stones are in a second use

such as the left base at Nemea (figs. 15, 16). It is, however, also likely that some of these differences

12 Hysplex

Figure 8: Corinth. Plan and cross-section of the two bases of the hysplex (after Broneer, pl. 98).

seen in the bases of hyspleges of different stadia. Thus, with regard to dimensions, we have at Epidauros (fig. 7), at the eastern starting line, 1.20 χ 0.65 m. and 1.16 x 0.65 m., while the single base that survived at the western line at the beginning of this century was 1.20 χ 0.60 m. 5 5 For the hysplex that was excavated in Stadium II (fig. 6) at Isthmia (i.e., on the right of the north starting line), we have 1.26 χ 0.55 m. At Nemea (figs. 15, 16, 17), the left is 0.90 χ 0.70 m. and the right is 0.95 χ 0.63-0.67 m. At the track in the Forum at Corinth the right (figs. 11, 12) is a long and narrow 1.407 χ 0.63 m. while the left (figs. 9, 10) is a nearly square 0.958 χ 1.098 m.

(3) The top surface of the support bases of the hysplex displays the following details: a large rectangular or even square cutting, with dimensions that vary from 0.40 x 0.50 m. to about 0.60 χ 0.80 m. with a depth of 0.10-0.20 m. 5 6 The bottom surface of these cuttings varies. It can, for example, have in the front-to-back direction broad parallel stepped levels of which the middle is always the deepest (left at Isthmia and both at Nemea; figs. 6, 15, 16, 17). Instead of the stepped levels there can be a shallow circular or rectilinear or oval depression (figs. 8-12). In all cases on the edge away from the center of the track (i.e., on the right edge on the right bases and on the left edge

are due to the shape of the mechanism that they bore and such intricate details of which we are no longer able to recover.

55. On one of the general plans that P. Kavvadias, To 'Ιερόν τοϋ 'Ασκληπιού και ή θεραπεία των ασθενών εν Έπιδαύρω (Athens, 1900) 112, provided for the eastern starting line of the stadium at Epidauros (the "τέρμα τοϋ δρόμου" as he called it), there is drawn one of the two blocks of the bases of each hysplex as placed at an angle toward the interior. The same blocks are reproduced in their location in the good and detailed drawings of Kavvadias, pls. Α-F. Broneer, who redrew in 1972 the bases for the hysplex (Broneer, pl. 97) drew one at an angle and the other in its proper position.

56. At Nemea (figs. 15-17) the upper dimensions of the broad, shallow rectangular depression on the left base are 0.85 χ 0.54 m. and on the right 0.88 χ 0.50 m., while the depth of both is 0.13 m. At Corinth the left is about 0.77 χ 0.50 m. and the right 0.57 χ 0.83 m., since the cutting extends through the whole width of the stone. On the right at Epidauros the depression is 0.50 χ 0.60 m. (see Kavvadias, pl B6).

Figure 9: Corinth. Plan of the left base of the hysplex.

Figure 10: Corinth. Left base of the hysplex, from the west.

Hysplex

Ο 0.50 1 Μ.

Figure 11: Corinth. Plan, side elevations, and cross-section of the right base of the

on the left) is cut a channel that is rectangular or boat-shaped in section and that extends from the central cutting to the edge of the block away from the center of the track (Isthmia, Nemea, and probably Epidauros; figs. 6, 15, 7). On the two Corinthian bases the channel ends on the outside with a larger square cutting (figs. 8-12).57

(4) In three cases (on the right base at Corinth and both bases at Nemea; figs. 11, 12 and 15-17) we note that the long sides of the large cutting slant outward toward the bottom, giving them a trapezoidal section, apparently for the wedging in of the added, obviously wooden, construction of the system. We may note a corresponding but not so pronounced section on the left Isthmian base (fig. 6). The exterior cuttings in the channel of the Corinthian bases (figs. 8, 11) have a similar trapezoidal section, a detail that shows that the wedged-in wooden construction extended to that point.5 8

(5) The central base at Corinth (figs. 4, 13, 14), the only central base that is extant, is clearly smaller and simpler than the bases at the ends of the starting line. It consists of a stone measuring 0.57 χ 0.545 m. that is stuck against the face of the balbis. On the top surface it bears a deep rectangular cutting 0.21 χ 0.245 m., from which extends a.

57. On the left Corinthian base (figs. 8-10) the dimensions of the channel are 0.26 χ 0.14 m. with a depth of 0.07 m. while the cutting on the outside measures 0.18 χ 0.37 m. On the right (figs. 8, 11, 12) we have, correspondingly, 0.23 χ 0.23 m. with a depth of 0.13 m. and an exterior channel of 0.20 χ 0.40 m. On the right at Epidauros the dimensions are 0.30 χ 0.16 m. with a depth of 0.16 m. (see Kavvadias, pl. B6, 6').

58. In the trapezoidal section of the bases at Nemea the difference in width from the top to the bottoms is 0.06-0.07 m. In the right at Corinth the difference is about 0.05 m. and in its exterior cutting 0.03 m.


Figure 12: Corinth. Right base of the hysplex, from the west.

shallow channel of boat-shaped section with a length of 0.30 m. and an average width of 0.135 m.59 The smaller size and the simpler construction of the central base relative to those at the ends of the line show clearly, I believe, that we do not have here a mechanism for the fall of the posts but rather a simple support that held up the sag of the horizontally stretched cords.

(6) On the rear and left side of the rectangular deep cutting of the central post at Corinth (figs. 13, 14) are traces of wear on the stone that indicate rubbing by some other element. Similar wear also exists at the middle of the large cutting on the two other Corinthian bases (figs. 8-12). The nature and the form of the wear, especially on the right of these bases (oval with the long dimension on the front-to-back axis of the base) show that it is the result of rubbing from the movement of some apparently wooden element.

(7) Let us look at those characteristics of the balbides at each stadium that are relevant to the hysplex. At Isthmia, Epidauros, and Nemea (figs. 6, 7, 15) there are cuttings in the front side of the slabs of the balbis, precisely at the point of contact with the base of the hysplex. This cutting at Nemea (figs. 15-17) is rectangular, and its width the same as that of the cutting of the base. At the center and rear of this is a narrower semicircular cutting that is very deep. In the two other cases (Isthmia and

59. The excavator of the track at Corinth found and drew a long channel in the surface of the track that continued the channel that we see in the stone base; see Morgan 549 ff. and pl. 4.


Figure 14: Corinth. Central base of the hysplex, from the west.

Epidauros; figs. 6 and 7) there is only the semicircular deepening.60 These cuttings show (a) that a physical connection between the balbis and the hysplex was necessary; (b) that the hysplex was a later addition; (c) that the rectangular cutting was made to bring the hysplex—the length of the base of which was a given—back into the line of the balbis with the purpose evidently to standardize the distance of the bodies of the runners from the horizontally stretched cords of the hysplex. At Isthmia and Epidauros (figs. 6 and 7) this cutting extends to the first toehold channel of the balbis while at Nemea (fig. 15) it extends to the second channel; and (d) that the semicircular cutting, which is extremely deep, was intended for the implantation of some circular element, apparently a small column, that was necessary for the system, as we will explain in detail below.61 At Corinth, for a similar purpose—that is, for the embedding of a securely fixed post—deep rectangular cuttings were worked immediately next to and

60. The dimensions of the semicircular cuttings in the bases at Nemea are 0.30 χ 0.10 m. and in the base at Isthmia 0.43 χ 0.10 m. (Broneer 140).

61. See below, pp. 19 and 45. It appears that this column would have had a diameter of 0.27-0.30 m. at Nemea. The bases of the hysplex in the stadium at Epidauros have been partially covered by earth from erosion, but in the drawings of Kavvadias (pls. B6, 6' = fig. 3 here) the cutting into the balbis does not appear to be sufficiently deep to accommodate a firmly fixed column. But in the

Figure 15: Nemea. Plan of the bases of the hysplex of the southern starting line (drawing J. Burden).


on the inside of the support bases of the hysplex (figs. 8-12). (8) The placement of the support bases for the hysplex in front of the balbis resulted

in the elimination of some positions on the balbis and therefore the reduction of the number of runners: at Epidauros, from 11 to 9; at Isthmia, from 17 or 16 to 12; and at Nemea, from 13 to 10.62 Another result of the addition of the support bases for the hysplex was the reduction of the overall usable width of the track of the stadia; at Nemea it narrowed by about 5.50 m.63 This detail shows that, at least in this case, the number of runners who could compete in a race was sacrificed in order to put into operation a system that would ensure a proper start. It does make an impression that the bases of the hysplex were not placed farther toward the ends of the balbis—as happened at Corinth (fig. 4) where the lanes for the runners were only reduced by one (from 17 to 16) since only the central lane was removed with the placement of the third post exactly in the middle of the distance between the two end support bases.64

more accurate drawings of the remains that Broneer produced (pl. 97) these cuttings are shown to continue deeper than the slab of the balbis as they do at Nemea. Note also that the supposed circle at Nemea overlaps—cuts through—the back rectangular cutting for the hysplex.

62. Romano 212-213. It is possible that the reduction was actually from 13 to 11: see below, pp. 147-150.

63. Miller (1976) 197 n. 46. 64. See Williams 13. Perhaps the system at Corinth did not work properly and discouraged its

adoption elsewhere. See below, p. 44.

20 Hysplex

(9) The elimination of the central lane of the balbis can also be seen at Nemea, where there was a realignment of the posts that marked the lanes for the runners. This realignment appears to have happened after the addition of the support bases for the hysplex as is shown by the fact that the new post sockets do not extend right or left of the support bases to the ends of the balbis. The realignment must have been caused by the need to redivide the length of the balbis, which remained usable after the addition of the hysplex. Had the redivision not taken place, four lanes would have been lost and only nine runners could have participated at one time. Still, although the width of the lanes was reduced in this later phase from 1.64 to 1.30 m., the lane in the middle of the balbis (between the sixth and the seventh socket) was widened to 2.22 m.65

We have seen, then, that the central lane in the balbides of Corinth and Nemea was eliminated with the placement of the hysplex, evidently because it was needed for a central post.66 However, in some stadia at least the central lane had already remained free before the introduction of the hysplex of the type at Stadium I at Isthmia.67

Therefore Fiechter's68 hypothesis that the central lane was reserved for the starter seems probable. Indeed, in some instances, as we shall see below, is the only one possible.69

The New Panathenaic Amphora

Despite the relatively large amount of evidence that we have at our disposal, we still await one desideratum in our attempt to "show how such a starting device operated, but the actual mechanism is probably beyond recovery." 70 Broneer, starting from the significance of the word hysplex in ancient literature and the details in the sources for the operation of the system, concluded that "the name hysplex was given to these gadgets presumably because they were operated by means of a spring or torsion mechanism that could be triggered by the release of a lever." With regard to the actual operation, he stated that "we may conjecture that it operated by means of twisted ropes that created torsion strong enough to raise a bar, or to lower or withdraw a rope stretched in front of the starting line."71

Unfortunately, scholarship has not progressed further, in part because of the lack of any representation of such a system.72 This lacuna is now filled because we have a vase

65. See Miller, loc. cit. (n. 63), and idem, Proceedings 84. 66. The central lane in the stadium at Delphi was also eliminated. 67. See above, p. 19; cf. Broneer 50, 58 and n. 67. 68. See Fiechter 1970. The same view is expressed by Zschietzschmann 37 and Kleiner, RE Suppl.

IX (1962) 1216, s.v. Priene. Harris (1972) 28 regards the wider central opening of the starting line in the Priene stadium as an "entrance for the formal procession of athletes and officials at the beginning of a festival" by analogy with the central opening in the carceres of the Roman circus.

69. See, for example, below, pp. 80-86. the corresponding location in the monumental hyspleges of the late Hellenistic period. Miller has suggested that this central, frequently wider, part of the balbis "has some bearing upon the question of the nature of the turns in the foot races." Miller 163 n. 31.

70. Broneer 142. Harris (1964) 67, and Bean 279 express, without reservation, the opinion that no such mechanism ever existed. See also Fiechter 1970 and Jüthner 82 ff.

71. Broneer 142. 72. The only attempts to date, so far as I know, to find representations of a hysplex system in

vase painting are those of F. Hauser, "Zur Tübinger Bronze II," Jdl 10 (1895) 191 ff., #16 and


on which is portrayed a starting system the existence of which had been a necessary, but rather abstract, hypothesis based on written sources and architectural remains in ancient stadia. The vase is a Panathenaic amphora (fig. 18) that was discovered in 1970 in a salvage excavation in Athens. It became more widely known only in 1989 when it appeared in the exhibition "Mind and Body."73 Although the inscription with the name of the archon has been lost, this vase is to be dated to the year of the archon Lykiskos (344/3 BC) because of the representation on the main side on the columns of the main side of a seated Demeter and a standing nude Ploutos.74

#17 , who hypothesized the existence of the hysplex in two examples: (a) on a skyphos from Capua formerly in the Collection Bourguignon (now in Hillsborough, California; see Jüthner 46, fig. 8 and I.K. Raubitschek, "The Heart Hillsborough Vases (Mainz, 1969) 63 #16 : close to the Pan Painter (ARV2 561.11) with the representation of the start of a hoplitodromos (Hauser identified the little column with the notch and two sockets at its top as a hysplex post) and (b) on a kylix then in his own collection (now in Leipzig; see Jüthner 65, fig. 16) by Pheidippos (ARV2 165.5) where he identified a line between the feet of the athlete as a cord from a hysplex. See Jüthner 52, 65 ff. Two years later A. de Ridder, "L'hoplitodrome de Tubingue—Questions d'Agonistique," BCH 21 (1897) 211 ff., esp. 233), and later Gardiner, 263, 283, expressed fundamental objections to such an interpretation. However, Patrucco, 113 ff., continues to support the interpretation of the notch in the little column of the skyphos as intended to receive a hysplex. An abbreviated representation of a hysplex is probably to be understood in the little columns with holes at the top, exactly like that on the Hillsborough skyphos, which are present in several representations of the start of a footrace. See also Maffre 357.

The representation on the Hillsborough skyphos frequently appears in scholarship particularly because of the position of the athlete, who is ready to take off with his feet side by side on the balbis and his body stretched out forwards with his right hand propped on the ground. (For a corresponding starting stance in the gymnasion compare the athlete next to a small column on a footless kylix in Leiden, # G N V 71 from Nola [CVA 4, 19 ff., pl. 172 ff.]. According to J.D. Beazley, "A Hoplitodromos Cup," BSA 46 (1951) 12 ff., on this vase "the youth has simply taken up a more comfortable attitude while listening to the remarks of the trainer." This starting stance has been especially connected with the balbis in the Forum at Corinth, where the distance between two parallel grooves on the balbis is 0.56 m., a very large distance to spread an athlete's feet. This large distance is justified by the excavator as proper if both feet were placed in the rear groove and a hand was placed in the front groove; see Morgan 549 ff. More recently Williams, 13 ff., suggested that the wide space between the grooves on the Corinthian balbis and the starting stance it demands show that the competition at Corinth was limited to a few races such as the hoplitodromia or the lampadedromia. Compare also the report of C. Williams in ArchRep 1980-81, 9 ff., esp. 11. For the subject of the position of the feet of the runners on the parallel grooves of the balbides of Greek stadia, see Gardiner, 273 ff.; Roos 151 ff.; Harris, 69, and Jüthner 69 ff. and especially for the Corinthian balbis at 78 ff.

[The hoplitodromos on the Hillsborough skyphos has, I believe, fallen forward by accident and is not in a starting position. On the other side of the skyphos is a judge holding a typical stick in one hand and making, with the other hand, the common sign of prohibition: STOP! Compare a similar idea of E. Gardiner in Beazley, op. cit. 13.—SGM]

73. The vase was found in a pit at the corner of Lempesis and Porinos streets where there may have existed a part of the cemetery by the Itonian Gate. Today it is in the storerooms of the Third Ephoreia of Antiquities, #A6374. Cf. ΑΔ 25 (1970) Χρον. 71, pl. 62a, and in the catalog of the exhibition Mind and Body: Athletic Games in Ancient Greece (ed. O. Alexandri, 1989) 251, #143.

74. N. Eschbach, Statuendarstellungen auf Panathenaischen Preisamphoren (1986) 71, identifies the similar figures on other similar vases as Demeter and Persephone and places them "auf einem unbestimmten Jahrgang." But the same composition is represented on another amphora from the same deposit discovered in Athens (in the storerooms of the Third Ephoreia, #A6367) where the name of the archon Lykiskos is preserved, and that Eschbach, op. cit. 88 ff. # 5 5 , interprets as Aphrodite with Eros. It is obvious that we have, on both amphoras as well as on a Panathenaic amphora in the Cabinet des Medailles, #246 (CVA (2) pl. 91, 2-5.7 = Eschbach 74 # 4 ) , the same depiction of a seated Demeter and a standing Ploutos, which is probably derived from a three-figure composition of Demeter, Persephone, and Ploutos, that is known in other representations. See A. Peschlow-Bindokat, "Demeter und Persephone in der attischen Kunst des 6. bis 4. Jhs.," Jdl 87 (1972) 60 ff., esp. 117 ff., and Eschbach 78 ff. I learn by personal communication from J. Frel that he recently identified the

24 Hysplex

On the second side of this vase (fig. 19) the start of the hoplitodromia is depicted.75

Three nude hoplitodromoi, each wearing a helmet and holding a shield, stand with the left leg slightly bent forward and the right stretched out toward the rear, ready to start the race.7 6 In action and appearance, with their bodies twisted about three-quarters to the right and with right hands at their sides or raised out in front, they display all the characteristics that ancient athletic theoreticians prescribed for this competition.77 The unique detail in the depiction is that in front of the athletes are stretched two horizontal cords, one at the knees and the other at the waist, the ends of which are tied to two thin perpendicular posts at the sides of the scene (figs. 19-22). As the representation at the left edge (figs. 20, 22, 23), which is preserved in good condition, shows us, these posts are not driven into the ground but their bottoms are pierced by a horizontal element that is held at its two ends by cubes. Immediately next to the right post is a short column (?) the height of which is roughly equal to the waists of the athletes (figs. 21-23).

We have, then, a representation of a start of the hoplitodromia with the athletes shown from the front. Until now many scenes of the start of various races were known but only with a single athlete shown from the side, with his two feet close together ("πόδα παρά πόδα"), the left foot slightly forward of the right, the knees always bent, and the body leaning forward.78 We have here for the first time a representation of the start of a race shown from the front, that is, from a view that is not typical for these competitions. The selection of this view by the vase painter may, I think, have been due to his desire to show, not just the start, but the whole hysplex mechanism, which was a new invention of his era and impressed him.

As the detailed drawing shows us (figs. 22-23), the two thin posts are not embedded directly into the ground or into a stone base, as happens, for example, in other cases where similar objects are shown in athletic settings, but at their bottom end are connected with a thin horizontal object that is held at each end by a cubical support. We see this object only at the left post the lower end of which is well preserved and which was shown with special care by the vase painter in front of the right toes of

painter of our vase, to whom he attributes several other vases of the second half of the 4th century, especially from the Kerameikos. Indeed, he named him, because of our vase, which he regards as a work typical of him, as the "Hysplex Painter".

75. Representations of the start of the hoplitodromia are preserved on 10 other Panathenaic amphoras as well as on many black- and red-figure vases. See T.B.L. Webster, Potter and Patron in Classical Athens (1972) 198 ff., and more recently R. Lindner, "Waffenlaufer auf Panathenaischen Preisamphoren," ΚΟΤΙΝΟΣ (Festschrift Simon 1992) 146 ff. For this competition in general, the changes it underwent during antiquity, and depictions of it on Attic pottery, see M. Tiverios, Περίκλεια Παναθήναια (1989) 41 ff. with bibliography. Cf. Jütler 112 ff., pls. 21 ff., and Kyle 181 ff.

76. In a similar stance, but with less distance between the feet, is shown, for example, the bronze hoplitodromos from Olympia (see Roos, fig. 4). The hoplitodromos in Tubingen (Roos, fig. 2 and G. Neumann, Der Tilbinger Waffenlaufer [1977] 33 ff.) has both legs bent as do most runners depicted at the start of the race. To be sure, the fact that the hoplitodromoi of our vase are looking at (and talking to?) one another suggests that we are a few moments in time before the hysplex will fall, and thus it may be that their rear feet are not yet in the groove of the balbis.

77. Philostratos, Gymnastikos 33. 78. For the older starting stance of the hoplitodromoi, see Maffre 356 ff. See also Jüthner 65 ff.,

pls. 15 ff.; Roos, figs. 2-9; and Patrucco, figs. 27-33. In general for the position of the feet with regard to the way of starting for all runners, see Maffre, 354, who believes that the new stance of the runners with feet close together that appears in vase painting after the Persian Wars was caused by the first appearance of the hysplex at the starting lines of the stadia, which he places at about 475 BC.


the end hoplitodromos. On the other side the depiction of the object is not preserved except for the outer of the two cubes. But from this cube we see yet another horizontal element that passes in front (?) of the column and ends in a third cube that is shown by means of a light incision on the black silhouette of the column.

It is worth noting here that the right post has a pronounced slant to the upper right, evidently to show that it did not stand vertically but slanted slightly to the back or to the side, and most probably that its top was tied to the column that was either behind or to the side of it. 7 9 This detail seems to have had special significance since at this point, and even though it was covered by the shield, the vase painter indicated with great care that the post ended very near to the column. Prom this representation it follows that, in order for there to have been need to tie the upper end of the post, there must have existed at the bottom torsion that, when released, would throw the post to the ground.

We can make the following observations with regard to the means by which torsion could have been produced in that era. Based only on the depiction of the vase we could reconstruct a very simple mechanism that could work well enough to fulfill the need for a fast fall of the two vertical posts that hold the horizontal cords. This mechanism (fig. 24) could have consisted of a thin rectangular bronze strip the ends of which would have been held in a horizontal position a little above the ground by two wooden cubical supports, firmly fixed and embedded in the ground. The middle of the strip would have been attached to the bottom of the post in a way that would allow it to move from a vertical to a horizontal position. This metal strip must have been of such an alloy, must have been worked in such a way, and must have been set in place in such a way in the cubes that when the post was lifted into an upright position, it would have created such torsion that it would have strained to return to its horizontal position in front of the balbis and parallel to the ground. But we know that in the period to which the vase is dated the ancient Greeks had not yet devised the kind of metallic alloy that would have allowed operation of this type. As we shall see below, this was invented about a century later by the Alexandrian engineer Ktesibios.80

In the middle of the 4th century BC such torsion could be produced only by a system of twisted animal sinews within which the bottom of the post would have been wedged. The ancients called this system of sinews νευρά or sometimes τόνος, synecdochically with regard to the operations of the twisted torsion, as well as νευρότονον.81 This part in our depiction (figs. 20-23) should be the light horizontal element between the two cubes in which was wedged the bottom of the post.

It is more difficult to interpret the horizontal element that leads from the second to the third cube on the right side of the depiction (figs. 21-23). But we see a corresponding detail in the support bases of the stadia where there is a rectilinear (in section) channel that always begins at the large rectangular cutting and ends on the

79. That this slant of the post is not due to the curve of the vase is to be seen by comparing it to the depiction of the left post and column and their relation to the vertical lines that frame the picture on left and right.

80. See below, pp. 65-67. Naturally the ancients did not know today's spiral metal spring. Cf. A.R. Hall, "Military Technology," in C. Singer, A.J. Holmyard, A.R. Hall, and T. Williams (eds.), A History of Technology II (1956) 700.

81. Sometimes the sinews together with their wooden box were also called "τόνοι." See Philon 49 ff. passim. See also LSJ, s.v. τόνος, as well as Marsden, passim, and Schramm I 51.


Figure 24: Imaginary and improbable reconstruction of the kind of hysplex shown on the Panathenaic amphora (#A6374).

exterior, a channel that probably was intended to carry the long horizontal element that we see in the depiction. In the example at Corinth, in fact, this channel ends in a widened square socket where—perhaps—there was set a cube like the third in the depiction.82

The existence of a system that produces torsion on the right post shows that the vase depicts only half of the whole construction, a common phenomenon in Attic vase painting.83 In other words, the left post that shows no sign of torsion must be the middle post so that to the left we must restore a system corresponding to that on the right with a post showing torsion (i.e., slanting to the left), a short column, and a third cubic base on the outside (fig. 25). This is the only way, as we will see below, to have a full and operational system.

82. See below, p. 39. 83. See, for example, N. Himmelmann-Wildschütz, "Erzahlung und Figur in der archaischen

Kunst," Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur (1967) 73 ff.; and for vase-painting more specifically, J. Breton Connelly, "Narrative and Image in Attic Vase-Painting," in Narrative and Event in Ancient Art (ed. P. Holliday, 1993) 88 ff.

30 Hysplex

Another exceptionally interesting detail is that the vase painter, aside from the two thin posts at the ends, had included in his preliminary sketch (figs. 22, 23) three more thin vertical objects (two between the runners and the third just next to the left post) that he did not depict in the final painting. That these details were placed exactly between the runners shows that they were intended to depict the rectangular wooden posts that stand in the balbis as is indicated by the corresponding sockets that are preserved at regular intervals in the balbides of nearly every ancient Greek stadium.84

These posts were once thought to be a part of a starting system corresponding to Stadium I at Isthmia, but more recently they have been assigned various roles. I would agree with those who believe that their basic role was to demarcate the place of each athlete on the balbis, although it is not impossible in middle-distance races, like the diaulos and the hoplitodromia (two stadia in length), that they should be identified with the kampteres, that is, with the point at which the runners made a turn of 180° in order to return to the apheteria, which was also the terma.85 Finally, I think it quite likely that these wooden posts of the balbis played one more role: they served as the starting point for cords that marked out lanes in the stadium, which must have continued for the whole length of the track to show each runner his path.86

84. Since these represent the posts of the balbis, the farthest to the left, the end of which is preserved (on the other two the end is hidden by the shields of the runners), could give us an idea of their height. Thus, while the hysplex posts reach about waist height, the posts of the balbis were a little higher and reached the middle of the chest. Compare the reconstructed drawing in Nemea: A Guide 181, fig. 64 and the opinions of ft. Patrucco, Lo Stadio di Epidauro (1976) 109 ff. For representations of little columns in an athletic setting, see Maffre 339 ff.; Jüthner 67 ff.; H.M. Lee, "The Τ Ε Ρ Μ Α and the Javelin in Pindar, Nemean 7, 70-73," JHS 96 (1976) 70 ff.; P. Valavanis, Παναθηναϊκοί αμφορείς από την Ερέτρια. Συμβολή στην αττική αγγειογραφία τον 4ον π.Χ. αι. (1991) 162 ff. It does at least seem certain that, in most representations of the start in vase painting, the drawing of these columns is a bit general, and therefore we cannot make observations with great accuracy. For similar objects, see also below, p. 49.

85. Most earlier scholars associated these wooden posts with a starting system like that of Stadium I at Isthmia. See the views of Harris (1960). In Greek Athletes 68 ff., Harris repeated the same opinion without, however, any substantial argument for it. But Broneer, 138 ff., quite correctly noted that such a system would result in the horizontal barrier—as it fell—striking the knee of the athlete since he was now required to put his toes in the grooves of the balbis, a feature that did not exist in Stadium I at Isthmia where the athletes stood behind the line of the posts. Jüthner, 83, believes that the only purpose of the posts was to demarcate the positions of the athletes. Gardiner, 276 ff., and Broneer, 139, regard them to be kampteres, while Miller, 162, and T.L. Shear, Jr., "The Athenian Agora: Excavations of 1973-74," Hesperia 44 (1975) 363, believe that they were both kampteres and some part of the hysplex. Kyle, 62 n. 30, with reference to individual bases with rectangular sockets like those in the Athenian Agora, prefers the term "balbis or kampter-Wne [rather] than hysplex." Harris, 71, and Broneer believe that the runners seized the kampteres while making their turns, which is not very probable since these were rectangular in section unless we imagine that their corners were rounded off. Miller does not believe that the runners touched them, but that they simply turned around them. Again, there is no general agreement in the scholarship about whether it was possible in the long-distance races that there was a single, separate kampter as Miller (op. cit.) argues based on indications in the Nemea stadium. See also S.G. Miller, in Proceedings, 84 n 26 and Sweet, op. cit. (above, n. 3) 30 ff.

86. I believe that the marking of the lane in front of each athlete for the whole length of the track is very probable. See Miller (1980) 164 ff. This might have been effected by stripes of white earth (see Miller 164 and n. 35), or with posts at intervals (see Gardiner 266), or with cords held with small posts at intervals. With this last possibility K. Lazaride (see ΕΡΓΟΝ 1989, 84 pi. 82, and ΠΑΕ 1989 [1992] 209 ff, pls. 143β-144) has associated the discovery of sockets along the whole length of the paradromis of the gymnasion of Amphipolis. A similar arrangement happened in the Panathenaic stadium of Athens during the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. See History 300, fig. 12, and


Figure 25: Schematic reconstruction of the whole hysplex based on the representation of half of it on the Panathenaic amphora (#A6374).

Thanks to the representation on this vase of so many details of both the balbis and the hysplex we can establish a nearly complete agreement between the painters' depiction and the excavated remains, which show that the balbis remained a necessary part of the system even after the placement of the added bases for the hysplex. The placement of the hysplex, in other words, did not make the posts of the balbis obsolete, as would have been the case had the latter some connection with a starting gate as was previously believed.87 This conclusion agrees with the excavated evidence from Nemea, where not only are the posts of the balbis retained after the addition of the hysplex, but their arrangement is somewhat altered.88 The posts of the balbis and the posts of the hysplex, then, make up two different parts of the same system.

That the vase painter did not actually show those balbis posts could be a result of his increasing awareness during the course of the painting that while he had originally planned to show them as a part of the system, they made his picture too black and were thus detrimental to its clarity. Again, perhaps their presence would have confused the viewers about their exact location in the field since these belonged to the balbis and were located at the rear while the cords and the two wooden posts with the column of the hysplex were in a position toward the front.89 But clearly these balbis posts formed a part of the starting system, albeit one of secondary importance.

The Parts of the Hysplex and Its Means of Operation

Epigraphic testimonia reinforce significantly our attempt to reconstruct the form of the hysplex and its means of operation. In two Delian inscriptions dated from the middle of the 2nd century BC (166-135 BC) there are, among other things, catalogs of wooden objects that were kept in the so-called Oikos of the Andrians. Particularly interesting is that the numbers and names of parts of one or more hyspleges are recorded.90 In the first inscription we read the following: "[ΰσπληγος ά]γκώνας τρείς.

Ε. Spathare, The Olympic Spirit (1992), fig. 334b, where the widely different starting stances that the athletes took then are impressive.

87. See above, n. 85.

88. See above, pp. 19-19. Compare also the views of Romano 106 and 215. 89. For the clear distinction between these two planes, see also the views of Aupert 60. 90. These are inscriptions ID 1400.9 and 1409 Ba II 43-44, that are catalogs of objects that were

kept in various regions of Delos. Translation in Arete 23, # 1 4 . See T. Linders, "The Purpose of Inventories. A Close Reading of the Delian Inventories of the Independence," in D. Knoepfler (ed.), Comptes et Inventaires dans la cite Grecque (1988) 37 n. 1, with relevant bibliography; and Hellmann 378 ff. Other similar inscriptions have been studied by J. Treheux in his unpublished dissertation, Etudes critiques sur les Inventaires de I' Independence delienne (1959), a manuscript and microfilm of which are in the French Archaeological School in Athens. It seems strange to me that objects relevant to athletic competitions were stored, according to these inscriptions, in the "Oikos of the

32 Hysplex

παραστάδας ύσπλήγων τέτταρα[ς] και κίονας δύο. σύριγγας των ύσπλήγων δύο." In the second inscription we read "ϋσπληγος άνκώνας III. [παρα]στάδας ύσπλήγων ΠΠ."

In the first text, four parts are mentioned: three ankones, four parastades, two columns, and two syringes. In the second, only the first two appear: three ankones and four parastades. It appears, then, that the two catalogs contain inventories of the same objects by different, perhaps successive, committees or officials responsible for this task. This conclusion is reinforced by the fact that the other objects that are mentioned in the two catalogs are similar but written in a different order. It is also telling that in the second inscription, aside from the two parts of the hysplex (two columns and two syringes), there are missing other dedications, supplies, and tools that are included in the first inscription.91

Until now it has not been possible to make use of the Delian inscriptions, because we were completely ignorant of the form of the mechanism. Of all the mentioned parts, only the ankones were associated with the horizontal barriers of the hysplex of Stadium I at Isthmia,9 2 while the syringes have been interpreted as tubes through which the cords passed and with which the starter made the start, by analogy once again with the staples nailed in the paving of the system in Stadium I at Isthmia.9 3

Now, however, we have as a starting point for our understanding and use of these inscriptions, as well as for the final, total reconstruction of the system and its means of operation, not only the written sources, the excavation evidence, and the form of the system that the Panathenaic amphora gives us but also another new fact: as soon as the study of the nomenclature of the parts of the hysplex as given in the Delian inscriptions began, it was noted that most of these parts are also to be found in the military machinery of antiquity, especially in the εύθύτονον and the παλίντονον bows, as well as in the όξυβελεϊς and λίθοβόλους catapults, the simple and the repeating catapult, and the μονάγκων (onager).94 All these machines were of wood, and all had the same basic principle of operation as the hysplex; that is, there was a need to

Andrians," which has been identified by Vallois with a building that is quite a distance from the athletic facilities of Delos (stadium and gymnasion). This evidence weakens, I believe, the possibility of such an identification and therefore this oikos should be sought elsewhere. P. Bruneau and J. Ducat, Guide de Delos3 (1983) 151 ff., have already expressed doubts about the identification by R. Vallois.

91. F. Dürrbach and P. Roussel, Inscriptions de Delos (1935) 3.29. In addition to these references, the word hysplex appears also in other Delian inscriptions: in IG XI2 199.23, a list of hieropoioi for the year 274 BC there is mention among other expenses of the payment of one drachma "Φιλώτα υσπληγας έπισχευάσαντι" (to Philotas for the construction of the hysplex) and immediately thereafter an expense of 5.5 drachmas "όπλάριον ifj ϋσπληγι" (for a small part for the hysplex). Also in IG XI2 203.96 that is dated to 269 BC, and in the fragmentary IG XI2 260.4, a "ΰσπληξ λαμπαδίειος" (torchrace hysplex) is mentioned.

92. See K. Palaiologos in History 161. 93. Broneer 138. Harris, 70, views the objects mentioned in the inscriptions as "spare parts" for

the hysplex. As we will see below, however, it is more probable that they are the movable parts of a hysplex that had been taken indoors for the sake of conservation. Cf. Harris (1960) 32 n. 1. An attempt to interpret the data of the inscriptions is made by Aupert 60 n. 1 and 61 n. 3, as well as by Hellmann 380.

94. For ancient arrow- and stone-throwing machines, see, in general, RE 7 (1912) 1297 ff. s.v. Geschutze (Schneider); Schramm I, II; and especially Marsden II, with all the relevant texts from ancient authors, English translation, commentary on them, and restored depictions of the weapons, both overall and with constructional details. Most recently F. Fleury, Le mechanique de Vitruve (1993) esp. 223 ff. Compare also Y. Garlan, Recherches de Poliorcetique grecque (1974) 212 ff., esp. 220 ff., fig. 10; W.W. Tarn, Hellenistic Military and Naval Developments (New York, 1966) 101. The terms "lithobolos" and "petrobolos" are used indiscriminately by Philon, even though they may


produce torsion by means of a system of twisting together sinews, which were released to give motion to a vertical arm. 9 5 Let us now return to the study of the inscriptions themselves.

The initial question that comes to mind is why the word hysplex is used in both the singular and the plural. I think this can be explained only if we note that the three ankones are "of the hysplex"; that is, they belong to the whole starting system considered as a single unit. The four parastades, the two columns, and the two syringes are "of the hyspleges," as is shown by their even number, and they belong to the two separate mechanisms that make up the hysplex; that is, they belong to the two vertical posts at the opposite ends of the balbis with the elements that they have below and next to or behind them as they appear on the vase.96 This, together with the number of parts that are mentioned in the inscriptions and the meanings of these terms in ancient literature, especially with regard to military machines, allows us to make the following observations about the significance of these elements for the hysplex:

(1) Ankones (Αγκώνες): The only elements that belong to the whole hysplex and can be three in number and that actually are three are the vertical posts, as we saw in Corinth and on the Panathenaic amphora and as we will see frequently below. That is, there is one on each end and one in the middle of the balbis. We should not overlook the fact that there are mechanisms only at the two ends; the middle post was only to help support the horizontal cords. It is most likely, then, that we have three posts in the stadium or the gymnasion of Delos, from which evidently came these hyspleges of the inscriptions.

Among the meanings of ankon in ancient Greek literature we find that meaning most nearly related to the posts of the hysplex in corresponding parts of stone-throwing machines. These had exactly the same position as, and a means of operation corresponding to, the posts of the hysplex. Philon writes typically: "The arm (ankon) [in a catapult] is a lever (mochlos) working at a mechanical disadvantage; the fulcrum is the part of the arm in the middle of the spring; the (apparent) load is the bow-string, which dispatches the (actual) load and is attached to the end of the arm" [trans. Mars-den].9 7 The description by Heron (82.5 ff.) of the euthytonon (fig. 26), the technology for which was invented around the middle of the 4th century BC,98 is instructive about the way it worked: "Through the middle of the cords (neura) they pushed one of the

be related to the size of the stones thrown. See also D.S. 20.86.2. Cf. Garlan, op. cit. 222 ff., and A.W. Lawrence, Greek Aims in Fortification (1979) 72.

95. It is characteristic that the word hysplex is used for corresponding operations in other machines, so that the operation of the mechanism of the hysplex is compared with the corresponding part of the stone-throwing machines, that is, with the use of twisted sinews, which Heron, Aut. 2.6, describes: "νευρίνψ δε ούδενί δει χρήσθαι . . . εί μή άρα δταν δέη ϋσπληγγι χρήσασθαι" (one should not use anything from the neura except when it must be used for a hysplex). I reproduce the definition from LSJ, s.v. ϋσπληξ 2: "a twisted strand, the untwisting of which releases motive power in an automaton" and "a piece of wood made to rise or fall by this or similar means."

96. The other possibility, that the singular number refers to a complete, whole system while the plural refers to parts of the system, does not seem likely to me because of the large number of hyspleges that are mentioned.

97. Philon 59.12: "ό γαρ άγκών έστι μοχλός αντεστραμμένος, ΰπομόχλιον μεν γαρ γίνεται το έν μέσφ τοϋ τόνου μέρος αύτοϋ, ή δε τοξίτις νευρά το βάρος, ή τις έξ άκρου τοϋ άγκώνος έχομένη το βάρος έξαποστέλλει."

98. See Marsden I, plate on p. 43, and Marsden II, 1 ff. and plate on p. 270 (Torsion Catapults. Mark I arrow-shooting).

34 Hysplex

Figure 26: Simplified drawing of the frame, the neura, and the ankon of the simple monankon (after Marsden II, 252, fig. 3).

arms {ankones) . . . . By forcibly twisting them, they stretched the cords (neura), and the arm {ankon) was tightly gripped by the cords {neura) when the twisting took place" [trans. Marsden].9 9 The name of the weapon μονάγκων {onager) leads us to the same interpretation, for it had a vertical post that worked on exactly the same principle as the hysplex.100

(2) Syrinx (Σύριγξ): The most common meaning of this word in ancient literature is "pipe"; that is, a long, hollow object through which something passed.101 Perhaps something similar is to be understood on the vase-painting in the right part of the hysplex as the piece that joins the second with the third cube. 1 0 2 Again, similar elements would have been put in the support bases of the stadia, in the rectangular or boat-shaped (in section) cutting that leads from the large rectangular cutting to the side of the base away from the center of the track. 1 0 3

(3) Kion (Κίων): This word has its usual meaning, "column." As the depiction on the vase and the remains of the bases show, there was always the need for a short column or pier next to or behind the whole system in order to tie or to hold upright the ankon, which was under pressure.

99. "είτα δια μέσου των νεύρων διέβαλλον ενα των αγκώνων . . . α δη επιστρέφοντες βία συνέτεινον τα νευρά καΐ 6 άγκών xατείχετο βία υπό τών νεύρων της επιστροφής γενομένης." See Schramm II, pl. 17, fig. 66. Marsden II, p. 49 plan 7 (EZ), p. 57 plan 22.

100. See below, p. 41 and nn. 124 and 125. 101. See LSJ, s.v. σύριγξ. 102. See above, pp. 24-25. 103. See above, pp. 12-14.


(4) Parastade (Παραστάς): None of the known meanings of this word has a close resemblance to any of the parts of the hysplex that we have attempted to reconstruct: neither the very specific meaning the word has in an architectural context nor the very general "anything that stands beside." 1 0 4 The related word παραστάτης was used in stone-throwing machines for the rectangular wood frame of the sinew stretchers to indicate the exterior wood of this frame that the ancients called πλαίσια (frames) or πλινθία (plinth; fig. 26). 1 0 5 For example, two external παραστάτες and two internal μεσοστάτες were necessary for the frame of the euthytonon.106 We should imagine such wood frames for our system as well, because they were needed to hold the neura and the ankon. These wood frames would have been wedged into the support bases of the hysplex, as the trapezoidal (in section) cuttings in many of the bases have shown us. Further, as the use of the number four indicates, it is possible that the two basic parts of the wood frames for each of the two hyspleges were called parastades by analogy with the parastates of stone-throwing machines.1 0 7

In concluding this section I would like to note also that I thought it a good working hypothesis that the nomenclature of the hyspleges of Delos probably referred to a stadium hysplex, of a type more or less like that which is depicted on the Panathenaic amphora and which was supported on the bases we have seen in various stadia. However, since we do not know the form of the hysplex of the stadium or the gymnasion of Delos,1 0 8 it is possible that the inscriptions from there refer to different mechanisms, for example, those of the Hellenistic hyspleges that we will examine below. However, as we shall see, the parts of the hysplex that are mentioned in these inscriptions correspond to those of other hysplex types from other times; this underscores their role as basic elements in these mechanisms, regardless of the specific hysplex type or its date.

Reconstruction of the Form of the Hysplex

Based on the evidence provided by the vase and the architectural remains of the stadia, as well as the information from the Delian inscriptions, we will attempt a reconstruction of the form of the hysplex. That does not necessarily mean that the mechanism actually had the exact form and the means of operation that are set forth in the descriptions and drawings that follow. But we will propose some general principles that I believe are the basis for its operation. Furthermore, the evidence that is used the depiction on the Panathenaic amphora, the architectural remains, the Delian

inscriptions, and the comparison with military machinery) does not come from the same chronological period, even if it is not dissimilar in date. Finally, it is very likely that the system was improved with the passage of time, especially with regard to the

104. LSJ, s.v. παραστάς. 105. Schramm I 51; Schramm II, pl. 17, fig. 66. 106. Heron 91.8 ff. See also Schramm I and II, loc. cit. Cf. Marsden II 52, fig. 13 (side-stanchion),

and 56, fig. 20b. 107. Cf. the interchangebility of the words parastas, parastates, and parastasis for the frames of

doors, in RE VI Al (1936) 737 ff., s.v. θύρα (Ebert). 108. For the starting line that has been excavated in the Delian stadium, see Harris (1960) pl. 3c

and Hellmann 378 f., pl. 16, fig. 57.

36 Hysplex

0.00

Figure 27: Schematic reconstruction of all parts of the hysplex, with high and orthogonal parastades of the frame set in the stone base at Nemea (drawing by Nt. Kyriakopoulos).

means of creating torsion thanks to new inventions that first appeared in military machinery. But the details and the general principles that establish the operation of the hysplex can be summarized.

The basic material used in constructing the parts of the mechanism must have been wood, as the Delian inscriptions inform us (figs. 27-28).1 0 9 We know that some parts of stone-throwing machines were "πτελέϊνα, μελέϊνα ή πυξινα,"1 1 0 but we do not know if the same was true for the hysplex. The choice of wood as the material is

109. The reconstructions are based on the architectural remains of the left base at Nemea (figs. 15, 16), that was deemed the most typical, and the left base at Corinth (figs. 8, 9, 10), that is the most peculiar.

110. "Elm, ash, or boxwood": Philon 62.6.

ο

Figure 28: Schematic reconstruction of all parts of the hysplex, with the parastades of the frame cut down in a stepped fashion and set in the stone base at Nemea (drawing by Nt. Kyriakopoulos).

38 Hysplex

understandable if we consider its advantages, especially the ease with which it can be worked to fit neatly and join securely with the other materials that made up the system (i.e., stone, cord, etc.). The placement of wooden elements in the stone base was due to the need to set up the whole system only during the course of the games; when not in use it was removed and stored in some closed area, as we have seen in Delos. 1 1 1 And this occurred not only so that the perishable parts of the mechanism would not be destroyed by rain, freezing, and so on, but also—as also occurred with catapults—so that proper servicing could take place: the wooden parts and sinews could be separated and placed in special oil so that they would not become brittle. 1 1 2

The base of the hysplex was a rectangular wood frame that was wedged into the corresponding cutting in the stone support bases in the stadia. The need for wedging is obvious: the torsion and quivering caused by the sinews and the corresponding movement of the ankones brought the danger that the whole system might come loose from the ground. This wedging was helped, as we have seen at Nemea and Corinth, by the trapezoidal (in section) undercutting in the interior sides of the large cutting and the smaller exterior ones that we have seen in the bases of Corinth. 1 1 3

It is obvious that no wood base could be inserted as a complete unit in the stone base intended to receive it but had to be inserted in pieces and with the same principles as that of the lewis used to lift stone blocks.1 1 4 Given this principle, as well as indications from the details of the surfaces of the bases preserved at Nemea, 1 1 5 Isthmia (Stadium II), and Corinth, we can conclude that the frame of each hysplex may well have consisted, on the long axis, of three pieces: the two outside pieces must have been relatively high, and one side must have been cut to slant outward toward the

111. See above, nn. 90, 93. The description by Pausanias (6.20.10 ff. = Arete 56 # 5 0 ) of the hysplex of the hippodrome at Olympia, which refers to the altar that contained the mechanism, reveals that at least one part of the mechanism was reerected every four years. See also Humphrey 8.

112. The description about such service by Philon (61.24 ff.) is very nice: "έξελών εκ των οργάνων τους τόνους προς τό δύνασθαι λιπάναντας αυτούς και. θέντας έν έλύτρω τηρείν. τό γαρ έλαιον τρέφει τό νεΰρον, όταν είς ανεσιν έλθη" (I maintain, too, that I shall restore the springs to a long-lasting state by loosening them off or taken them out from the engines so that we can preserve them by greasing and laying in an oil-bath; oil nourishes the sinew when it is loosened, [trans. Marsden]). See also Philon (67.23): "και οδτω χάλασμα λαβόντων των τόνων τους τε αγκώνας έξαιρεϊν και τα τών τόνων μηρύματα περιελείν όντα άφθαρτα και .. . καΐ λιπάναντας είς έξέλικτρον ξύλινον συντιθέναι" (When the spring-cords are thus relaxed, remove the arms and unwind the strands of the spring, unbroken and unrotted; then grease them and wrap them on to a wooden bobbin, [trans. Marsden]) and also (72.19 ff.): "δύναται δε μετά την χρείαν εύκόπως εξαιρεθείς ό τόνος εκ του πλινθίου τιθέσθαι είς ελυτρον έμβληθείς. και τους αγκώνας δέ έστιν εύκόπως έξελεϊν τών οχέων έξελκυσθέντων, ώστε κατά παν μέρος και εύσταλές και εύσύνθετον είναι και έν τοις όδοιπορίαις ευφορτον." (After use, the spring can be removed easily from the frame and stored, enclosed in a case. The arms, too, can easily be removed when the pins are pulled out, so that , in every particular, it is simple and easy to put together and easily transportable on the march, [trans. Marsden]).

Heron, 90.3 ff., also mentions movable parts of large machines for easier transport of them. 113. See above, p. 14. 114. We see the same solution for the wedging of parts of stone-throwing machines that had torsion;

see, for example, Marsden II 46 fig. 2, 162 fig. 4, 180 fig. 18, 181 fig. 19, 182 fig. 20, 195 fig. l-3b, 203 fig. 13. For other ways in which the ancients connected wood and stone parts, see, G. Despinis, Άκρόλιθα (1975) 13 ff. 115. For example, the left base at Nemea preserves three parallel shallow ledges at the bottom of the

large cutting oriented along the front-to-back axis of the block, with a width of 0.18, 0.18, and 0.24 m. for the placement of three thick boards. The middle one shows that the corresponding wood board went to a greater depth than those on either side. There are also smaller, apparently less significant, depressions that cannot be so easily interpreted.


I ι ι ι ι I = j 0 0.50 1M.

Figure 29: Corinth. Plan of the stone and wood elements of the left hysplex (drawing by Nt. Kyriakopoulos) .

bottom. These two pieces were wider at the bottom than at the top and were put in place in the stone bases first.116 Perhaps these are to be identified with the parastades in the Delian inscriptions (figs. 27, 28). Then they were held firmly in the base by the central wooden piece that was wedged between them. This would have been a single block set at a deeper level as in the left base at Isthmia and at Nemea or would have consisted of two pieces as in the left base at Corinth (fig. 29). 1 1 7 The need to produce an empty space in the central part of the base is obviously due to the placement at the lower end of the ankon, of the πτέρνα (heel) as the ancients called it, which had to be free to move. These ideas are reinforced also by the oval area of wear in both bases at Corinth (figs. 8-12) which was produced by some such motion. 1 1 8

A necessary element for the production of torsion was, as we have said, the existence of a system of sinews, the neura or the tonos as the ancients called it. With regard to the sources of sinews, we read: "Sinews are needed, either from the shoulder or from

116. These two parts were drawn originally with a rectangular upper part (fig. 27) but later and only for aesthetic reasons they were drawn with the corners cut (fig. 28).

117. This solution at Corinth (i.e., the projection of the wooden parts to the "lips" of the stone base) perhaps was imposed in order to hold the wooden part better in the stone depression since in this case no trapezoidal cutting had been made. Perhaps the same purpose was served by the slanting placement, as is shown in figure 29, of the two long pieces of wood in relation to the sides of the stone bases. At Nemea the sides of the wood bases of the hysplex were wedged also into the rectilinear cutting in the "face" of the balbis (fig. 28).

118. See above, p. 14.

40 Hysplex

Figure 30: Drawing showing terms and materials of the basic elements of ancient stone-throwing machines.

the back, and from every kind of animal except pigs. For theirs are useless. But that means that the shoulder sinews or the back sinews of all other animals are useful. Moreover, the sinews of animals that are active are more elastic. Thus, for example, from the leg of the deer, but from the neck of the bull." 1 1 9 But there was another good source: "The tonos in the ankones can also be produced from women's hair. This is light and long and well fed with oil, and when it is braided it gains considerable elasticity so that it is not of less strength than neura."120

The neura must have been connected with the wood frame of the base of the hysplex in the same way that we see in stone-throwing machines (fig. 26): it must have passed back and forth through holes drilled through the two exterior sides of the frame where it was wrapped around, at either side, iron epizygides or katazygides that were held by choinikides usually of bronze (fig. 30). 1 2 1 "Bronze choinikides are to be installed in the holes of the pierced side beams and within these are to be placed the iron [epizygides,

119. Heron 110.4-9: "Νεύροις δέ χρήσθαι, ήτοι ώμιαίοις ή νωτιαίοις, και πάντων τών ζώων πλην συών. άποίητα γάρ. διανοεΐσθαι δε δτι εύχρηστα τα νωτιαϊα ήτοι ώμιαϊα τών άλλων ζώων. ευρηται γαρ επιπλέον γυμναζόμενα τοϋ ζώου νευρά εύτονώτερα τυγχάνειν. οίον έλάφου μεν τα έκ τών ποδών, ταύρου δέ τα έπ'ι τοϋ αύχένος."

120. Heron 112.4-6: "Ό δέ έν τοις αγκώσι τόνος και έκ τριχών γίνεται γυναικείων, αύται γαρ λεπταί τε οΰσαι καΐ μακρα'ι και πολλώ έλαίω τραφεϊσαι, δταν πλακώσιν εύτονίαν πολλήν λαμβάνουσιν, ώστε μή άπάδειν της δια τών νεύρων ισχύος."

The great significance of these materials for military machinery can be seen from the fact that in 250 BC the Rhodians sent to Sinope 300 talents of hair and 100 talents of sinews. See Hall, op. cit. (n. 80) 701.

121. D. Baatz (1979), (1982), (1985) has written studies about the two very important parts of catapults that are usually the only physical evidence to be recovered from excavations. The same elements can be found also in the very informative introduction to the new edition of the pioneering and still timely study by Schramm I, which was done in 1980. In the same introduction there is also a brief but comprehensive history of the scholarship on stone-throwing machines of antiquity by types. The most recent article about the subject is by H. Williams, "A Hellenistic Catapult-washer from Sounion," EchosCl 36 (1992) 181-188.


Figure 31: Schematic drawing of the neura and the metallic elements that made up the moving parts of the hysplex.

as we call them], katazygides, and thus the tonos, wrapped around these, is stretched tight by the whole frame."1 2 2 This is the only way to ensure that the system does not malfunction—that the sinews do not rub on the wood and thus provoke a loss of torsion in and damage to the neura.122 The neura probably would not have been visible at all, since it was hidden in the horizontal cylindrical casing in the interior of the wooden frame. Perhaps it could be discerned a little at the middle of the frame, in the opening where the heel of the ankon was fixed (figs. 27-28), which thus could receive the torsion produced by the twisted neura. The form of the elements that produced the torsion and were hidden in the frame of the hysplex were as shown in the analytical drawing (fig. 31). The basic shape of the hysplex, then, must have resembled closely the frame of the huge catapult (onager) that is described clearly by Ammianus Marcellinus:124 a rectangular wooden frame, from the side wood pieces of which and with the help of a system of washers and pins the neura was arranged, and in the middle of which the ankon was fixed.125 It appears that there was a significant

122. Philon 60.2 ff.: " Έ π ί γαρ τα τρήματα των περιτρήτων χοινικίδες εφαρμόζονται χαλκαϊ, μέσαι δε έπ' αύταϊς ed καλούμενοι τίθενται {έπιζυγίδες, ήμϊν δέ κληθησόμεναι} καταζυγίδες σιδηραϊ, περί ας δ τόνος καμφθείς τείνεται δι' δλου τοϋ πλινθίου."

123. Heron 83.5-11. 124. Amm. Marc. 23.4.5 ff.: "Ab hac medietate restium ligneus stilus exsurgens obliquus et in modum

iugalis temonis erectus ita nervorum modulis implicatur, ut altius tolli possit et inclinari" (From the middle of the cords a wooden arm rises at an angle and, being set upright in the manner of a yoke-pole, is so inserted in the twists of sinew that it can be raised higher and lowered, [trans. Marsden]). The explanation of the name of the machine that follows is also interesting: "It is called a torsion engine because its whole power is derived from torsion, and scorpion because it has an upraised sting; modern times have also applied the name of onager to it because wild asses, when hunted in the chase, throw up stones so high behind their backs by kicking that they penetrate the chests of their pursuers of actually break their bones and smash their skulls" (trans. Marsden).

125. The fact that the onager was a stone-throwing machine that was widely used in the later Roman years (4th century after Christ) does not separate it from our own chronological framework. This is because, as E. Schramm, "Μονάγκων und Onager," Gott. Nachr. 1918, 259 ff. and figs. 14 ff., has shown, the onager is exactly the same as the ancient Greek monankon. See also Schramm 233 ff. and RE 18,1 (1939) 399 ff., s.v. onager (Lammert). Philon, Πολιορκητικά 91.36, also mentions the monankon. Aside from the monankon, we know of workings like that of the ankon in the siege machines of Apollodorus of Damascus, who simultaneously with the crash of the battering ram on the gate used a vertical ankon with the help of a neura and of rings to hit those defending the ramparts. See the study and reconstruction of O. Lendle, Texte und Untersuchungen zum technischen Bereich der antiken Poliorketik (1983) 27, flg. 9. Generally, and although the descriptions of these machines come from later authors, it is certain that these were being used already in the 4th century BC See A.R. Hall, "Military Technology," in Ch. Singer, E.J. Holmyard, A.R. Hall, and Tr. Williams (eds.), A History of Technology II (1956) 698 ff. The Romans themselves acknowledge that they had adopted all these machines from the Greeks. See Cicero, Tusc.Disp. 1.1.1. ff., and Schramm 234, 244 n. 2. For the development of the catapult in Roman times based on recent discoveries, see K.D. White, Greek and Roman Technology (1984) 217 ff. A bibliography on the subject can be found in J. Oleson, Bronze Age, Greek, and Roman Technology: A Select Annotated Bibliography (1986) 163-169.

42 Hysplex

difference in the hysplex, however: the neura was not twisted along its whole length

from one end to the other but only from the exterior side to the middle, that is, to

the point where the ankon passed through. From that point to the other end the

sinews were straight and parallel to one another. That happened because in our case,

and unlike the case of the stone-throwing machines, the act of twisting the sinews

happened only from one side where it was necessary to have the twisting element, as

we shall see below. The ankon in the middle stopped the twisting from extending the

whole length of the neura, and this then left half without a twist. But by pre-twisting

the neura before inserting the ankon, the latter's certain position at the center of the

hysplex could be preserved.1 2 6

The neura first was set in the wood frame without torsion, which was introduced

by means of twisting. This must have been produced by a system that evidently was

located in the narrow channel of the stone support base that we have seen in all

the stadia and in the rectangular cutting on the outside of the base that we have

seen only in Corinth. This hypothesis is reinforced by the elongated projection that

exists from the second to the third cube of the vase painting and from the reference

in the Delian inscriptions to the two syringes that we have interpreted as pipes. 1 2 7

This hypothesis is further supported by references to military machines in texts. For

example: "When the ankones are passed through the middle of the tonoi, it is necessary

to turn the choinikides with an iron mochlos that has a socket, into which is inserted

the projection of the epizygides, so that the ankones have the prescribed recoil." 1 2 8

And: "If the tonos becomes slack with frequent use, turn the choinikides, as mentioned

before, with the iron mochlos that has a socket." 1 2 9 And again: "An iron mochlos

that has a socket, inserted in the described peristomidas, forces the choinikides to

turn and achieves extended torsion." 1 3 0 In accordance with these descriptions and in

the case of the hysplex—but only on its outer side—the epizygis could be connected

with the syrinx, which was in the channel and constituted the connection between

the neura and another external element that produced twisting for the whole system

(figs. 27, 32). The connection between the choinikis-epizygis and the syrinx might

have been permanent or might have been made only when the twist was necessary.

In the case of the heavy stone-throwing machines, which had enormous weight, the

twist was produced by means of an oniskos (ονίσκος) as it is called by Heron and

Philon, or a "carchesium" as it is called by Vitruvius, in the whole of which were one

126. T h a t such a system of pre-twisting could actually work was shown by the experiment at Nemea described below by Miller (p. 155)). In addition, certain observations were made with the assistance of the model of the hysplex (fig. 31).

127. See above, p. 32.

128. Heron 101.10: "διαβληθέντων δε των αγκώνων δια μέσου των τόνων, δει έπιστρέφειν τας χοινικίδας μοχλφ σιδηρφ κρίκον εχοντι, είς δν έμβάλλεται ή της έπιζυγίδος υπεροχή, δπως ol αγκώνες την άνάπτωσιν εχωσι την ειρημένην."

129. Heron 110.1: "έαν δε έν ταΐς πυκναϊς καταγωγαϊς ό τόνος χάλασμα λάβη, επιστρέψεις τας χοινικίδας, ώς προείρηται, τφ μοχλω τφ σιδηρω τω εχοντι τον κρίκον."

130. Anon. Byz. Pol. W 253.12 : "Μοχλόν δε σιδηρούν ριζοκρίκον έχοντα, προς τας ρηθείσας περιστομίδας έμβαλλόμενον, βιαίαν τήν περιστροφήν επί των χοινικίδων ποιεϊν και σφοδραν την τάσιν άπεργάζεσθαι."

The iron lever with the socket is reconstructed with security in the old study of C. Wescher, La Poliorcétique des Grecs (1867) fig. 97.


Figure 32: Wooden scale model of the hysplex.

or more skytalai (σκυτάλαι) or scutulae.131 And all these suggestions are justified since according to ancient authors "they set up sideways rotating oniskoi that have holes so that, by inserting skytalai in the ends or even in the middle, they can be turned." 1 3 2

However, in the case of the hysplex, which must have been a light and easily operated mechanism, the twisting could have been produced merely by a crank (or a χειρολαβή, as the ancient Greeks called it), which replaced the oniskos and the skytalai, since in small machinery "it is permitted to place a crank in the end of the screw instead of the skytalai."133 I believe it likely that the crank was of a single piece with the syrinx and thus it has been drawn (figs. 27, 31) but I do not exclude the possibility that these were two independent tools that were connected only at the moment of use for the twist. Finally, it is self-evident that space was needed to turn the crank so that a small pit must have been dug in the ground immediately next to the place where the syrinx left the machine.

131. Heron 84.12; Philon 68.5. See Marsden II 50, 51, figs. 10-11; 56, fig. 20 a-b; 57 fig. 22. Also Schramm II 231. For the carchesium, which ought not to be related to the Greek καρχήσιον, see Vitruvius 10.10.1 and Marsden II 196, drawing 5, diagram 10.

132. Heron 107.5: "όνίσκοι έστωσαν πλάγιοι στρεφόμενοι, τρήμματα έχοντες, ώστε έμβάλλεσθαι σκυτάλας έν τοϊς ακροις ή κα'ι έν μέσω, δι' ών έπιστραφήσονται."

For the way in which the ankon of the onager can be raised by two soldiers with huge skytalai, see, for example, the reconstruction in Schramm I, fig. 33, and in H. Diels, Antike Technik (1965) 99, fig. 41.

133. Heron Mech. 2.5.13 ff. (with regard to the cheirobalistra): "έξεστι δε άντι τών σκυταλών χειρολαβήν τίνα περιθείναι τω ακρω τοϋ κοχλιού" [ed. Nix-Schmidt II.1 (1900) 287, figs. 70b, 73]; ind Marsden II, drawing 12.

44 Hysplex

As the cuttings in the support bases that we have seen in the various stadia show, and especially the trapezoidal (in section) external cubic sockets in the two Corinthian bases,1 3 4 it was not possible for the syrinx and the crank to be in contact with a stone casing, but these elements were also encased in a wooden housing that was wedged into the corresponding cuttings of the stone and was, of course, connected with the wood frame on the base that we have already discussed (figs. 27, 28). All of these wooden parts could not have been entirely hidden in the stone bases but must have projected enough to allow sufficient internal space for the workings of the various parts of the mechanism.

Finally, it should be noted that all the parts of the mechanism, as well as all the places where wooden parts came into contact with parts of some other material (stone, cord, etc.), must have been greased so that would be avoided and the mechanism would work smoothly.

Aside from these basic parts of the mechanism proper, fixed and stable columns or posts to hold the taut ankon when the hysplex was upright were also necessary (figs. 26, 27). The existence of this element is confirmed by the vase painting, the Delian inscriptions, and the remains of the stadia. In Corinth there are deep rectangular sockets next to the whole system; in the other cases there are semicircular sockets in the balbis, that is, set behind the system. It is probable that the top of the ankon was held to the column with the help of a hook or a ring so that the ankon could be stable and upright but with a very small point of contact so that the ankon could be released easily with a quick, simple motion by the aphetes as we shall see below. Perhaps this is the element intended by Hesychios when he defines hysplex: as starting line, point of the start, snare. [Post and the ring of horn]." 1 3 5

The Operation of the Mechanism

After the placement of the slack neura in the frame of the hysplex and the insertion of the end of the ankon within it, there followed the twisting that was necessary to produce torsion. This was effected by joining the system of the crank and pipe with the ends of the epizygis and the turning of the crank in the direction that forced the ankon forward and down until it touched the surface of the track. The turning of the crank continued in the same direction until adequate torsion had been produced in the neura. As a working model that we constructed showed us (fig. 32), it appears that two or three full turns of the crank were sufficient to produce the required amount of torsion. Finally, the crank and pipe system was removed and not used again since from that point on until the end of the competitions the ankon could be lifted by hand. The exception would be if it was observed during the competitions that the neura had slackened and needed to be tightened again (see above, p. 42 at η 129).

It is self-evident that with the removal of the crank the epizygides had been pulled toward one another by the torsion of the twisted neura and were thus so tightly fixed on top of the choinikides that they could not turn in the opposite (backward) direction; there was no danger that the torsion that had been created by the twisting might be

134. See above, p. 14. 135. Hesychios, s.v. "ΰσπληξ. άφεσις, αφετηρία, πάγη. [πάσσαλος καί ό κεράτινος κρίκος]."


Figure 33: Corinth. Plan of the two bases of the hysplex showing the brackets that would create the cord barriers in an application like the Nemea system.

lost. For this reason there was no need to fasten the epizygides once they were in the torsion position.

Thus the hysplex "dressed" and ready for action should have been in the following condition (figs. 26, 27, and frontis): the ankones held upright against the force of torsion near the columns with the help of the loops or rings whether absolutely vertical or slanting slightly toward the rear, just as the vase painting shows. With the simultaneous and sudden jerking of the two trigger cords by the aphetes, the two rings were pulled off the ankones, which were thereby released. These then were forced by the torsion of the twisted neura to fall suddenly forward and downward, striking the earth with a characteristic sudden slap or bang. By pulling down together with them the cords that were stretched between them, the ankones gave the start to the runners, who had been waiting impatiently on the balbis.

Doubts expressed by some scholars that the runners might have tangled their feet in the cords that had fallen in front of them are completely justified.136 Previously, this was taken to be evidence that such a system was impossible. But, as we have seen very typically with regard to the central base of Corinth (fig. 4) , 1 3 7 the ancients had reduced this danger to a large degree by digging into the ground in front of the hysplex a trench into which the ankones could fall in order that the cords, or "hurdles," would fall flat down on the ground.1 3 8

The following observations should be made with regard to the way in which the whole system was triggered: the connection of the top of the ankon with the column that we see in the vase painting could have been put into effect in the cases of the stadia

136. Roos 150; Harris (1964) 67, 70; Bean 278. 137. See above, p. 14 and η 59. 138. It is not clear that the hysplex would be necessary for the dolichos, but even if it was used,

the placement of the kampter well away from the balbis removed any problem for the runners in negotiating the turns in the races. For this idea, see Lee 109.

Figure 34: Corinth. Suggested schematic reconstruction of all parts of the hysplex. The ankon was significantly taller than shown here. (Drawing by Nt. Kyriakopoulos.)

Figure 35: Nemea. Plan of the sphendone of the stadium. The semicircular depression for the aphetes is visible near the semicircle of the water channel (after Miller (1976) p. 195, fig. 8).

48 Hysplex

at Isthmia, Nemea, and Epidauros, where the column is directly behind the vertical ankon. But in the case of Corinth, the cuttings for the fixed columns—wooden posts here—are to the side and at a distance from the ankones and more or less in the same line as they are (fig. 33). A possible solution for this instance might be the placement of a post of a height at least equal to that of the ankon, on the top of which was a light horizontal board. This board would have held the ankon in its vertical position and would have released it by being lifted slightly by a cord that was passed through a ring at the top of the post.

But this solution provokes two problems: (a) the post would have to have been sufficiently higher than the ankon so as to allow the aphetes to remove easily the horizontal board that released the ankon, and (b) since the posts are a little in front of the line of the two ankones, there is the danger that the two horizontal barrier cords might touch the posts and thus form slight bends in their otherwise straight line (fig. 33).139 Thus we are led to another solution that avoids these two problems. We place in the deep cutting a very low post (fig. 34) from the top of which a light board extends diagonally upward so as to hold the ankon and still be easily removed by the aphetes. At the same time the low post does not block the horizontal barrier cords, which, as we have seen, were at heights of about 0.60 and 1.00 m. from the ground.

Given, then, that the release of the ankones was effected by the removal of the rings or loops that held them, let us move on to discuss the way in which this action might have taken place. The need for an absolutely simultaneous release leads us initially to a system like that of Stadium I at Isthmia. But in our case, instead of many cords there are only two that would have been held and released by the aphetes, who would have been standing behind the athletes. This suggestion is reinforced by the observation of a semicircular depression in the stadium at Nemea, behind the balbis and exactly on the axis of the central wider place, between the sixth and seventh socket of the balbis (fig. 35).140 This depression is located precisely at the top of an isosceles triangle the base of which is the balbis and the sides the two cords that extended from the aphetes to the tops of the ankones of the hysplex. This position is sufficiently removed from the balbis so that the stretched cords would not bother the athletes on the ends of the balbis even if they did pass nearby. We can therefore suggest that the aphetes was positioned in the depression (Frontis). To be sure, the bottom of this semicircular depression sloped down toward the rear. But it is obvious that here we have no need for a deep hole like that in Stadium I at Isthmia since the cords were not on the ground but stretched about a meter above the ground and held toward the rear by the aphetes. I think that the sloping floor of the depression might have been intended to give the aphetes a firm base to support him against the tension of the cords, which would tend to pull him forward especially because of the pressure exerted forward by the torsion on the ankones of the hysplex.

It appears, then, that in the hysplex system that we have attempted to reconstruct there is a basic principle parallel to that old principle we see in Stadium I at Isthmia but quite developed since instead of individual barriers for each runner, there is a single one for all. Another detail that reduces to virtually nothing the possibility of

139. The line of the cord should have been parallel with the face of the balbis. Its diagonal position in the drawing is due to the forward position of the small stone of the left base.

140. See Miller (1976) 195, fig. 8; and "Excavations at Nemea, 1976," Hesperia 46 (1977), pl. 15d. Romano, figs. 61, 62, 65, 66.


an unfair advantage, or disadvantage, for a given athlete is the existence of the neura, which, like a spring, produced the immediate and fast fall of the barrier, unlike the system of Stadium I at Isthmia where the fall was produced only by the weight of the barrier—the horizontal wooden arm—itself.141

Finally, it is clear that whenever they wanted to replace the ankones in their original position, they lifted them by hand until the top touched the column, which existed in most stadia, where they were attached by means of a ring or a loop. Correspondingly in the case at Corinth, the ankon would have been held by the diagonal light board hypothesized above (fig. 34). This lifting of the ankon by hand perhaps is relevant to the passage—which has been difficult to explain heretofore—in the "Alexandra" of Lykophron, line 21: "κ' από γης έσχάζουσαν υσπληγας" which is used metaphorically for the difficulty with which a ship is freed from a rocky shore.1 4 2 It seems probable that the poet wanted to compare the strained and slow but sure movement of the rowers pulling on their oars with the corresponding action of those who lifted the ankon of the hysplex from the ground.1 4 3 This action must have occurred often and in a short time, for example, in the successive preliminary heats of the stadion as well as in the other footraces when these were run all together and in succession on a specific day of the various games.1 4 4

The Chronology of the Hysplex

It is obvious that the depiction of the type of hysplex that is shown on the Panathenaic amphora of the archon Lykiskos (344/3 BC) is important evidence for the date of its introduction of it into ancient Greek stadia. The appearance of this system on a vase of this date, as well as the special interest of the vase painter in displaying the mechanism in great detail, shows that this method of starting the race was an innovation of the period.1 4 5 The date of the vase, then, comprises the first completely indubitable evidence for the appearance of this type of hysplex.

We have seen, however, that earlier references in ancient authors belong to the last quarter of the 5th century BC. This means either that they refer to a hysplex in the hippodrome—since it seems logical that the mechanism would have been used first for

141. For the simultaneous start of such systems, Kleiner, op. cit. (supra, n. 68), 1217, suggested the probable use of water in some hydraulic installation. In the case of Priene, which gave rise to the idea, such a solution does not really appear likely (see below, p. 113 and 116). In certain other cases, as for example at Corinth, where immediately next to the support bases of the hyspleges there is a water channel, I cannot rule out the possibility of the use of water. But according to the excavators, this channel "was constructed at the time of the laying out of the platform" (i.e., of the balbis), which is thought to be earlier than the two added bases for the hysplex; see Williams 12.

142. "and they separated the hysplex from the ground." See also above, p. 158. 143. The word hysplex does not, then, have the meaning of "anchor" as some scholars have suggested

based on this passage in Lykophron; see Jüthner 54 and the Dictionary of Dimitrakos, s.v. = "anchor cable, whence anchor."

144. For the successive preliminary heats, that the ancients called "τάξεις" see Pausanias 6.13.2 and for commentary see Gardiner 266 ff. and Harris (1964) 70 and Arete 70 ff. For the idea that the sequence of running events was determined by the installation of the starting mechanism, see Lee 105-112.

145. Is it possible that the vase painter saw the prototype of his hysplex in the Panathenaic stadium? For the problems concerning the foundation and/or renewal of that stadium, see Kyle 94 ff. and n. 45.

50 Hysplex

the start of horses146—or, more likely, that they refer to an older type of hysplex, as that of Stadium I at Isthmia, which, based on archaeological evidence, is to be dated in the second half of the 5th century BC and which perhaps should not be thought, as some scholars hypothesize, to have been a unique example.147

It should also be noted that the form of the hysplex that is shown on the Panathenaic amphora can be associated with physical remains in four stadia of the northeastern Peloponnesos. Of course, the support bases for the hysplex located in those stadia cannot be dated precisely. But we do know that they are additions and therefore later than the balbis, thus providing us with a terminus post quem on the assumption that the balbides can be dated, albeit not always with accuracy. Generally there has been a trend in the scholarship, "although still unproven," which is based on the observations of Broneer, to date the addition of the hyspleges to the preexisting balbides in the 3rd century BC "or later."148

If we examine closely the relevant facts of each monument we will see that the securest chronological evidence for the placement of the type of hysplex discussed here comes from Nemea, where all the construction work of this phase of the stadium is to be dated in the period from ca. 330 to ca. 270 BC.14? In Corinth the balbis of this phase was set in place after 280 BC and remained in use until 146 BC.150 We have a more general chronological framework for Stadium II at Isthmia, which appears to have been the new stadium of a building program associated with Alexander the Great;151

Epidauros places us in the first half of the 3rd century BC if we accept the connection of the installation of the hysplex with the known inscription according to which the Corinthian engineer Philon and his guarantor, the Corinthian banker Nikon, were fined 500 Alexandrian drachmas because Philon had not finished the installation of a hysplex system during the agreed-upon period in the stadium of the Asklepieion.152

146. See above, p. 4; compare also E.N. Gardiner, Greek Athletic Sports and Festivals (London 1910) 277.

147. Broneer 49 ff. and 65, and here, above, pp. 7-8. 148. Romano 211. 149. For the large building program at Nemea during the period 330-270 BC, see most recently

S.G. Miller in D.E. Birge, L.H. Kraynak, and S.G. Miller, Nemea I: Topographical and Architectural Studies (Berkeley 1992) xxx. See also Miller et al, Nemea: A Guide 42-43, 57-61. Romano, on the contrary, dates this phase of the balbis with the hysplex to after 145 BC, after the supposed (but undocumented) return of the games from Argos to Nemea, despite the complete lack of archaeological evidence for any activity in the stadium in the 2nd century BC. See Miller op. cit. and "Excavations at Nemea, 1984-1986," Hesperia 57 (1988) 9-10, 12, 18-19. I believe that the close similarity of the Nemea hysplex with those of the other Peloponnesian stadia weakens even more the late chronology of Romano.

150. See most recently Williams 11 ff. 151. For new construction or renovation of stadia in Late Classical and Early Hellenistic times,

see Broneer 66; Romano 53 ff., 62, 242-244; Stephen G. Miller in the preface to the new edition of E. Norman Gardiner, Athletics of the Ancient World (Chicago 1978) viii-ix.

152. IG IV2 1.98. R. Patrucco, Lo Stadio di Epidauro (1976) 111 n. 30, gives the whole text. Compare also Harris 70 and the translation of the text into English in Arete 65, # 6 1 . The usual dating of the inscription is in the first half of the 3rd century, but A. Burford, "Notes on the Epidaurian Building Inscriptions," BSA 61 (1966) 320, dated the inscription on the basis of some details in the text to the mid- or late 3rd century BC. Patrucco, op. cit., 109-112 and plate on p. 112, places the balbis of the stadium at the end of the 4th or the beginning of the 3rd century BC, while he dates the hysplex (122 and plate on p. 122) to the period between the second quarter and the end of the 3rd century BC, apparently, however, only with reference to the inscription, since he ignores completely the added bases that supported the hysplex. Compare Patrucco 105 ff. See also Romano 14, 211.


Thus, since no work took place at Nemea after ca. 270 BC, the hysplex must already have been in place by that time. Again, in Corinth the new balbis was not put in place before 280 BC. These chronological facts show that the first installation of the hysplex in the stadia of this region must have taken place late in the first third of the 3rd century BC. Likewise, the pronounced similarities in the various hysplex bases, and therefore in the machines that once rested in them, show that their dates cannot be far apart. Broneer1 5 3 hypothesized that Philon himself had probably installed the hysplex in his native Corinth before doing that at Epidauros, and it seems he was correct since the preserved details of the bases at Epidauros resemble closely those of the right base at Corinth. Broneer's hypothesis is supported by the fact that the mechanism at Corinth seems to be less developed than the others since the support bases of the hysplex are set at the ends of the balbis, a detail that is not repeated at any other stadium.1 5 4 But the excavation data would place it a little later than Nemea; one might hesitate to assign such precise dates in this period.

With regard to Athens, however, based on the new information of the vase, we can safely raise the date of introduction of the new mechanism to the middle of the 4th century BC. Direct evidence for the existence of a hysplex in the Panathenaic stadium—but from the 2nd century BC—comes from an inscription from the Acropolis in which, together with other repairs to sanctuaries and public buildings of the city, mention is made of "starts from the hyspleges of the Panathenaic stadium." 1 5 5 In any event, the chronological facts of the vase show us that the hysplex predated the Lykourgan stadium, that had not been completed in the decade of the 330s BC.156

Finally, there can be no doubt that the conception of the hysplex with stretched and twisted neura was a consequence of the development of military machinery that was seen in the 4th century BC, and especially during the period 360-350 BC to be ascribed to the engineers of Philip II of Macedonia. It appears not to be fortuitous that the first reference to a catapult in Athens occurs in a catalog of the Chalkotheke that is dated to ca. 355 BC.157

153. Broneer 141-142. 154. Again, the bases of the Corinthian system seem simpler while the existence of the fixed post

at the side of the ankon seems less practically functional than the fixed column behind the ankon at The other stadia.

155. IG II/III 1035.50 "αφέσεις τας άπό των υσπλήγων τοϋ παναθηναϊκού σταδίου"; cf. Ch. Tsountas, "Επιγραφή εξ Ακροπόλεως," ΑΕ 1884, 165 ff. See G. Culley, "The Restoration of Sanctuaries in Attica," Hesperia 44 (1975) 207 ff.; idem, The Restoration of Sacred Monuments in Augustan Athens

Diss. 1973; Ann Arbor Microfilms 1987) and Jiithner 56. I do not, however, think that the herms that were found in the stadium can be associated with a hysplex as Gardiner wanted, (supra, n. 151) 133. See also the thoughts of C. Gasparri, "Lo Stadio Panatenaico," Annuario 36/7 (1974/5) 363 ff., 366.

156. For the discrepancies in the sources concerning the question of whether Lykourgos first founded the stadium in this region or renewed a preexisting facility on a monumental scale, see Kyle 92 ff. Compare the novel view of D.G. Romano, "The Panathenaic Stadium and Theater of Lykourgos. A Reexamination of the Facilities on the Pnyx Hill," AJA 89 (1985) 441 ff., that the stadium of Lykourgos was not located on Ardettos where the stadium of Herodes Atticus is today but on the Pnyx where are preserved the foundations of two long buildings that other scholars have regarded as the foundations of stoas that were never actually constructed. See below, pp. 63-64 with regard to five rectangular bases with rectangular sockets for the insertion of wooden posts that are to be associated with the start of a race in the Athenian Agora.

157. IG I I 2 120. For the existence of catapults in Athens after 370 BC, see Marsden I 67. Generally the second half of the 4th century and the first half of the 3rd century are considered to be the most significant period for the invention and construction of siege and stone-throwing machines. The

52 Hysplex

With regard to the older type of hysplex (i.e., that of Stadium I at Isthmia), and in addition to the substantial differences in the working of the mechanisms that we have already seen, our hysplex has yet another difference. While the barriers at Isthmia I were located above the balbis, in the new type they stand on other blocks that project from the balbis, with the result that the barrier is some 0.50-0.60 m. in front of the balbis. Again, these balbides, and especially the type with the double parallel groove and the rectangular cuttings at regular intervals, were placed in their stadia at the same time as or a little earlier than the hyspleges.159. This nearly synchronous placement brings us to the notion that perhaps the one provoked the other; that is to say, perhaps the new type of balbis provoked the invention of the new hysplex, or vice versa. We should remember that just as the barrier cord of the hysplex obliged all the athletes to stand in the same line, so the double grooves of the balbis forced their feet into similar positions, with the same distance between the front and rear foot of each. Together cords and grooves reinforced a complete equality at the start of the race, and the victory would belong to the athlete whose actual running of the race on the track was the best.

A straight balbis without continuous grooves and sockets (fig. 4) was constructed in the Forum of Corinth after 280 BC; it has exactly the same characteristics as the version that is roughly two hundred years older (although the earlier balbis was curved).1 5 9

That the new type of balbis with the two parallel grooves and the sockets for posts was not introduced but the old balbis was simply straightened forces us to consider that this change might have been due to the addition of the new hysplex system that could not function with a curved line. This detail together with the fact that the changes that the excavators observed in the area of the track relative to earlier phases 1 6 0 did not cause a change in the form of the balbis forces us to conclude that at Corinth it was the new type of hysplex that provoked the change of the balbis. If this conclusion is correct, then we have very strong evidence at Corinth that the hysplex bases are not chronologically distinct from the balbis. Therefore, the hysplex system (and not just the balbis) must date to shortly after 280 BC.

But in some of the other stadia from the the 4th century BC—that is, before the placement of the new balbis—there already existed a balbis with a single groove.161

Although the date of the Panathenaic amphora does not preclude the existence of the hysplex together with such balbides, I think that in the cases of the stadia at Nemea, Isthmia II, and Epidauros, where the support bases of the hyspleges are later than

inventions of that era were not surpassed until the 15th century after Christ with the discovery of gunpowder. See Schramm 221, 228, and Garlan, op. cit. (n. 94) 165 ff.

158. See above, pp. 50-51. Romano, 229, has the opinion that "Generally speaking, it is safe to say that double grooved starting lines are introduced in the Hellenistic period." See also N. Serwint, review of Mind and Body: Athletic Contests in Ancient Greece, in AJA 94 (1990) 508.

159. As shown by calculations, the balbis with a semicircular form may have been created to place all the runners in the dolichos at the same distance from the kampter, see D.G. Romano, "Athletics and Mathematics in Archaic Corinth," AJA 97 (1993) 336. Repairs to the first balbis took place at the end of the 5th or the 4th century BC; see Williams 2 ff., 10 ff. A similar curvilinear arrangement of a balbis has been suggested for the individual bases of the xystos of the gymnasion of Amphipolis by K. Lazaride, ΠΑΕ 1989 [1992] 207 ff., pls. 142 ff.

160. Op. cit., 11, 13. Compare also the report of C. Williams in ArchRep. 1980-81, 9 ff., esp. 11. 161. Romano 206, 208.


the balbis, the new type of hysplex followed the placement of the new balbis with two grooves.l62

Representations of a Hysplex in Monuments of a Roman Date

Two monuments of Roman Imperial date present portrayals of a type of hysplex like that with which we are concerned. The first of these is in the Codex Vaticano Latino 3439 (formerly the Codex Coburgensis), which was written in the middle of the sixteenth century after Christ, but the picture that interests us here was copied, as is stated explicitly in the margin, from a now lost relief that then was "retro Belvedere" (fig. 36). 1 6 3 The representation shows four runners, two beardless and two bearded, with the "cirrus in vertice" hairdo typical of the professional athlete of this period standing in front of a hysplex that is shown here in a simplified form as a Π, with two vertical posts holding a horizontal round stick. It is interesting that the two end athletes hold the horizontal stick with one hand and with the palm up. On the right side of the representation there is preserved the right side of a himation-wearing figure with woven sandals,1 6 4 apparently some official of the games, and on the left there is a herm. 1 6 5

Despite the objections of some students of ancient athletics, I think there can be no doubt that Codex Vaticano Latino 3439 provides a depiction of a hysplex—and of the same type as shown on the Panathenaic amphora even if in some variation of i t . 1 6 6 That the horizontal element is shown as large as the vertical ankones perhaps represents a replacement of the cord that sagged in the middle with a thin stick, the kanon or the xylon, that is mentioned in some sources.167 Regarding the specific action of the end athletes, I suggest that how and where they hold the stick is intended to show that they have just lifted the stick from the ground and replaced it in its

162. Harris (1964) 69 supports the idea that the change in stance of the runner during the start from that with legs spread, as at Corinth, to a stance "πόδα παρά πόδα" (foot next to foot) was caused by the installation of the hysplex. See above, nn. 72, 76.

163. O. Jahn, "Zeichnungen antiker Monumente im Codex Pighianus," SechsGesBer 1868, 161 ff., esp. 184. O. Kern, "Ein neues Coburgensisblatt," RM 5 (1890) 150 ff. More recently see the drawing from the codex, but printed backwards, in the catalog of the exhibition Lo Sport nel mondo antico. Ludi, munera, certamina a Roma (27/8-25/10/87) 37, fig. 3. See also A.M. Colini, Stadium Domitiani (1943) 99.

164. For this type of shoe worn by officials at the games, see Valavanis 351. 165. An especially nice reference for the existence of herms beside the balbis and the hysplex is in the

poem of Philippos (Pal. Anth. 6.259): "Τις τόν άχνουν Έρμήν σε παρ' ύσπλήγεσσιν εθηκεν" (who set you up, beardless Hermes, by the hyspleges?). And such have been actually found in the Panathenaic stadium in Athens (see Travlos, Bildlexikon 502, and Gasparri, op.cit. [n. 155] 313 ff., esp. 361-367). For bases of statues at the ends of the balbis see Miller (1976) 197, and Nemea: A Guide 179 ff. Compare also Romano 215. For herms at the carceres of the Roman circus see Humphrey passim.

166. R. Hauser, "Zur Tübinger Bronze II," Jdl 10 (1895) 194; Jüthner 82 and n. 158; Roos 150 n. 7; Krinzinger 217.

167. See above, pp. 4-6. Since, then, we have a wood stick in some cases, this is the sense in which we should understand the word kanon, which is mentioned for the hysplex in the scholia to Dionysios Periegetes 121. For the significance of the kanon as both a wooden stick and as a cord used to make a straight line in ancient architecture, see A.K. Orlandos and I.N. Travlos, Λεξικού αρχαίων αρχιτεκτονικών ορών (1986) s.v. Aupert, 60 ff., has hypothesized a wooden stick instead of a cord for the stadium at Delphi because of the large distance of 20-25 m. that the cord would have to bridge. But with the existence of the central ankon this distance is reduced to 10-12.5 m.

54 Hysplex

Figure 36: Codex Vaticano Latino 3439 (after O. Kern, RM 6 (1890) pl. 7).

original position. If this interpretation is correct, then we have seen the first and only representation of the raising of the hysplex from the ground and of the placing of it in an upright position.1 6 8

The second monument is a recent discovery. It has presented new information but has also created problems (fig. 37). This is a large mosaic of the first half of the 4th century after Christ from Tunisa with fourteen depictions of a full program of athletic competitions,1 6 9 that include scenes ranging from the beginning (the fall of the mappa) to the awards for the victors—the victory lap (περιαγερμός) and the accompanying showers of flowers (φυλλοβολία).170 In the nine representations of actual competitions there is included the start of a race with the depiction of a hysplex.171

It appears that a part of a similar hysplex is depicted in another partly destroyed mosaic in Tebessa, although only one official and no athletes are shown in the preserved

168. The representation on a fragmentary relief in the Lateran (Benndorf-Schöne 37 and recently in the catalog of an exhibition in Rome [supra, n. 163] 37 fig. 21) where we have the lower part of the bodies of three men behind a Π-shaped (?) construction, that Kern (supra, n. 163), 156 with figure, at tempts to connect with the hysplex, does not, I think, have anything to do with athletic competitions. Rather, it shows a crew of men (slaves?) who are pushing some equipment (the winch of a well?). For another meaning of the word μάγγανον (winch), in an inscription from Aphrodisias, that perhaps is relevant to the hysplex, see Jüthner 85.

169. The mosaic covered the floor of baths in the region Baten Essamour, 60 km. east of Gafsa in the museum of which it is displayed. The excavator, M. Khanoussi, has published a number of articles, which include good photographs, in recent years: CRAI 1988, 543 ff., figs. 2, 3; AntW 1991, 147 ff.; RM 98 (1991) 315 ff., pl. 74; and Archeologia 297 (Jan 1994) 10 ff.

170. For similar representations of awards for the victors, περιαγερμός, and φυλλοβολία in Attic vase painting, see Valavanis 325 ff.

171. M. Khanoussi, AntW. 1991, figs. 5, 6, upper left, and 13; CRAI 1988, fig. 3.


Figure 37: Mosaic at Gafsa (after M. Khanoussi, AntW 1991, figs. 5, 6, 13).

part (fig. 38).172 We see here depictions of a hysplex just like that in the codex, which leaves no doubt about the interpretation of the representation in the codex that we presented above. At the same time it proves that unless the mosaicist was simply copying an older picture type, even in Roman times this same simple type of hysplex continued to be used at the same time as monumental versions that had been installed in some stadia already in late Hellenistic times.173 Such a long life for this old type of hysplex, despite the great developments in technology, shows clearly its success since it was a relatively small and cheap mechanism that seems, nonetheless, to have fulfilled its purpose faultlessly.

And in the Tunisian mosaic, just as in the codex, four runners (of whom only three are preserved) stand ready for the start at a hysplex, that also consists of two vertical posts on which is "supported a horizontal long stick, a detail that proves the possibility of replacing the cord with wood in that position. On the right stands the bearded official who is responsible for the start, dressed in a tunica adorned with clavi (red stripes). In his left hand he holds the palm branch of victory, and he wears the special sandals characteristic of his position.

The basic difference between this mosaic and the codex is that here the one runner who is relatively well preserved not only grasps the horizontal stick from above with both hands but also leans on the stick with the weight of his body leaning forward to a pronounced degree. This position of his body and the use of both hands does not agree with the codex but seems to imply a different motion whereby the runners push the kanon forward. But since the whole philosophy of the hysplex was to provide an equal start for all with, naturally, no interference from the runners themselves, it

172. S. Gsell, Musée de Tebessa (1902) 67-69, esp. 69, pl. 9.1, where it is described as "quelques vestiges d'un objet qui servait peut-être à des exercises de gymnastique." Cf. R.-D. Pausz and W. Rei-tinger, "Das Mosaik der gymnischen Agone von Batten Zammour, Tunesien," Nikephoros 5 (1992) 119-123.

173. See below, pp. 95-141.

56 Hysplex

Figure 38: Mosaic at Tebessa (after S. Gsell, Musée de Tebessa (1902) pl. 9.1.)

seems improbable to me that we have here a "pushing away of the kanon" by the 1 74

runners. Thus, unless we have in these two depictions a type of hysplex that worked in a

different way from that of the Classical type examined above, the final and most likely interpretation that remains for us is that these two depictions of Roman times are mistaken reproductions of an original. Thus while the athletes actually leaned forward in the known starting stance with their arms and hands stretched out above the horizontal stick, the copyist of the codex (or perhaps the sculptor of the Roman relief?) and the mosaicist showed them grasping the stick, with the result that both works produce an impression completely different from reality.175

174. See above, pp. 3-4 on the scholion to Dionysios Periegetes. 175. For similar mistakes during the Renaissance in drawing antiquities, see T. Stephanidou-Tiveriou,

Νεοατηκά (1979) 156 ff. Compare the mistakes of Carrey in copying the sculptures of the Parthenon in Th. Bowie and J. Thimme, The Carrey Drawings of the Parthenon Sculptures (1971).

Observations on the Starting Lines of Various Stadia

From the data that we have studied to this point and from the conclusions that we have reached concerning the shape and the operation of the Classical hysplex, we may now proceed to observations about some characteristics in the starting lines in other stadia that seem to be relevant to the hysplex mechanism.

Mainland Greek Stadia

OLYMPIA

Two constructions were added at the ends of the last phase of the western balbis. These project and make a right angle with the balbis, and they have created problems for the excavators of the most famous stadium of the ancient world.176 At one end this addition consists of a brick foundation about 1.50 m. long (fig. 39) that continues the line of the balbis southward. In front of the end of the brick construction there has been placed upside down, apparently in a second or third use, a stone plinth (block y) with typical cuttings on two of its surfaces.177 At a corresponding position at the north end of and at a right angle to the same balbis there was a wall of poros stone and bricks. These constructions have been associated by more recent scholars (with reservations) with a system of ending the race;178 only P. Aupert has connected them with the hysplex.179 These constructions, because of their material, their form, and the position where they were found, should be assigned to the final phase of the stadium IIIF), which is dated to the second quarter of the 3rd century after Christ.180

D.G. Romano hypothesized the existence of a hysplex in earlier phases of the stadium because, in three of the blocks that have been reused in the parapet of the exedra of the Hellanodikai of the Roman period, he noted cuttings that he believes resemble the known cuttings in the support bases of the hyspleges of other Peloponnesian stadia.181

Although I am not convinced by Romano's interpretation of these cuttings, the probability of the existence of a hysplex in the stadium of Olympia, and of the type that we have seen in other Peloponnesian stadia, is unquestioned and supported by some other details. On the track side of some blocks of the eastern balbis of the

176. E. Curtius, F. Adler, et al., Die Ausgrabungen zu Olympia V (1881) 25, pl. 35. Cf. Romano Bg. 100.

177. It is worth noting that the characteristic of block y—that is, the broad square cutting that is continued to a great depth in a narrower cutting—is reminiscent of the cuttings of the end bases of the hysplex of Stadium I of Miletos, where instead of the upper rectangular cutting, however, there is a circular cutting. See below, p. 68.

178. See Mallwitz 16 ff.; 41 ff. pl. 9; and 43 ff. Also Krinzinger 212 and H. Berve and G. Gruben, Griechishe Tempel und Heiligtümer (1961) 144. 179. Aupert 59. 180. Recently Schilbach 33-38, has advanced a redating of the phases of the stadium at Olympia. 181. Romano 14, 140 n. 21, fig. 99. See also Lee 105.

57

Figure 39: Olympia. Above: Brick foundation next to block y at the southern end of the western balbis with cuttings for the receipt of the hysplex. Below: block y seen from above. (From R. Borrmann, Die Baudenkmäler von Olympia (1892) figs. 29, 30.)

Observations on the Starting Lines of Various Stadia 59

stadium that we see today (phase HIB or IIIC, recently dated by Schilbach to 367/6-360 BC and 340-330 BC, respectively)182 there are semicircular cuttings that, in their dimensions and their shape, resemble the corresponding cuttings of other balbides, to which were added a hysplex and which we have interpreted as intended to receive the fixed column of the hysplex.193 Such are the cuttings in blocks c and i of the eastern balbis (fig. 40). 1 8 4 It is worth noting that block c of the eastern balbis corresponds to the position of the second and next to last runner—that is, they correspond to the place where the support bases of the hysplex were added to the balbis at Nemea and in Stadium II at Isthmia. Moreover, the cutting in block c measures about 0.30 x 0.09 m., which is about the same as that at Isthmia.1 8 5

Also, in the projections added to the west balbis, which as already noted belong to the final phase of the stadium, there are indications of their use. 1 8 6 The end of the northern projecting wall and block y of the southern end (with its cutting for the insertion of a wooden post) are on exactly the same line, which is 0.40 m. away from and parallel to the balbis. This is exactly the same distance between the ankon and the first groove of the balbis at Nemea.1 8 7 All these details provide very strong indications that there were starting mechanisms in the stadium at Olympia in all its phases from the 4th century BC and later. This does not preclude, of course, the possibility that mechanisms existed in even earlier phases together with the balbides no traces of which survive.188

The Finish of the Foot Races

With regard to those added constructions that have been found in the stadium at Olympia there has been expressed, as noted, the opinion that they probably had something to do with a construction for the end of the race ("Zielvorrichtung").189 If I have understood correctly, it is hypothesized that a vertical post would have been set in the rectangular cutting of block y, and it, together with a corresponding post on the other side of the track, would have held the finish tape. This hypothesis gives me the opportunity to express here some thoughts about the finish of the footraces in antiquity.

Using for this problem the same evidence that we have for athletic displays in general—that is, written sources, architectural remains, and pictorial representations— is of no help because the details are almost nonexistent, and the few that do exist are

182. Schilbach 33-38. 183. See above, pp. 15-17. 184. See Mallwitz 16 ff., 41 ff., pl. 9. 185. See above, n. 60. The cutting on slab i measures 0.30 m. χ 0.20-0.22 m. 186. R. Borrmann, Die Baudenkmäler von Olympia (1892) 63 ff., figs. 29 and 30, pl. 47. Cf. also

Romano fig. 102. 187. Mallwitz, pl. 9, did not leave block y in the place where it was found but moved it into the

same line as the rest of the balbis, and to be sure with a different side up; that is, as it would have stood in its earlier use. See also his reservations, op. cit., 43 ff.

188. There are also blocks from older balbides that were discarded on the south of the stadium (not visible today), some of which certainly have grooves on both sides; that is, they were used in two different phases of the stadium. See E. Kunze, OlBer 5 (1956) 10 ff. and fig. 4.

189. See above n. 184 and compare Zschietzschmann 37. Also, Romano, 106, maintains that the large isolated square block in the stadium at Nemea, which has a rectangular cutting and which Miller has interpreted as a kampter, "will have held the finish post for all the running races of the stadium."

60 Hysplex

Figure 40: Olympia. Detail of block i in the eastern balbis with the semicircular cutting intended to receive the hysplex.

contradictory and self-cancelling. Beginning with the sources, we see that the finish usually is simply mentioned without a precise indication of the place or of special equipment, except for the two references that we have seen that connect it with the balbis or the hysplex.190 With regard to the probability that there was a tape stretched as happens today—and without being enamored of the argumentum ex silentio—I think that if there had in fact existed such a tape, it would have been a sufficiently provocative element at least for the poets (e.g., Pindar and those of the Palatine Anthology) to have remarked on it.

With regard to pictorial representations, we see in some certain scenes of the end of the race in Attic vase painting—indicated either by the presence of officials or by the special output of intense motion by the runners themselves—columns as tall as the men.191 However, we also frequently see such columns in representations of the start or of the turn of the race.192 Some South Italian vases are of special interest for they depict human figures—not always athletes but in an athletic setting—next

190. See above, p. 6 f. 191. See, for example, the representation on a black-figure kantharos of the "Perizoma Group" in

Paris, Bibl. Nat. #354 ( = ABV 345.2; Jiithner 27, fig. 2). For other representations that probably show the finish of the hoplitodromia, see Gardiner, 284 ff.

192. See, for example, the recently published Panathenaic amphora by the Achilles painter cited by Valavanis (supra, n. 84).

The representation of a horse race on Hydria #12145 in the museum of Rhodes is very interesting. The horses and riders are shown between the start (left) and the end (right) of the race where the

Observations on the Starting Lines of Various Stadia 6l

to little columns or little pillars that bear inscriptions including that of ΤΕΡΜΩΝ. 1 9 3

It is believable that these representations of little columns have a metaphorical significance, as J.M. Moret 1 9 4 has suggested; that is, these are not depictions of real pillars or columns but imaginary columns used as a means of showing the inscriptions. Despite this, however, I believe that in the back of his mind the vase painter saw the corresponding real columns of athletic places, especially the posts of the balbis, that constituted the starting place of the race as we know from the remains of balbides and from the customary presence of such elements in scenes of the start of races. Now if in some cases the sense of the word ΤΕΡΜΩΝ is that of the end of life and is to be connected with the eschatological character that the vase painter wanted to give to all these scenes, then what more appropriate iconographie symbol could he use to show the end of life of men than the end of the "footrace" (αγώνα δρόμου) of life?

We see then that in a series of representations of the finish, the terma is indicated by an element that also exists at the start. Thus we are led to the conclusion that the finish did not have some especially characteristic mark that was to be found in the line of the balbis-hysplex. For this reason, when the vase painters wanted to show the finish, they adopted something from the illustrative elements that they used also for the start . 1 9 5

This conclusion is reinforced also by the archaeological evidence. In the stadium at Epidauros, where both sets of the balbis-hysplex system are preserved—that is, both that of the entrance, where the start of some and the finish of all the races took place, and that of the far end of the stadium, where only the start of the stadion and no finishes occurred—no difference has been observed in the two systems.1 9 6 Again in other stadia there has been noted no special construction or even a cutting in the balbides that could be connected with the terma.197

DELPHI

Γη the stadium at Delphi, despite the lack of adequate archaeological data, I believe the attempt by Aupert to reconstruct a hysplex is justified.198 Anyone who studies ancient stadia understands that the presence of such a mechanism is necessary not only for the unhindered execution of the games—a factor absolutely indispensable for their credibility and reputation—but also for the creation of an impression on the spectators during the start, with the spectacle of the fall of the hysplex and the reverberation of the sound that it made. In general, the element of crowd-pleasing impression making ought not to be ignored even for earlier periods of athletic displays.

judges await them. The columns that denote the start and the finish are exactly the same, and each has a row of four small rectangles near the top.

193. See J.M. Moret, "Un Ancêtre du Phylactère: le pilier inscrit des vases Italiotes," RA 1979, 3 ff., 235 ff.

194. Op. cit., 9 ff. 195. For the little columns that appear in representations of the start , see above, n. 84. See also

F. Chamoux, "L'Athena Mélancolique," BCH 81 (1957) 141-159, where all these columns are called "-έρματα."

196. Cf. "αφεσις und τέρμα waren in Olympia gleich konstruirt" (Fiechter 1970). 197. For the characteristics of the starting lines of the stadia, see, in general, Zschietzschmann 35 ff.;

Romano 205 ff.; Krinzinger 207 ff. 198. Aupert 59 ff., pl. 22.

62 Hysplex

The only indication that the balbis of the stadium at Delphi provides for the placement of a hysplex is the reduction before the middle of the 3rd century BC of the positions for runners from 20 to 17, which probably was caused by the placement of the three bases of the hysplex at the two ends and in the middle of the balbis in the same way that we saw in the Peloponnesian stadia.199 Unfortunately, nothing was discovered in situ and the stones that were used as the base of the system do not bear any of the elements that we have seen in the bases of the late Classical hysplex. Thus the representation of the hysplex in his plate 22 is, as Aupert himself admits, a simple conjecture.200

Nonetheless, the lack of adequate evidence cannot in any way be taken to mean that there was no starting mechanism at Delphi. The principles and the practices of the ancients indicate that such an element was present in every stadium, especially in one of the most significant stadia of the ancient world.201 It is, moreover, very possible that no trace of the hysplex would remain because, as we have seen, the support bases of the system were surface constructions, only one block deep, without foundations, at least in the pre-Hellenistic period. It is also not impossible that in some stadia these bases, since they were additions to the balbis, were thought to be added in later antiquity and that the purist tendencies of the original excavators did not leave them in place.

Thus, and because of the absence of any mention of such a system in the known inscription of the archon Dion (247/6 BC?)202 that relates the expenses for the repairs of the athletic installations at Delphi, we are brought to the view that perhaps at Delphi, just as in other stadia,203 there was a very simple, completely portable mechanism that was brought in front of the balbis together with its base only during the time of the games, just as happened elsewhere with the basic core of the mechanism, as we saw above.204 Such a movable starting system perhaps existed in the gymnasia, in the xystoi and paradromides of which the youths and athletes in general must have practiced the start of the race with such a mechanism.205

199. See above, pp. 19-19. In this phase the positions of the runners at Delphi had a width of 1.37 m., except for the central one, that was 1.56 m. See also P. Aupert , "Le cadre des Jeux Pythiques," in Proceedings 67 ff., and esp. 69.

200. Aupert 61. Cf. also S.G. Miller, AJA 85 (1981) 504 f. 201. Jüthner 82 ff. and 90, on the contrary, does not believe that there were any barriers at the start

of the races in the Panhellenic games. 202. See Aupert 62 n. 2 and the ancient text at 153.14. English translation in Arete 63 ff. # 6 0 .

J. Pouilloux, "Travaux à Delphes à l'occasion des Pythia," Etudes Delphiques (BCH Suppl. 4, 1977) 103 ff., provides commentary for the inscription. Since 36 kampteres are mentioned in the inscription, Th. Homolle, BCH 23 (1899) 566 ff., already thought that this word referred to the posts in the balbides of the stadium. Pouilloux also adopted this position, as does Miller (1980) 163. 203. See, for example, below pp. 68 f. in Stadium I at Miletus. 204. See above, p. 30. 205. It is possible that the older type of hysplex, like that of Isthmia I, continued to live in the

gymnasion. An indication of such a possibility comes from Amphipolis where, in the xystos of the gymnasion small cuttings in the upper surface of the blocks that held the wooden posts must have served as the point of at tachment of rings for the purpose of guiding cords up to the top for the individual barrriers. See Lazaride op. cit. (n. 86) pl. 143a.

Maffre, 357, connects with such exercising in the gymnasion the depictions of the start of a race that appear in Attic vase painting after the Persian Wars. He at tr ibutes the absence of a hysplex from these representations to the fact that scenes are being shown from practice and not from actual competitions.


Certainly the construction of such completely portable systems was possible only after a probable change of the means of effecting the torsion in the support bases of the hysplex. This change must have occurred with the replacement of the bulky and heavy neura by a smaller and much lighter but equally effective system made from bronze strips as happened around the middle of the 3rd century BC with war machines.2 0 6

THE ATHENIAN AGORA

In the early 1970s, on the north side of the Athenian Agora, immediately northeast of the Altar of the Twelve Gods, there was uncovered a row of five limestone bases with dimensions of 0.47 χ 0.38 m., each of which bears a square cutting, 0.12 m. on a side, on its top surface. These bases are set in a straight line with a distance of 1.38 m. from base to base (or 1.85 m. on centers). The race that we know to have occurred in the Agora was that for the epheboi of the ten Attic tribes. 2 0 7 Based on these remains, there has been drawn a starting line with ten such bases, as well as a "dromos" with a length of 600 feet, that split the Agora from the northwest to the southeast and reached the east end of South Stoa I . 2 0 8 The use of this starting line, as revealed by excavation data, lasted only from the middle until the end of the 5th century BC.209

In any case, these bases—as they appear and by themselves—cannot have worked as a proper starting line.2 1 0 In stadia and tracks where there was no continuous balbis, the starting line must have been indicated by a line drawn in the ground. But in that case, however, the existence of a hysplex was still more indispensable since it would have provided the only fixed point for the start of the races. Since, however, our type of hysplex had not yet been invented in the middle of the 5th century BC and since no relevant elements were discerned in the excavation which would allow the placement in •he Athenian Agora of a hysplex like that of the contemporary Stadium I at Isthmia, we must look for some other solution, based on the excavation data.

At the western end of the five bases was found "a perfectly circular pit" with a diameter of 1.20 m. from which, as the excavator mentions, some circular base had

206. See below, pp. 65-67. 207. Shear 362 ff. and Kyle 60 ff. The width of the lanes does not preclude their use for the known

equestrian competitions in the Athenian Agora. Compare J.McK. Camp, The Athenian Agora: A Guide* (1990) 111 ff., esp. 113 and fig. 65. 208. See, for example, J.McK. Camp, The Athenian Agora: Excavations in the Heart of Classical

Athens (1986) 89, fig. 66. 209. Such a short period of use of this system is a problem, while an impossible detail in the

restoration of ten such bases in a row (see Camp, loc. cit.) is that the first runner on the right would have been blocked at the start of his race by the corner of the Altar of the Twelve Gods. However, based on the new chronology of the altar by L.M. Gadberry, "The Sanctuary of the Twelve Gods in the Athenian Agora: A Revised View," Hesperia 61 (1992) 447-489, it appears that the second of ;hese problems have been solved.

210. This system with isolated bases, as opposed to that with a continuous balbis in other mainland Greek stadia and racetracks, perhaps was occasioned in the Athenian Agora by the choice of a construction of less bulk since it happened to be on top of the paving of the Panathenaic Way and ought not to have impeded the daily use of the road. The system of isolated bases was customary preeminently in the stadia of Asia Minor from the 4th century and later (see below, p. 67.). Regarding the distinction between continuous balbides and isolated bases, Stephen G. Miller in his preface to the American edition of E.N. Gardiner, Athletics of the Ancient World (Chicago 1978), x-xi, asks "if these may represent an ethnic (Ionic here) variation in athletic practice, or whether they were ritual :n character."

64 Hysplex

"obviously" been removed.2 1 1 This pit surely had something to do with the starting

line because it is precisely in the same line as the five bases and at the same distance

from the last of them. For this reason it has been interpreted as the probable position

of a kampter.212 However, the pit is very large for such a use and, given its perfectly

circular form and well-preserved edges—which would not be expected if something

had been pried from it—we might well suppose that it formed a part of the system

and was not for the receipt of a base. Based on these hypothetical details, another

possible use for it might have been as follows. In many cases we have already noted

that the central position on the starting line was wider than the rest and that this

probably had to do with the presence there of the aphetes, who checked the position

of the runners and who started the race. Here, then, I would suggest that the pit was

the position for the aphetes who could, from this place, not only have looked left and

right at the runners but also have held a horizontal cord that, connected to the tops

of the wooden posts, could have made up some type of hysplex. We have seen such a

pit—albeit behind the runners—in Stadium I at Isthmia, 2 1 3 and we will also see below

the example at Rhodes where the well-like construction for the aphetes has a similar

diameter of 1.20 m . 2 1 4

Stadia of Asia Minor and the Islands

Three stadia in Asia Minor, that do not have a continuous balbis but rather isolated

individual bases with rectangular sockets in their upper surface for the insertion of

wooden posts exactly as in the Athenian Agora, present interesting elements relevant

to starting mechanisms. We will examine below the starting lines that are next to the

Temple of Apollo at Didyma and the original starting lines in the stadia of Priene and

Miletos, as well as the starting line in the stadium of Rhodes, which is of particular

interest.

DIDYMA

At Didyma, in the stadium that lies alongside the Temple of Apollo the steps of which served as seats for spectators, the system consists of stone blocks of two different sizes with sockets of correspondingly different sizes:2 1 5 there are six small slabs with a thickness of 0.15-0.22 m. that have rectangular sockets measuring 0.10 χ 0.10 m. intended for the placement of posts that simply divided the positions of the runners (fig. 41). In addition, three large blocks measuring 0.68 χ 0.74 m. are located at the two ends and in the middle of the six small blocks that have large square deep cuttings

211. Shear 363. 212. Shear 365. 213. See above, pp. 7-8. 214. See below, pp. 84, 87-90. Of course, the circular pit in the Athenian Agora mentioned here

would have been covered most of the time when the games were not being held. 215. For the track next to the great temple of Didyma see Th. Wiegand and H. Knackfuss, Didyma

I. Die Baubeschreibung (1941) 140 ff.; Jüthner 62, fig. 14; Harris (1972), fig. 4. The starting blocks were placed here in the 2nd century BC when the games became Panhellenic and quadrennial; see J. Fontenrose, Didyma: Apollo's Oracle, Cult and Companions (1988) 19 f., and ft. Naumann, Didyma Führer (ca. 1973) 50 and fig. 32.


measuring 0.28 m. on a side. Although they have been disturbed, it appears that these blocks were originally placed in two parallel rows: the first row consisted of the six small blocks placed in two groups of three with a canonical width left between them for the runners and a much larger space in the middle between the two groups. At a distance of 0.57 m. in front of this row of smaller blocks was placed the row of larger blocks, one well beyond each end of the row of small blocks and one in the central larger space.

The excavators and first scholars who studied the area interpreted correctly the working of the two types of bases. They theorized that the small blocks composed the balbis and were intended only for the posts that separated the runners and the large blocks placed 0.57 m. in front were remains of the hysplex and were used for the insertion of "special posts between the top of which there is to be assumed a single, cord barrier was stretched."2 1 6 We see, then, that here too were all the requisite items for the existence of a hysplex with three ankones as we have seen in Corinth and in the Delian inscriptions. A further interesting element is the existence in the central large base of a horizontal hole, rectangular in section ("rechteckige Durchbohrung"), that measures 0.10 χ 0.09 m. This hole pierces the right (south) side of the block and extends to the rectangular vertical cutting. This hole led the excavators to place the operating mechanism of the system in the central base.2 1 7 The existence of the mechanism in the central base alone, however, would force us to replace the horizontal cord barrier with a wooden bar or a "ξυλον" as one source calls it and as is represented visually in the Roman period. This wood must have been of a strength sufficient to span the distance of 4.369-5.018 m. between the bases, without sagging. This wooden bar would have been firmly connected to all three vertical ankones and therefore shaped like a three-legged Π. But such a system is unwieldy, and it is almost impossible to ensure that all three ankones would strike the ground at the same moment. It is preferable to think that all three bases were equipped with torsion-introducing machines and that the more usual cord barriers were used (fig. 42). If this reconstruction is correct, then we must look for some other explanation for the horizontal hole in the central base. No particular explanation is immediately obvious, but the possibility of reinforcing the attachment of the wood to the stone base cannot be excluded.

With regard to the means by which the necessary torsion was introduced as well as the way in which the "heels" of the ankones were attached to their wooden bases, I would suggest that, since the bases have no room for the neura, we must look at other means of producing torsion that existed in antiquity. In fact, if we return once more to the world of catapults, we see that the Alexandrian engineer Ktesibios, a great technological talent who lived in the period of Ptolemy II (285-247 BC) and was particularly active in the period between 275 and 260 BC, invented a new throwing machine, the chalkotonon.218 To produce the necessary torsion in this machine, he replaced the enormous neura with two metal elliptically shaped plates (lepides as he called them) that, made from a special alloy of bronze containing 30% tin and

216. Wiegand and Knackfuss, op. cit., 141: ". .. eigendliche Sperre, zwischen denen eine einfache, hochzuziehende Seilschranke anzunehmen ist."

217. Loc. cit. Bean, 242 ff., on the contrary, expresses many reservations about such a system using a cord barrier.

218. Philon 67.28 ff. See Schramm I 59 ff., pl. 6; Marsden II 174 ff., diagram 8, pl. 14; and Hall, op. cit. (n. 80) 712 ff., pl. 644.

Ι 1 0 5 10 Μ

Figure 41: Didyma. Plan and longitudinal cross-section of the bases of the balbis and hysplex (after Th. Wiegand and H. Knackfuss, Didyma I, Die Baubeschreibung (1941) pl. 84).

Figure 42: Didyma. Schematic reconstruction of the balbis and the hysplex.


Ο 5 10 15M. Figure 43: Priene. Plan of the bases of the first phase of the starting line (after Wiegand and Schrader, fig. 264).

having undergone the appropriate hammering, could be pre stressed and could hold their torsion for a long time. With this new system, which was much cheaper and less bulky than the earlier one, "the heel of the ankon had been riveted on the lepides," that "having been divided with great force, lifted the heel of the ankon."219 It seems that this new discovery was not installed in the large machines since the gigantic onager continued to use the old system with twisted neura for many centuries.2 2 0 But for small machines of less power, as would have been true in our hypothetical case, I do not think it unlikely that there were used similar metal lepides, made from the new alloy and with the same hammering, that had the ability to preserve the torsion.

PRIENE (STADIUM i)

In the first phase of the starting line in the stadium of Priene 2 2 1 we have eight individual bases (fig. 43) with rectangular cuttings in their centers for the insertion of the wood post. These bases form two groups of four each and leave larger spaces between them at the center and between the end bases and the sides of the stadium.2 2 2 These eight bases, thus placed, do not seem sufficient to serve as a proper starting line. Again, if we compare the positions of the bases and the spaces between them with the system that replaced them in the Hellenistic period (fig. 43), and connect these facts with the example we just saw at Didyma, I think we can with great probability restore here, too, at the center and at the ends of the balbis three larger rectangular bases with rectangular cuttings in their centers that would have borne the ankones of the hysplex, and of which nothing seems to have survived.

219. Philon 70.18 and 70.32 ff.: "ό άγκών τήν πτέρναν εϊχεν έπηρεισμένην επί των λεπίδων" that "δι' δ και συνέβαινεν μετά βίας πολλής διισταμένας αύτας άναμοχλεύειν τήν άγκώνος πτέρναν." He describes the advantages of the new invention in paragraph 72.5.

220. It is believed that an attempt by Ktesibios to replace the neura with a metal spring was not successful. For the onager see above, nn. 124 and 125.

221. Wiegand and Schrader 258 ff.; M. Schede, Die Ruinen von Priene (1934) 88 ff.; Zschiet-zschmann 38 and 56, fig. 7; Harris (1972) 17; Jüthner 61 ff.

222. The attempt by Bean, fig. 40, to reorganize these stones by regularizing the spaces between them is wrong. His inaccurate plan was also adopted by Harris (1972) 29, fig. 3.

68 Hysplex

Figure 44: Miletos. State plan and separated plan of the bases of the first phase of the starting line at the eastern end of the stadium (after von Gerkan, pl. 5c).

MILETOS (STADIUM I

Also in the first phase of the stadium at Miletos,223 which was set in place in the first half of the 2nd century BC and is preserved in good condition just in front of the monumental entrance of the eastern side, we encounter two sizes and types of bases. The first consists of ten slabs measuring 0.38-0.48 x 0.58-1.10 m. with a thickness of 0.15-0.20 m. without foundations (fig. 44). Their top surfaces have rectangular sockets measuring 0.10 χ 0.10-0.11 m. for the posts of the balbis. The second is two of the original three larger blocks for the ankones of the hysplex; the foundations for all three survive. The central block is square in plan, measuring 0.98 m. on each side, and has a height of 0.50 m. The surviving (right) ankon base measures 0.87 χ 0.98 m. with a height of 0.57 m. The new feature that we have not encountered heretofore is that all these are in a single straight line. This fact need not surprise us since in the stadia where there is not a continuous balbis with grooves for the feet of the runners, they could have stood not exactly between the posts but a little back of them so that they would not be bothered by the horizontal cord that was stretched in front of them on the three ankones of the hysplex.

The back part of the cutting of the central base is rectangular while the front is semicircular. The cutting measures 0.54 χ 0.48 m. with a depth of 0.10 m. (fig. 45). At the bottom of this cutting is another, smaller, cutting that is, again, rectangular at the back but pointed at the front. It measures 0.29 x 0.44 m. and continues downward through the whole of the remaining 0.30 m. of the block. At a depth of 0.24 m. from the top of the block (0.14 m. from the top of the smaller cutting) a horizontal cutting with a height of 0.26 m. extends from the curved side to the front of the block.

The surviving side base has a circular cutting 0.40 m. in diameter with a depth of 0.08 m. in the center of which is a square cutting, 0.18 m. on a side, that extends through the whole block to the foundations beneath.

223. von Gerkan 6 ff., pl. 1, with perceptive thoughts about the probable way in which the system operated. See also Zschietzschmann 31 and figs. 8 and 9; Jüthner 61 ff.; Krinzinger 216.


Figure 45: Miletos. Cross-sections through the bases of the starting lines at the eastern end of the stadium (after von Gerkan, pl. 6).

The publication of the stadium at Miletus by von Gerkan suggested a probable reconstruction of the system with the placement on the three large bases of the frames for the hysplex:

. . . it is then probable that higher posts, but with a different shape, stood in the middle and at the ends of the barrier, as is to be concluded from the sockets that are larger and deeper than any others, and that the backsides are cut so that the ends and the middle of the bar could be lifted with the help of strings to the desired height. The way the strings worked can not be established although it must have been connected with the hole drilled forward through the middle supporting block, and one may suppose that the strings were guided from the ends through this to the central post. 2 2 4

In fact, it would be possible to place in the stone bases wooden elements with a height of about 1.00-1.20 m. in a size dictated by the cuttings in the bases that are to receive them. In other words, the two outside elements would have the shape of a column with a diameter of 0.40 m. while the central half column would measure 0.54 χ 0.48 m. Perhaps the shape of the central element was adopted to give uniformity to the facade of the whole system. The two outside columns must have been solid, with the narrower, lower parts wedged into the deep central cutting. The central half column, however, must have been pierced in the middle in accordance with the horizontal cutting that extends from the curved front of the cutting to the front of the base as a whole, which appears to have something to do with the operation of the system.

The horizontal barriers must have consisted of two wooden bars with a length of about 10 m. each (!), perhaps suspended from pulleys that were on the sides of the top of the columns. The problem of a central sag in these bars, and the effect of that sag on the bars when they met the ground (ends and center bouncing at different times), suggests that such a bar would be, at best, awkward for the start of the race. Further, the problem of a simultaneous release for all three elements on the three bases

224. von Gerkan 8-9: " . . . es ist daher wahrscheinlicher, daß in der Mitte und an den Enden der Schranken höhere, anders gestaltete Pfosten standen, was ja auch aus den größeren und vor allem ::eiferen Standlöchern zu erschließen ist, und daß an deren Rückseiten die Enden und die Mitte der Stange nach oben glitten, wenn sie mit Hilfe von Stricken bis zur erforderlichen Höhe emporgezogen wurde. Die Art der Strickführung läßt sich nicht feststellen, doch muß sie wohl im Zusammenhang mit der vorderen Durchbohrung des mittleren Lochsteines gestanden haben, und man darf voraussetzen daß die Stricke von den Enden ebenfalls hierher zum Mittelpfosten geleitet wären."

70 Hysplex

0 5 10 M. Figure 46: Miletos. General schematic reconstruction of the first phase of the balbis and hysplex.

since only the central one has provision for a release (by means of the lower horizontal cutting) is one I cannot resolve.

Finally, we should note that a line drawn along the front of the smaller post sockets of the balbis aligns with the center of the three "column" cuttings of the larger bases, and this would have hindered the fall of the wooden bars of the hysplex, since they would have struck the wooden posts of the balbis.

A possible alternative would be to restore an ankon in each of the three bases with a frame supporting a metallic lepis as the agent of throwing the ankon to the ground as suggested above for Didyma (fig. 42). The barrier must have been a cord fastened to the tops of the ankones and thence to anchors on the ground at the two ends so that it could be tightly stretched to prevent sagging. If these hypotheses are near the truth, then the whole system of balbis and hysplex must have had the appearance indicated in figure 46. But once again the existence of the piers of the parodos of the stadium exactly next to and touching the end bases and the problem of the simultaneous fall of the three ankones given that there is no space behind the balbis for the aphetes to stand and hold the operating cords make this solution difficult as well, at least in the present state of our knowledge.

It should be noted that the remains of the first phase of the starting line at Miletos are buried today and therefore inaccessible to the scholar, who must necessarily rely on the published plans and general photographs of the excavators of the stadium.225

MILETOS (STADIUM II)

A few years after the creation of the system we have just examined, and still within the later Hellenistic period,226 it was necessary to replace it, either because it did not work properly or because a more impressive system was desired. This second hysplex of Miletos (figs. 44, circles; 45), cannot be categorized with the type of monumental hyspleges that we will see below. At the same time it differs from the Classical hysplex since it provides permanent vertical members like the late Hellenistic type. Thus this type remains isolated and, in some sense, comprises a link between the Classical and

225. It has been suggested that the wooden posts or columns that were inserted into the bases of the stadia of Asia Minor could have also been kampteres (Miller 163). But the large dimensions, the distance from the posts of the starting line, the position in such an out of the way place of the three larger blocks, and the impossibility of turning those in the stadium at Miletos because they are next to the stone pillars of the parodos of the stadium, weakens considerably such a suggestion, at least for those larger bases.

226. See von Gerkan 9.


the Hellenistic hyspleges, regardless of whether it is contemporary with or even later than some of the latter.

Now the small bases for the posts of the balbis and the three large bases of the hysplex disappear with the rise in ground level of about 0.15 m. The large bases, however, are replaced by other similar bases that are set immediately in front of the older examples.2 2 7 These new bases consist of very short columns in a second use that have been cut on their back sides (and were not made originally as half-columns), with a height of 0.95-1.25 m. that rest on foundations of different heights but whose upper surfaces are at the same level above ground (fig. 45). On their upper surfaces are rectangular cuttings 0.35 χ 0.44 m. with a depth of 0.17 m. The two end columns have on their back flat side a vertical channel that is 0.04 m. square in section; the central column has in a similar position and arrangement two cuttings, with lengths of 0.10 m. for one and 0.035 m. for the other. Finally, at the upper rear corner of the foundations of the outside columns are horizontal cuttings, rectangular in section, that von Gerkan believed were sockets for the receipt of wooden boards that bordered the edge of the track.

The existence of three vertical members but with a channel only in the two end ones indicates, at first glance, that we still have here the use of a single barrier for all the runners that was operated only from the two ends. The dimensions of the cuttings in the top of the columns, which are similar to those of the previous phase of the same stadium, and the lack of elements for movement (e.g., channels, etc.) in them indicate that there should have been inserted here either an entire wooden base that supported the hysplex or a place for the insertion of wooden posts that lifted the hysplex to a higher level, perhaps from a wooden epistyle.

If in the first hypothesis the hysplex that was inserted in the three bases was of the same type as the Classical—if, that is to say, there were upright ankones that fell forward—the bottom of the hysplex would been at a height of 1.05 m., which would have presented difficulties during the fall of the ankones and the cords, which would have touched the ground only after describing an arc of 180 degrees rather than the 90 degrees of the earlier period. Because of this negative detail, the flattening of the back side of the columns, and the existence of the vertical channels in the two end columns, we are led to the second hypothesis that a different form of hysplex must have been used here.

This new type of hysplex would have consisted of three wooden half columns with the same size as and set on top of the stone columns, and therefore extending their line upward for a height of perhaps 2.30 m. (but certainly more than the height of a man). The vertical cuttings in the flat back of the outside columns must also have been continued to the top of the wooden half columns in those positions. On top of these columns must have rested a wooden epistyle that spanned the approximately 10.20 m. wide opening between them. 2 2 8 The purpose of this epistyle would have been twofold. First, and by means of a system of pulleys and rollers encased within it and above the columns, it would have provided the means for supporting horizontal wooden or

227. See von Gerkan 9 ff., figs. 3, 4, 6, and pls. 1, 6, 7. Only the eastern starting line has been completely excavated, but a similar base was also discovered in a test trench at the western starting line of the stadium. Op. cit., 11.

228. This is an extremely long span for a single wooden beam, but not without parallel; see L. Kray-nak in Nemea I (1992) 133-134 with bibliography.

72 Hysplex

O 5 10 M

Figure 47: Miletos. General schematic reconstruction of the second phase of the hysplex starting mechanism.

metallic bar barriers and for releasing those bars to fall to the ground, allowing the runners to start. Secondly, the epistyle would have provided a means of support for the center bar, thus eliminating the problem of sag. The outside ends of the bars would have been raised by cords running through the vertical cuttings on the back of the outside columns while the inside ends of the bars were supported by cords suspended on the sides of the central column as can be seen in the drawing (fig. 47). To avoid problems of the athletes tripping over the bar, it must have fallen into a channel cut into the surface of the track. This explains the cutting across the upper rear corner of the foundations for the outside columns (described above) as well as the lack of that cutting on the central foundations.

In the description above we noted the existence of two cuttings on the back surface of the central column (as opposed to the vertical channels that ran the entire height of the outside columns). These appear to be related to the operation of the mechanism and probably were where the release devices for the inside ends of the bars were located, attached by means of cords along the back of the column up to rollers in the epistyle and hence to the common point of release for the whole system.

The working system of the hysplex that I have tried to restore in Stadium II at Miletos would have had the same principles as the system that was used in Roman theaters for the sudden fall of the stage curtain, as we learn from the nearly perfectly preserved architectural remains of the theater at Lyon.229

It would be necessary to re-excavate the remains—which have been recovered by flooding over the years—and reexamine the actual remains on the spot to confirm or deny the correctness of the system suggested here.

RHODES

There are preserved on the surface and below the earth in the stadium at Rhodes interesting remains of the balbides as well as of the hysplex system. Aside from this, however, also exceptionally well preserved here is the operating system of the hysplex mechanism, an element that is unique and precious for this attempt to restore the hysplex in all its details.

229. See A. Audin, "Le théâtre antique de Lyon et les rideaux de scène," Palladio 12 (1962) 1 ff. I am indebted for the reference to Professor Ch. Bouras.


Unfortunately the stadium at Rhodes (figs. 48-50) remains completely unknown in scholarly research because its excavation by the Italians has not been published and the records of its subsequent reconstruction have been lost.2 3 0 The information we have at our disposal and on which this study is based, in large part comes essentially from photographs and drawings that were made about 1972 or 1973 in connection with excavation research and cleaning and that were graciously provided to me by the Ephoreia of Antiquities in Rhodes. Despite the meager information available in the bibliography, I will attempt to make use of the available data so as to reconstruct the phases of the balbides and the hyspleges in the stadium at Rhodes. The chronology given is especially to be treated with caution.

(1) The older remains were uncovered in a pit a little south of the northern starting line. They consist of two poros limestone constructions (figs. 51E, 52, 53). One of these is formed of two adjacent blocks, of roughly the size of the bases of the Classical hysplex. Their interiors are hollowed out to form a place for the insertion of a cylindrical, probably wooden, element that most likely held the mechanism. The horizontal cylindrical cutting in one of the two stones contributes to this interpretation, for it is an indication of the insertion of some horizontal element like the neura of the Classical hysplex. The same role must have been played by the slightly later (?) second poros construction (fig. 53) with a large but shallow cutting the rim of which is open only toward one short end, and that in the same direction as the ankon of the earlier fell. This small amount of information does not allow an attempt to reconstruct the mechanisms. But these observations are sufficient to lead us surely to the placement of the starting line of the first stadium of Rhodes with a north-south orientation. Therefore, we are forced to conclude that the stadium of the 4th century BC to which these remains belong must have had an east-west orientation, contrary to that which survives today (fig. 51). It must have been between the two ancient roads P16 and P17, occupying the same space as the later Hellenistic gymnasion (fig. 54). 2 3 1

Also with the balbis of this starting line might be associated two marble slabs that were reused in the next phase of the starting line (figs. 51Z, H, 55-60) and each of which bear a single crescent-shaped shallow , intended apparently for the placement of a foot by the runners.2 3 2 It seems, then, that in the first phase of the stadium at Rhodes, in the 4th century BC, there was a balbis with individual isolated cuttings

230. See, in general, for the stadium at Rhodes, A. Maiuri, Clara Rhodos I (1928) 48 ff.; L. Laurenzi, -I Monumenti dell' Antica Rodi," MemFERT 2 (1938) 25 ff.; P. Mylonas, Περί Σταδίων (1952), pl. 47 drawing by Sp. Iakovides); Kondis 153, with a nice aerial photograph on pl. 126. See also Zschiet-

zschmann pls. 21-24 and G. Konstantinopoulos, 'Αρχαία Ρόδος (1986) 215, fig. 238. Only Krinzinger, 130 ff., has dealt at length with the stadium at Rhodes when he describes its characteristics, on which he bases his chronology.

231. These remains were attributed to the 4th century also by Krinzinger; see AD 29, 1973/4 B3, 965 (E. Zervoudake). He also believes that in this period the racetrack was oriented slightly toward the southeast. The stadium of the 4th century must have been a simple construction that is not to be compared with its monumental Hellenistic successor. This site was chosen as an appropriately level location that needed no extraordinary effort to create a racetrack as was the case for the later Hellenistic stadium (see below, p. 79). For the location occupied by the Hellenistic gymnasion, see ΠΑΕ 1952, 563 ff, and 565, fig. 10. Cf. Kondis 153. The new location suggested above for the Classical stadium agrees completely with the layout of the Hippodameian city, which is not true for the orientation proposed by Krinzinger. For the city-planning system of Rhodes, see Kondis, and W. Hoepfner and E.L. Schwander, Haus und Stadt im antiken Griechenland (1986) 21 ff.

232. Harris (1964) 67 and 70 has also noted these notches.

Figure 48: Rhodes. Plan of the stadium (based on the plan of S. lakovides in Ρ Mvlonas ΠεοΙ σταδίων (1952) pl. 47). '

Figure 49: Rhodes. General view of the stadium from the odeion in 1973.

Figure 50: Rhodes. General view of the stadium from the sphendone (i.e., from the south), 1992. In the foreground appear the upper part of the circular pit and operating channel from the third phase of the hysplex together with the rectilinear retaining wall built by the Italian restorers that surrounded the earth-covered remains of the hysplex.

Figure 51: Rhodes. Plan with the various phases of the stadium and its starting lines: broken line: first phase; hatched area = second phase; dotted line = third phase.

Figure 52: Rhodes. Remains of the left base of the hysplex of the first phase, from the southwest, probably 1973.

Figure 53: Rhodes. Remains of the left base of the hysplex of the first phase, from the east, probably 1973.

Τ Ε Ι Χ Ο Σ

Ο Δ Ο Ι

ΛΙΜΕΝΙΚΑ! ΕΓΚΑΤΑΣΤΑΣΕΙΣ

Figure 54: Rhodes. Plan of the city with the new position of the stadium of the 4th century BC shown in dotted lines (based on G. Konstantinopoulos, AAA 3 (1970) plan 1).


for the feet of the runners like those we have seen in the racecourse at Corinth and also some system of hysplex at its ends the mechanism of which must not have been very different from that of the Classical hysplex. This location for the stadium and its starting system must have been used until the great earthquake of 227 BC.

(2) In the following years, and probably in the 2nd century BC, the construction of the new stadium must have taken place in the location where it survives today. It represents a part of the basic changes of the architecture of the city during this period which occurred simultaneously with the general remodeling of the akropolis.2 3 3 The new stadium was constructed on the eastern side of the akropolis parallel to the retaining walls of the latter. This followed on a large-scale cut into and removal from the akropolis of large quantities of earth, that were subsequently used for the eastern embankment of the stadium. This, in turn, was used to support the seats on this side of the track. This location had benefits beyond the obvious practical ones, for it complied with basic principles of Rhodian public architectural and town planning.2 3 4

Remains of the bases for the hyspleges of this phase are preserved at the two narrow ends of the stadium, but the balbis cannot be described accurately without new excavations (figs. 48B, Γ). On the northern side, at the entrance, is preserved a series of limestone slabs that make up a section of the balbis and probably belong to the next phase (figs. 55, 56). At the western end of this series of slabs is still preserved a construction consisting of four blocks reused (probably from the earlier balbis) in this position apparently for the support of the hysplex mechanism (figs. 51Z, 57, 58). 2 3 5 On the southern side, toward the sphendone, this phase is represented only by a similar construction (figs. 51H, 59, 60) consisting of four similar blocks in the tops of which can be clearly discerned the place for setting the frame of the hysplex mechanism with a semicircular cutting on the side for the neura and an opening on the right for the fall of the ankon.236 These blocks, with regard to their size and shape and especially to the cavity they form, resemble the two blocks that are set on either side of the large central base of the next, third phase (see fig. 51). It is then possible that the former blocks come from a base, but of the second phase when they were set in place. On blocks of both of these constructions there can be distinguished +-shaped incisions that indicate the ancient measuring points at the two ends of the stadium's track. 2 3 7

(3) As is natural, the third and final phase of the stadium is the best preserved. This is to be dated to the Roman Imperial period, probably in the 2nd century after Christ,

233. The view that the construction activity of the Rhodians after the earthquake was not restricted to those areas that had been damaged, but provided an opportunity for a general renovation of the city (see Kondis 156), is supported also by the case of the stadium. This simple, low construction should not have been damaged by the earthquake but was, nonetheless, moved to a new location.

234. See Kondis 150, 153; Konstantinopoulos (supra n. 230) 117 ff. Krinzinger dates this phase to the turn of the 2nd to the 1st century BC because of its connections with the odeion, that cannot, typologically in his opinion, be dated any earlier. See Krinzinger 137; cf. AD 29, 1973/4 B3, 965.

235. No connection is apparent between this construction and the series of slabs south of it because the latter is in front of the former (see figs. 55, 56), while for obvious reasons the reverse should be true.

236. This base seems not to be connected with the balbis of this side (which belongs to the next phase as we shall see below, p. 90 f.) because it is relatively far removed from it. In the next phase this base appears to have been replaced by the limestone base constructed behind it (see figs. 61-65).

237. Krinzinger noted these traces and measured the length of the track of the stadium from them. He found it to be 202.36 m., which permits the length of the foot used to be calculated at 33.726 cm. Therefore in the stadium of Rhodes a construction foot rather than an athletic foot was used.

80 Hysplex

Figure 55: Rhodes. The right base of the northern hysplex of the second phase, from the northwest, 1973. Above and in a reused position is a sill block with a lunate cutting for the foot of a runner from the preceding phase. Within the circle is a T-shaped incised mark that denotes the start of a measurement; the arrow indicates the cutting for the insertion of the axis of the neura.

perhaps on the occasion of the visit by Hadrian in 123 AD and probably before the earthquake of the middle years of the same century.2 3 8 In addition to the construction of an impressive propylon at the entrance,2 3 9 we also note during this period the reorganization of some elements of the stadium that seem to have been caused by the influence of the Roman circus. That is, there was undertaken a completely new construction of the starting line with the hysplex at the southern end only (toward the sphendone; fig. 48B), while at the northern end only a series of limestone slabs has been preserved, perhaps for the foundations of the balbis (fig. 48Γ). 2 4 0 At the same time there appeared, on the long axis of the stadium, a channel (fig. 48Δ).

In the reconstructed stadium of the ancient city, and at the south end of the track toward the sphendone (fig. 48), there are well preserved remains of the working system of the hysplex, that the modern Italian re-constructors surrounded with a row of blocks

238. The third phase of the stadium ought not to have occurred after the earthquake because, according to Aelius Aristides 32, the stadium suffered no damage ("και τόν μεν των Αλιείων αγώνα ποιήσετε, και τό χωρίον μεμένηκε σων [σώον] où ποιήσετε") [And you will conduct the games of the Halieians, and the place where you will conduct them remained undamaged]). Most repairs after the earthquake have been observed in domestic buildings. It has not been possible to recognize the repairs and reconstructions of public buildings mentioned by Pausanias (8.43.4) and attributed by him to Antoninus Pius. See Kondis 157.

239. Similar monumental propyla were added in the 2nd or 3rd century after Christ to the stadia at Delphi (see Aupert 95 ff. and idem in Proceedings, 70) and Miletus (von Gerkan 2, fig. 1 and plate 5, top, and Zschietzschmann 31 and figs. 8, 9).

240. It is not possible from photographs alone (figures 57, 58) to verify whether the two blocks that rest at a higher level (one of which projects at right angles to the series of slabs below) on top of the base for the hysplex of the previous phase had the same purpose as that base.

Figure 56: Rhodes. The right base of the northern hysplex of the second phase, from the southwest, 1973.

Figure 57: Rhodes. The remains of slabs of the balbis of the third phase and the base of the hysplex of the second phase on the northern end of the stadium, from the west, 1973. The thin wall next to ' the slabs is the work of modern Italian restorers.

Figure 58: Rhodes. The remains of slabs of the balbis of the third phase and the base of the hysplex of the second phase on the northern end of the stadium, from the east, 1973. In the foreground and out of place are bases for the placement of posts of the balbis. Here it is clear that the first of the series of the stone slabs projects beyond the face of the base and that it therefore does not belong to this phase.

84 Hysplex

Figure 59: Rhodes. The left base of the southern hysplex of the second phase, from the east, 1973. At the lower right (in a position of reuse from the preceding phase) is a stone sill with a lunate cutting for the foot of a runner. Encircled is a T-shaped incised mark that denotes the start of a measurement. The arrow at the center of the photograph shows the depression for the insertion of the axis of the neura.

in a rectangle measuring 4.10 χ 28 m. in order thus to preserve at a deeper level whatever had remained from the elements of the starting line at this end (fig. 61).

The operating system consists of a well-like construction that is at the southernmost part of the track and from which extends a long channel that leads today to the rectangle made by the Italians around the remains of the starting line (figs. 62-63). The well-like construction has a diameter of about 1.20 m. and a depth of 0.46 m. It is constructed of gray marble blocks in a second use that form, on their upper surfaces, a circular rim 0.035 m. high. At four points on the rim there were marked out dowel holes measuring 0.04 χ 0.06 m. of which only two were finally carved out. The interior of the well-like structure is notable for its rough workmanship—perhaps an indication that it was not intended to be visible to the spectators (fig. 64). The channel (figs. 61-63) has a rectangular section and a length of 8.30 m., a width of 0.28 m., and a depth estimated at 0.35 m. in its entire length from the end to the circular pit where the bottom slopes downward to reach the bottom of the pit, which is at a depth of 0.46 m. It was built of gray marble oblong blocks that are bound along its length with Π-clamps. In the whole length of the channel, as well as at the exit of the well-like construction, two types of cuttings are preserved. One type is a small cutting each of which measures 0.04 χ 0.06 x 0.035-0.04 m.; they are located at the

rim of the channel, at regular intervals of one meter. The second type is located on

the facing vertical sides of the channel, at intervals of 1.80-2.10 m., and consists of

vertical channels cut with a rectangular section and dimensions of 0.025 χ 0.02 m.

These begin at the top edge and reach the bottom of the channel.

The lower level at which the remains of the starting line are preserved as well as the

poros limestone of which they are built show that they are parts of the foundations of

the line. Immediately in front of the end of the channel and about 0.05 m. deeper than

its bottom (fig. 61) is a large block measuring about 1.90 x 1.50 m. on either side of

which stretches out a continuous row (with a total length of about 22.50 m.) of smaller

blocks the dimensions of each of which are in the range of 0.80-1.10 χ 0.50-0.70 m.

In front of this row and at intervals that vary from 0.70 to 1.00 m. are a series of 14

(seven on each side of the central block) similar but isolated blocks with dimensions

of about 0.70-0.80 χ 0.40-0.60 m. projecting away from the continuous line.

At two points in particular near the ends of the long row of blocks there is a shallow

channel of which the one on the right (from the runner's perspective) end has a length

of 2.70 m., a width of 0.30 m., and a depth that varies from 0.09 to 0.12 m. The

corresponding channel at the left end has a length of 1.70 m., a width of 0.22 m., and

a depth of 0.02-0.04 m. Similar channels with depths of 0.04-0.05 m. are on three of

the individual projecting blocks on the right side.2 4 1

241. The differences in dimensions and generally the inadequacies of the channels probably indicate that the blocks are reused here from some earlier construction. In general in the stadium of Rhodes, as in many other stadia of the ancient world, many and constant reuses of the same stones can be seen in various phases of the balbis and hysplex. This phenomenon is characteristic of the perceptions and the practices of the ancients vis-à-vis older material that was already in place, even though many of these constructions were concerned with monumental reconstructions of stadia, and this reveals economic comfort and ability to make provision for new material.


Near each of the two ends of the starting line are a group of four or five poros blocks

that form the foundation for a larger base (fig. 61). The face of these two foundations

is 0.30-0.45 m. in front of the face of the row of individual projecting blocks but is in

line with the face of the large central base.

We have here, then, a starting system that consists of three large bases in between

which extends a continuous row of blocks, and in front of the latter are placed a total

of 14 smaller blocks. Not in situ but at a short distance away lie two square blocks of

hard gray limestone that have on their upper surface dimensions of 0.41 χ 0.44 and

0.575 χ 0.50 m. and a rectangular deep cutting measuring 0.115 χ 0.115 and 0.115 χ

0.10 m., respectively (figs. 56, 65). In other words, they have the same characteristics

as similar bases that held the wooden posts that divided the positions of the runners

as we have seen in other stadia in Asia Minor and in the Athenian Agora.

On the basis, then, of the the data from the stadium of Rhodes, the corresponding

elements that we can provide from similar constructions and especially that of Sta

dium I at Isthmia for the operating system2 4 2 and that of Stadium I at Miletos for the

starting system,243 together with what we know of the practices of the ancients, we

might reconstruct the mechanism of the hysplex at the stadium of Rhodes as follows

(fig. 66). On top of the long continuous foundations of the starting line there should

be stone slabs of marble like that of the channel and of the well-like construction.

These slabs would have worked as a continuous balbis like those we saw in mainland

Greece and probably like that at Corinth without sockets for vertical posts. The posts

should have stood on top of the 14 individual bases that project from the balbis, on top

of each of which should be placed a square block with a rectangular cutting like the

two blocks that lie near at hand. The dimensions of those blocks, which are generally

slightly smaller than the underlying, still-in-place, blocks, strengthens this suggestion.

There are, thus, positions, each about a meter wide, for 14 runners—a number cus

tomary in ancient Greek stadia.2 4 4 On the three larger bases there must have rested

the support bases for the ankones of the hysplex as we saw at the corresponding points

in Stadium I at Miletos. 2 4 5 It is to be noted that the hysplex mechanisms were set in

place only during the time of the games and were removed thereafter, as also happened

with the wooden posts of the balbis.

Of course, it is not possible to ascertain accurately the type of mechanism from the

foundations alone. The size of the bases, however, points toward the use of twisted

neura, that we know from ancient sources continued to be used in these later years

in large catapults.2 4 6 The way in which the operation channel was connected with

the balbis, and especially the difficulty of connecting it with the side bases of the

hysplex, initially leads us to believe that the mechanism existed only in the central

base. But since it would have been impossible for the whole barrier to fall forward

simultaneously, we are obliged to restore mechanisms at the two outside ankones as

wel l . 2 4 7

242. See above, pp. 7-8. 243. See above, pp. 67-70. 244. For the number of runners and the width of the "lanes" in ancient stadia, see Zschiet

zschmann 36; Jüthner 58 ff.; Romano 212 ff. 245. See above, pp. 68-70. 246. See above, p. 41 and n. 220. 247. If there existed a mechanism only in the central ankon, it would have been impossible to transfer

motion to the outside ankones by means of the horizontal cord barriers alone. In such a case, the

The aphetes, then, who either stood in a crouch or knelt within the circular pit, must have held in his hand three release cords that passed through the channel to reach the top of the central ankon. Only one was tied there; the other two continued in opposite directions, perhaps suspended by rings from the cord barriers and extending to the tops of the outside ankones. Wi th the release of these trigger cords, the ankones, that were "planted" in the pre twisted neura, fell with force forward, pulling everything else down with them and thus providing the start for the runners.

The free and easy motion of the cords within the channel seems to have been facilitated by thin wooden boards that slid into the slits that face one another at intervals in the channel (figs. 62, 63). These boards must have had holes in them through which the cords passed so they could not become tangled in the channel. The other small square cuttings that are a meter apart and in pairs facing each other on the upper edge of the channel must have been used for the placement of small wooden sticks in the form of a bridge that would have supported other, larger boards used as a cover over the channel to keep it closed and clean. Finally, the four small dowel holes that were drawn on the lip of the well-like construction (figs. 62-64) would have been intended, like the channel, for the receipt of some cover to protect it from being filled with dirt during the longer periods when there were no games.

central ankon would have fallen first and the outside ankones would have followed with some small delay, that is not acceptable in such a system.


As we have said, in the third phase of the Rhodian stadium, balbis and hysplex are securely documented only on the end toward the sphendone. On the other, entrance, end of the stadium, at the north, one can identify with certainty only a row of slabs for the foundations of the balbis (see above p. 79), although the existence of bases for the hysplex is not impossible (see n. 233). But the existence of a channel and operating pit should be considered impossible since the monumental propylon was placed east of the balbis during this period. In general, space is not available for the operation of a system from behind since the balbis is exactly at the entrance of the stadium (fig. 48). And whatever might have existed cannot be compared with the system at the southern end.

However, at the same, northern, end, west of the balbis and on the long axis of the stadium there was constructed during this same period a channel constructed of limestone slabs with a length of 12.60 m. and a depth of 0.07 m. (figs. 48 Δ, 67). A characteristic of this channel is the trapezoidal cross-section of the interior sides and widening toward the southern end. These details, as well as its location precisely on the long axis of the stadium, indicate that the channel was used for the insertion of a parapet, probably of wood, that must have resembled a shortened spina of the Roman circus.2 4 8 This interpretation is also reinforced by the widening of the channel toward its southern end, as well as the many sockets around it that apparently would have received and supported some taller element like the meta in the circus. 2 4 9 It is also significant that the spina was not permanent; as is indicated by the trapezoidal cross-section of the channel, it could be set up temporarily and removed like the lewis used in construction, as we have seen at the other end of the stadium with all the projecting wooden elements of the balbis and the hysplex.

In this last phase of the Rhodian stadium in Roman Imperial times, that is, when in the stadia of other neighboring regions monumental starting systems with impressive architectural forms were being built, 2 5 0 there was adopted at Rhodes an old but trusted system with its own particular characteristic: all the elements above ground were made of wood and removable. If we connect this fact with the appearance of this type of starting system only at one end of the stadium, and with a kind of spina at the other end, we are forced to conclude that in this period the stadium at Rhodes was also used as a hippodrome. Despite the difficulties that emerge from such a hypothesis, which have to do especially with the narrowness of the space (about 30 m. wide in a stadium, but about 60 m. wide in a circus), as well as with the need for a curved starting system in the circus,2 5 1 I believe that the Rhodian stadium was used, if only for a short time, for both purposes with the placement for every race for men or for horses of the appropriate wooden elements at the starting line and the turn. 2 5 2 The

248. See, for example, a similar construction in Harris (1972) 189, fig. 13. The similar channel in the Panathenaic stadium (see A. Koster, Das Stadion von Athen [1906] 14, and Krinzinger 176 n. 1) does not provide adequate evidence for such an interpretation.

249. For the meta and its characteristics, see also Humphrey 38 ff.; cf. Harris, loc. cit. 250. See below, pp. 96-141. 251. See Humphrey 3, where he presents the similarities and the differences between stadium and

circus. 252. In general, in the Roman period only the larger cities had both a stadium and a circus. Usually

the cities in the western Empire had only a circus where they could—on rare occasions—display athletic contests of Greek type. The cities of Greece and Asia Minor usually were equipped only with


Figure 66: Rhodes. Schematic reconstruction of the southern starting line of the third phase of the stadium.

short length of the spina is of interest; it is as short as possible and used only for

guiding the turn of the horses.

This hypothesis, which is noted here for the first time in ancient architecture, verifies

the correctness of scholars who have proposed that in Italy and Asia Minor equestrian

competitions took place in stadia.2 5 3 The same might be true in this period at Rhodes,

although we have no knowledge of the fate of the hippodrome. Nor do we have evi

dence for the location of the hippodrome, but epigraphical reference to victors in the

equestrian events of the Halieia shows clearly that a hippodrome existed in earlier

periods.2 5 4 The use of the stadium for horse races during Imperial times can be un

derstood if the hippodrome of the city was out of use. This suggestion is reinforced by

a stadium. In these regions circuses were built only in the 2nd and 3rd centuries after Christ; see Humphrey 71 and 526.

253. See Humphrey, 572 and 574-575, who refers to the stadia at Puteoli and Sebasta in Italy where "the building was deliberately made longer than most stadia so that it could also house certain equestrian events." The same idea exists for the stadium at Aphrodisias in Karia where the track has a sphendone at both ends but has a width of only 25 m., and for the "cloudy" stadium of large dimensions that was noted longer ago in the plain below the akropolis of Pergamon (Humphrey 526). Broneer, "Hero Cults in the Corinthian Agora," Hesperia 11 (1942) 128 ff., esp. 145 ff., has also noted indications for chariot races in the Forum at Corinth. See also Pausanias 6.24.2 for horse races in the agora of Elis and Pliny 27.45 for contests with four-horse chariots in a very restricted area on the Capitoline in Rome. It is usually said that the hippodrome at the Sanctuary of Zeus Lykaios was also used as a stadium, perhaps after the cessation of horse racing at the site; see K. Kourouniotis, ΠΑΕ 1909, 189 ff., pls. 1, 5-8; Harris (1972) 163; Romano 172 ff. This is, however, based only on the written documentation for the existence of horseraces in the Lykeia without any archaeological evidence to support the statement.

254. See the inscriptions in I.C. Pdngwood Arnold, "Festivals of Rhodes," AJA 40 (1936) 432 ff.; G. Pugliese Carretelli, Annuario 30-32 (1952-54) 250 ff.; L. Moretti, Iscrizioni Agonistiche Greche (1953) 127, 151, 224, 228, 244, 257; D. Morelli, / culti in Rodi (1959) 17 ff. and 97 ff.; J. Ebert, Griechische Siegerepigramme auf Sieger an Gymnischen und Hippischen Agonen (1972) 238 ff., esp.


an inscription on the base of a dedication of the 2nd century after Christ where the

names of various religious associations are written. Implicit in the name of the last

association "of those who worked together on the hippodrome" (τών συνεργαξαμένων

τον ίππόδρομον) might be the construction or reconstruction of the hippodrome. 2 5 5

Monumental Hyspleges Of Later Hellenistic Date

Beginning in the 2nd century BC impressive monumental installations were created for

the balbis and the hysplex even while the classical hysplex system was maintained at

older sites. These new installations occurred in mainland Greece and in Asia Minor.

These naturally satisfied the practical need for a proper start for the races and, at least

from a technical viewpoint, were equipped with even better systems. But at the same

time they satisfied the new spirit that then reigned in architecture for monumental

entrances and impressive forms in general.256 A characteristic common to all these

constructions is the use of the large stone pillar-half columns that stand on isolated

bases or on a continuous balbis.257 These have on their side and back surfaces sockets,

channels, and other kinds of cuttings, in which were placed and within which moved the

cords of a new hysplex system. Similar channels also exist in the horizontal members of

these constructions, both in the foundations and in the epistyle or the geison. A basic

difference between the new system and the old was the "growth" of the elements—

both the mechanism and its operation—upward, unlike the horizontally arranged,

essentially two-dimensional isosceles triangle that existed previously. Externally the

new system reminds us only slightly of the Classical hysplex. I think, however, that it

too bears the name hysplex because it performed exactly the same function and, as

we shall see, preserved many of the characteristics of the older systems.258

A detail common to the new system is that the half columns belong both to the

balbis and to the hysplex, since, at one and the same time, they divide the positions

for the runners and are supports for the barriers and the mechanisms that made the

241; V. Kontorini, "Les concours des grands Éréthimia à Rhodes," BCH 99 (1975) 97 ff.; Id. Chiron 23 (1993) 83-97.

255. See G. Pugliese Carratelli, Annuario 17/18 (1955-56), 157 ff., esp. 158 #3: Α Λ Ι Α Σ Τ Α Ν , Α Θ Α Ν Α Ι Σ Τ Α Ν / / Ε Ρ Μ Α Ι Σ Τ Α Ν , Α Ρ Ι Σ Τ Ε Ι Δ Ε Ι Ω Ν / / Τ Ω Ν Σ Υ Ν Ε Ρ Γ Α Ξ Α Μ Ε Ν Ω Ν T O N Ι Π Π Ο Δ Ρ Ο Μ Ο Ν . At about the same time the stadium of the city is referred to in another inscription IG XII 1 94.4, as well as in the inscription with the rules for the pentathlon, found in the region of the stadium and gymnasium. See Pugliese Carratelli, op. cit. 289 ff., fig. 55, and L. Moretti, Rivista di Filologia 34 (1956) 55 ff.

I would like to repeat that most of my conclusions about Rhodes are based on older drawings and photographs of architectural remains that are covered over with earth today. A reexcavation of those remains would provide us with much more secure data that might very well change my conclusions.

256. Krinzinger 225 ff. 257. These architectural elements consist of a pillar the main face of which is worked into a half

column. For this type, see H. Busing, Die griechische Halbsäule (1970) 2, fig. 2 (Halbsäulen-Pfeiler). 258. Since, as is quite natural because of their many shared characteristics, all the systems of barriers

at the starting line were covered by the name hysplex, some of the reservations mentioned above (see pp. 3-4) about the reliability of written sources of later periods, since we cannot know if they refer to hyspleges contemporary to them or to older ones, can be withdrawn. Reverse logic leads to the thought that, since the sources of different periods refer in the same way to these systems, then we had for the whole of antiquity either one and the same system or, as we have seen, many successive systems with, however, the same general characteristics and the same basic operation.

96 Hysplex

Figure 68: Epidauros. Plan of the second phase of the starting line at the eastern end of the stadium (after Kavvadias pl. Bl-4).

barriers fall. It is also interesting that in the new system each individual athlete had

his own barrier; we have returned, that is, at least with regard to this detail, to the

principles of the oldest-known hysplex in Stadium I at Isthmia.

Despite these common elements, there are many differences between these new sys

tems, differences that indicate continuous development. Since, however, the extent of

our present knowledge does not allow us to date them more precisely than simply

in the late Hellenistic period, we will examine them in an evolutionary order from

the simplest to the most complicated without intending a chronological progression

as well. We will, then, look below at the hyspleges of the second phase of the stadia

at Epidauros (Epidauros II) and of Priene (Priene II), as well as the wonderfully well

preserved system of the stadium at Kos.

EPIDAUROS (STADIUM II)

At Epidauros five Ionic half columns were set immediately in front of the slabs of the

older balbis during the 2nd century B C 2 5 9 These were placed on separate individual

bases spaced equidistant and about 3.20 m. apart (fig. 68) and at an estimated original

height of about 3.35 m . 2 6 0 They are made of gray limestone and measure 0.44 χ 0.37 m.

Today parts of their lower elements are preserved, mostly on the eastern starting line.

These half columns consist of the lowest unfluted part with its typically Ionic base,

that has a total height of ± 0.35 m. (figs. 69, 70). The second drum, measuring

± 0.95 m., has near its upper edge the beginnings of 11 Ionic flutes. Fluted drums

from positions higher in the column today lie on the site, but we rely on Kavvadias's

description and sketches for the fragments on which he based his restored drawing of

a single Ionic capital (fig. 71).2 6 1 On both sides of the lowest unfluted parts of all five

259. Romano, 10 ff., provides the best study of the stadium at Epidauros. For his criticism of the work of R. Patrucco, Lo Stadio di Epidauro (1976), see Romano 29 and n. 19. See also Jüthner 60, fig. 11; Patrucco, pls. 4.1, 5.1-2, 30.1, 31.1-2.

260. For the chronology of half columns in this period, see Busing (supra n. 257) 50; for the type of the bases, see 5, fig. 3b. For the height of these half columns, see Kavvadias, plan Γ1.

261. Kavvadias 78-92, pls. Γ3, 4, 5.

98 Hysplex

half columns2 6 2 is a vertical rough-picked stripe that is, for the most part and in most cases, completely superficial; only on one side of two different columns is this "stripe" a little deeper, forming a recessed area 0.068-0.070 m. wide and 0.01 m. deep. (figs. 71.3, 72). A l l of the drums are provided with matching dowel holes measuring 0.055 χ 0.030 m. on their upper and lower surfaces.

Aside from these, and only on the upper horizontal and immediately adjacent vertical surfaces of the second drum, there are two additional cuttings, one on each side of the drum and exactly above the rough-picked stripe on the side, that are of special interest and importance (figs. 71.3, 73). These cuttings have, in section, the shape of a Γ. They are roughly 0.02 m. wide and 0.085-0.105 m. in length, seen from above (fig. 74) and from the sides (fig. 75). The ends of the Γ have holes cut at right angles to the side and the top of the block which extend, like the hook of a clamp, to a greater depth in the stone. Were they extended slightly farther, they would intersect each other.2 6 3 It would appear that all these cuttings existed on all five half columns of both starting lines.

However, some additional interesting details appear on the central half column of the eastern starting line. Starting from the bottom, we note that the foundation base for the column is not monolithic like all the others but consists of two parallel shelly limestone slabs with dimensions of 0.50 χ 0.45 m., which have been set in place in such a way as to form a channel 0.09 m. wide between them (fig. 76). At the front part of this channel Kavvadias discovered the tip of the metallic half-pipe that he describes and draws (fig. 77.6).264

The right (northern) of the two foundation base stones today slopes downward about 0.10 m. toward the channel, but this is very probably its original position, because the element that rested on these stones has, on its bottom, a comparable channel (fig. 78δ). Furthermore, the "legs" formed by the two sides of this channel have an unequal length (the left is 0.27 m. long, and the right is 0.32 m. long) and bottom surfaces that mirror the inequalities of the upper surfaces of the base (figs. 79-81). Thus, when that element is set in place on the base, its upper surface is brought into a perfectly level position (figs. 81, 82).2 6 5 The channel on the bottom surface of the column has a width of 0.11 m., and the surface of the channel itself is worn with thinner grooves and at its center is a clearly deeper square cutting that measures 0.11 m. on each side (fig. 78ε). The exit of this channel appears at the front of the column and at the back as well whence a channel continued on the back surface of the half column upward. It is most probable that it continued for the entire height of the column until it reached the epistyle (figs. 77.7, 78γ, 83). For the greater part of the preserved portion of this channel it has a rectangular section with dimensions of 0.06 χ 0.05 m. at the lower part to 0.065-0.075 for the remainder.266 From a height

262. And not only the four outside columns as Kavvadias (90) reports. 263. Exactly the same characteristics are to be found on a similar drum on the western starting line. 264. See Kavvadias, pl. Γ 6 and p. 90, for his description: "a deep cutting extended along the length

and was connected with a channel in the base of the column that ended at the front in a pipe." 265. This situation seems very odd because it appears to have existed from the beginning. I do not

think that it is due to the needs of the system (see further below). Equally difficult to believe is the possibility that this base together with its pipe belonged to the older type of hysplex for the receipt of a central ankon.

266. At the lower edge of the second drum the channel deepens to 0.08 m. and 0.05 m. higher it returns to a depth of 0.06 m. thus forming a small indentation.

of a meter and above it changes to a semicircular section with a depth of 0.11 m. and a width of 0.05 m. which narrows as it rises to a width of 0.03 m. at the top of the drum. Near the top of this drum, at a height above the ground of about 1.15 m., two cuttings appear, one on either side of the channel, 0.14 m. apart, on center. As their position and their form indicate, they must have held a horizontal Π-shaped metallic element the legs of which were doweled into the stone on either side of the channel. A similar element was probably held by two holes near the top of the lower drum at a height of 0.23 m. above the ground (figs. 77.7, 785). They are on either side of the channel and 0.22 m. apart with a diameter of 0.01-0.02 m.; the depth of the right one is 0.06 m., and in the left hole are the remains of a metal rod of circular section and diameter of 0.01 m. (fig. 84). There is no reason to doubt its antiquity.

To judge from the roughly worked upper surface of the capital that survived and by analogy with other known examples, I conclude that the half columns at Epidauros had wooden epistyles.267

Very little has been written to date about the way in which this system worked. Only Romano has suggested that

267. The Stoa of the Athenians at Delphi is the best-known example of stone columns that supported wooden epistyles. See recently J .F. Bommelaer, "Les Portiques des Delphes," RA (1993) 32 ff. According to oral communication from S.G. Miller, similar examples with rough-worked top surfaces exist at Nemea in the apodyterion of the stadium. See also Oikos 9 in Nemea: A Guide 68 and 70. Krinzinger, 231 and n. 3, interprets the unpolished upper surfaces as the result of incomplete work. Thus he compares them with this phase of the hysplex and not with the earlier epigraphically known penalty against Philon for the failure to complete the installation of the hysplex system in the early 3rd century BC (see above, pp. 50 f.) But after the dating of this phase to the 2nd century BC, the association suggested by Krinzinger is impossible.


a cord passed through the east-west channel of the stone base of the central half column, and that the cord is likely to have attached to a sliding metal element on the rear vertical face of the same central half column. It seems possible that this vertical element made attachments to horizontal elements, cords or more likely bars, which made some connection to the shallow vertical cuttings in the sides of the four flanking half columns. The horizontal bars would have fallen to the level of the racecourse floor between the front of the grooved starting line blocks and the rear of the bases for the Ionic half columns, all of which projected slightly above the floor level. Thus the horizontal bars would not have been stumbled over by the starting athletes.268

The basic principle in Romano's suggestion for the working of the whole system with a cord that passed though the pipe in the middle half column is generally correct. I also agree that the barriers should have been "horizontal bars", probably wooden. But it seems that the barriers cannot have been behind the half columns but only in between them as is indicated by the fact that the half columns project from the balbis (0.60 m.) as much as the support bases of the older type of hysplex (fig. 68) while the vertical channels in the sides of the half columns are as far away from the balbis as the ankones of the older hysplex type. 2 6 9 Finally, the argument that the bars behind these half columns would been able to fall into an empty area deeper than the floor level is not valid because, as the drawings of Kavvadias also show (fig. 71), the bases of the half columns are larger than the half columns themselves and thus prevent the barriers from falling into a lower level between them and the balbis.

Based on the characteristics of the half columns described above, I believe that we can suggest with confidence that the ankones and the horizontal barriers in front of the runners have now become one and the same (fig. 85). We should attach these new "anfcon-barriers" in the Γ-shaped cuttings that face one another from the sides of the half columns at the top of the second drum (i.e., about 1.30 m. above the ground which is an indication of the maximum length of the ankones) . 2 7 0 In their horizontal position these wooden "anfcon-barriers" would have passed in front of the chests of the runners and, falling suddenly down, would permit the start of the race. This hypothesis is reinforced by the existence of the rough-worked vertical stripes on the sides of the half columns, which apparently were created to help ensure full contact between the wood and the stone. Based on this suggestion, the rear view of the hysplex system at Epidauros II will have appeared as in the drawing (fig. 86).

The problem of the form of the barriers is also connected with the number of runners allowed by the new system. Romano suggests that, by analogy with the barriers that he places (one in every intercolumniation), there could run simultaneously "6 or possibly 4," a number that seems to me very small. At the same time, the intercolumniations

268. Romano 15 ff. 269. As is indicated by the relationship between the upper surface of the balbis and that of the

foundation bases of the half columns, the balbis continued to be used in the usual way also with the new hysplex system. This also means that the surface of the racetrack itself remained at the same level in both phases. 270. Two matching ankones in each intercolumniation were not sufficient to close the space com

pletely; apparently it was not necessary to do so.

Figure-86: Epidauros. Schematic reconstruction of the hysplex of phase II at the eastern end of the stadium, with wood barriers and wood epistyle through which ran a cord (dotted line).

of ± 3.20 m. are huge for single runners.2 7 1 Based on the new hypothesis—that is the attachment of a barrier to every Γ-shaped cutting of a half column (i.e., two for every intercolumniation)—I think that ten runners could have run simultaneously. This is a number closer not only to earlier phases of the starting line at Epidauros (11 and 9, respectively) but also to the principles of all ancient games and the other stadia.2 7 2

Although the system I have suggested has the same basic principle as Stadium I at Isthmia—that is, an individual barrier for each athlete, consisting of a horizontal wooden ankon barrier pendant from a vertical element—the differences between the systems of Isthmia I and Epidauros II are very great.

(1) The need or desire for a monumental system was the cause for the placement of half columns instead of wooden posts.

(2) The need to create places for ten athletes caused the choice of a widely spaced construction because the now-monumental vertical elements would have taken too much space had there been one for each athlete.

(3) The greatest innovation was that now the suspension of the barriers, and by extension their fall, was not from a low post next to them but from above—from the wooden epistyle (figs. 85, 86). Probably with the help of metal rings or, better, of small wheels or rollers, the individual cords that held each barrier would have been connected to the wooden epistyle and would have joined with a central cord that would have ended at the channel in the back of the central half column.

The differences between this system and that of Isthmia I do not allow us to suppose that the fall of the ankon at Epidauros was created only by means of its own weight,

271. Romano 25, where, however, the measurements he adopted (2.38-2.49 m.) do not refer to the intercolumnar dimensions but to the distances between the bases of the half columns. Also, the two end intercolumniations with dimensions of 3.18 and 3.39 m. that Romano, 16, uses do not belong to this phase, since the two end columns belong rather to the older phase of the balbis. See also Kavvadias (supra n. 55) 111, 114; and Kavvadias 89. Wiegand and Schrader, 262, also refer to six runners at Epidauros.

272. See above, pp. 19-19.

112 Hysplex

as appears to have been the case at Isthmia I a few centuries earlier.2 7 3 That the

Hellenistic hysplex of Epidauros follows on an older system in which a mechanism was

used for the creation of torsion-produced force, in the context of the great technological

advances of the period, leads us to the reconstruction of a more advanced system in

which were used the lepides of the chalkotonon of Ktesibios discussed above.2 7 4

I would, then, restore at each Γ-shaped cutting such a lepis, attached to the "heel"

of each ankon barrier, in order to drive it down with force (fig. 85). 2 7 5

Further, we can now suggest the following concerning the operating system in the

central half column. As we have already concluded, in that part of the channel on

the back of the column that is semicircular there passed a central cord to which was

attached the individual cords coming from each of the barriers through metallic rings

attached to the wooden epistyle (figs. 77.7, 84). Through the lower part of the channel,

which is larger and of rectangular section, it appears that together with the cord was

some other wooden or metallic element like a plug that went up and down with the

cord. 2 7 6 This element (the plug) ought to have been tied to the cutting in the center of

the bottom surface of the half-column or at the lower horizontal hook-shaped metallic

clamp. This tie was necessary because the cord was pulled with force by the ankones

thanks to the pressure of the lepides.

When the aphetes released the plug, it flew up and allowed the ankones to fall,

and was stopped by the upper hook-shaped horizontal clamp. Thus these two clamps

not only held the cord firmly in place in the channel but also limited the movement

of the plug. To prepare the mechanism for the next use, the aphetes pulled the cord

downward and tied the plug to the lower point. At the same time the ankones were

raised to the horizontal and, twisting the lepides, cocked for action.

The aphetes, who was responsible for the operation of the system must have stood

in front of the central half column, as is indicated by the rectangular opening in the

front of the base of the column as we have also seen in the hysplex of Miletos I. The

existence of the pipe that Kavvadias discovered could support the idea that the cord

passed through this point to reach the hands of the aphetes. But, as is shown in the

drawing (fig. 77.6), the pipe is lower than the ground level of the stadium, while with

the opening in the bottom part of the base of the column the passage of the operating

cord could have been higher than the ground lever. Still, the horizontal position of

the pipe does not appear to guide anything toward a higher position. Further, it is

below the level of the surface of the racetrack and does not, then, serve to support the

hypothesis.277

273. Naturally, the possibility cannot be excluded there, as in several other cases, of the existence of another, simpler means for effecting the fast fall of the horizontal barrier. For example, that a lead weight was placed in its "nose."

274. See above, pp. 65-67. 275. On the drawing, this spring has been indicated in a simplified form with a straight line. 276. If we look for similar constructions in the area of ancient technology we find several similarities

with the kanones that were used for the operation of the theodolite (διόπτρα) of Heron, Περί διόπτρας 188 ff., and the reconstruction in the edition of H. Schöne (1903) 202, fig. 85a. We see in this light instrument, and naturally at a much smaller scale, the vertical movement of a shield disk by means of a corresponding movement of another element within a similar channel. This element is attached to a cord that is hung at the top from a wheel.

277. For another idea about the purpose of the pipe, see above, n. 265.

116 Hysplex

(2) We do not know for certain if all these channels or only some of them ran the whole height of the pillars, as the vertical holes and the continuous channel on top of the geison indicate.

(3) Since the construction is preserved only to the bases of the pillars, we do not know if other elements were present in their shafts or in what way they bore the horizontal barriers of the hysplex. Since the lack of information precludes suggesting another solution, we can only indicate on the drawing (fig. 89), and by analogy with Stadium II at Epidauros, the placement of horizontal wooden elements at a height of about a meter above the balbis which are held by vertical wooden posts wedged into the lower part of the interior channel of each gate. Again, it seems necessary to place here metal spring plates for the introduction of torsion in the barriers, as we did above also in Stadium II at Epidauros. Finally, since the four right gates have their channel on the opposite parastade from the four left gates, the whole system must have had an overall image like that shown in figure 90.280

In the event that these vertical channels were intended only for the receipt of wooden posts, they might not have reached all the way to the epistyle, and then the cord that suspended the horizontal barriers would have hung free in the air between the pillars (fig. 90). But if the channels extended up to the epistyle, then the suspension cord would have been tied to the horizontal barrier in the fashion shown in figure 89 and then have risen up to the epistyle hidden in the vertical channel. In the horizontal channel of the geison these individual cords would have been connected with a heavier one that was divided into two halves and that would have moved horizontally from the two ends toward the center of the epistyle where, by means of the larger hole in the central wider intercolumniation, it would have ended up in the hands of the aphetes. The existence of two parts of the system is also strengthened by the double exit of the channel of the balbis toward the front, in the central wider intercolumniation (fig. 87), which is reminiscent of the pipe at Epidauros. If we interpret this element as we did at Epidauros, we will be led to a basic hypothesis that the aphetes who stood in front of

280. Harris (1972) 29 ff. accepts that within the channels of the balbis there must have passed the cords of the mechanism, but he does not preclude the possibility that the barriers of the hysplex might have fallen into these channels as well, moving up and down and guided in the side channels like a guillotine. He cites as evidence for this view the reference in Statius, Theb. 6.593: "Ut ruit atque aequum submissit régula limen, corripuere levés spatium" (When the bar fell and left the threshold level, the speedy runners leaped onto the track [trans. Harris]). But as we have seen, only the end gates have two channels. On the contrary, in the other gates with only one channel it is impossible for the barrier to have fallen down on a horizontal since it is not suspended from two cords but is supported only on one side. Furthermore, I believe that the meaning of the phrase in Statius could correspond to any fall of the barrier whatsoever.

Bean, 209 ff., provides an informal restored sketch of the Priene system similar to ours but suspending the horizontal barriers from a free-hanging cord tied to the epistyle. Since, however, he believes that the horizontal barriers would impede the runners, and perhaps even hit their knees, during its fall, he attempts (278 ff.) to show that the stance for the runners at the start was with the body leaning markedly toward the rear. Ignoring the many representations of vase painting, he not only adopts the translation of Fowler in the text of Plato's Phaidros (see above, n. 26), but also offers as proof of such a stance a bronze statuette in New York that shows a nude youth leaning toward the rear. This statuette, however, probably does not depict a runner as is shown by a similar statuette from Taranto (see Jüthner, pl. 14, with the caption: "Athlet bei unklarer Beschäftigung"). Bean himself regards the channel in the base of the system as a "drain" so that the athletes would not slip in case of rain (!).

For some thoughts about the working of the Priene system, see Humphrey 69 and Fiechter 1970.

the central intercolumniation must have pulled or released at the same time two cords one of which freed the four right gates and the other the four left gates.281

In any case, the number and the length of the "passageways" formed by the horizontal channels in the base and in the geison and the vertical channels in many if not all the perpendicular members are impressive. Curious also are the three "exits" of the system from which the cords of operation apparently departed—one in the large vertical hole that passed through the central epistyle and the other two in the channel of the base. I think that the only way to justify so many channels and exits is to posit two systems, one to introduce torsion into the mechanism and one to release it. W i t h the hypothetical reconstruction suggested here, the upper elements belong to the system of producing torsion while those in the channel of the base must have been used for the passage of the cords of the release system. These must have begun from the bronze spring plate of each of the barriers if we accept that the system was instituted for the release of the spring plate. Thence the cords would have passed along the wooden posts down to the channel in the foundations where they would have joined with a single cord on each half of the system, just as we have seen in the geison. These two cords, one on each side, reached the exits of the channel in the central intercolumniation and then the hands of the aphetes.

Thus, the aphetes would pull the cords that came from above, from the hole through the epistyle, to raise the fallen ankones and tie their heels to the bronze spring plates.

281. For another view by Harris concerning the use of the central wider intercolumniation, see above, n. 68.


Afterward, he would pull the two cords that came from below, from the channels of the foundation, to release the ankones, which, propelled by the torsion of the spring plates, would fall downward with force.

Now that we have placed these two systems in the appropriate channels, there remain unassigned only the channels in the outer sides of the two end gates and in the inner sides of the central wider intercolumniation. Since they enclose the four gates on each side of the balbis, these probably had running through them cords to connect the cords of the balbis and the geison, tying them together and organizing all the cords into two parts of a single unified system.

The lack of upper elements at Priene hinders us in conceptualizing in greater detail the mechanism and the way the system worked. I believe, nonetheless, that an on-the-spot study of the architectural remains together with a correlation with the hysplex and of other possible parts of the upper construction would lead to a clearer understanding of these problems.2 8 2

KOS

We are fortunate to have preserved in Kos not only the base of a monumental and relatively complicated starting system but also all of its architectural members, from which we learn many entirely new details of a prototypical hysplex mechanism of the Hellenistic period. 2 8 3

The remains in Kos (figs. 91-92) consist of a monumental construction of the 2nd century BC the foundation of which, made of local limestone, has been uncovered for a length of at least 23 m. with a width of 2.25 m. On top of the foundation is a stylobate of local blue-gray marble that consists of two parallel rows of blocks that have between them a channel 0.18 m. wide and 0.34 m. deep.2 8 4 On top of this stylobate are 14 bases with dimensions of 0.695 χ 0.58 m. and a height of 0.30 m. with a molding at their bottom. They are pierced by a square vertical hole, 0.15 m. on each side (figs. 93, 94), which connects with the channel in the stylobate. Five of these bases still bear the lower part of Ionic pillar-half columns of local white marble, which, in accordance with Hellenistic custom, are unfluted. Behind the pillar part of this composite architectural member and at a distance of 0.15 m. stands a simple orthostate. Thus the empty space formed between these two vertical members is the same width as the hole in the base below them. The next drum in the half column part is fluted, and the pillar part has a vertical hole measuring from 0.15 χ 0.15 m. to 0.16 χ 0.16 m., which indicates that this hole passed all the way to the epistyle. The intercolumniations are 0.98 m. wide (1.56 m. on axis), except for the central one, that is 2.20 m.

282. See Wiegand and Schrader 260, where the parts of the superstructure discovered in the excavations are presented.

283. Excavations took place in 1900 by R. Hertzog and in 1939-40 by L. Morricone. See AA 1901, 134, fig. 2, and idem, Kos I (1932) 25. See also L. Laurenzi, "Nuovi Contributi alia Topographica Storico-archeologica di Coo," Historia 5 (1931) 611, and Morricone 222 ff. The only scholar who has dealt with the mechanism of the stadium heretofore is Krinzinger 226 ff., pl. 51, figs. 81-83. See also AD 29 (1973/4) Β 3, 965, pl. 730γ.

284. This channel does not have notches for a covering like that at Priene noted above, p. 113.

124 Hysplex

Alongside the half columns was found a section of Doric epistyle that preserves the fascia with regulae and guttae, and that evidently comes from this construction (fig. 95). Its dimensions (1.505 m. long, 0.53 m. wide, and 0.315 m. high) are similar to the interaxial dimensions of the "gates", and there are in addition holes 0.18 m. on a side cut into the ends of the block with a point (fig. 96). These correspond precisely to the vertical holes of the pillar-half columns.2 8 5 On the upper surface of the same epistyle is another, oval, hole resembling a funnel (fig. 97; dimensions at the top: 0.20 χ 0.14 m.) which was also hastily cut with a point. It ends at the bottom in two small holes, aligned parallel to the long axis of the block, each with a diameter of 0.035 m., and each opened with a drill.

Lying together with the epistyle are two pieces of Ionic geison (figs. 95, 96) the surfaces of which are so broken that their original dimensions cannot be recovered. It is, however, very probable that they come from this same construction since in this place and at that time the combination of Doric epistyles with Ionic geisons was the most common practice. A visit to the archaeological areas of Kos where the buildings are reconstructed by the Italians provides many examples of the phenomenon.

L. Morricone associates with the monumental elements of the starting line at Kos two pillar capitals (or however we are to call this composite architectural member that crowns the pillar-half columns) that were not found in the excavations but come from the demolition of houses in 1933 and that have been stored since then in the Anti-quarium of the castle (fig. 98). The association is based not only on the similarities of shape and dimensions with those of the pillar-half columns but also and especially on the existence in the middle of the capitals of a rectangular vertical hole that corresponds exactly with the holes of the drums of the pillar-half columns.2 8 6 We have yet another combination of Doric and Ionic elements in these capitals since the echinus has been replaced by a zone of Ionic eggs the bottom of which is delineated by a thin astragal. This idiosyncratic arrangement of the orders is not unique but is paralleled by other contemporary constructions in the cities of Asia M i n o r . 2 8 7 Finally, it is very likely, by analogy with Priene, that there was a horizontal channel along the length of the upper surface of the geison.

What impresses us at first glance in the starting line of the stadium of Kos is the attempt by the architect to create a variety of color by means of the use of different local stones, a phenomenon that one sees in the city of Kos in other monuments of the same period which Morricone, based on the main material used in the buildings, calls the "period of marble." 2 8 8

Also impressive is the fact that the runners along the starting line were hidden entirely among these large pillar-half columns (fig. 102) just as happens today with the horses at the hippodrome. Perhaps this phenomenon can be attributed to the taste

285. Krinzinger, 228 and 230, theorizes that this piece of the epistyle comes from the central wider intercolumniation.

286. Morricone 222 ff. I was able to find only one of these capitals, measuring 0.52 χ 0.68 m., with the central hole measuring 0.16 χ 0.17 m. The existence of this hole is decisive evidence for the assignment since I do not believe that there could be another such construction with pillar-half columns that would need such holes.

287. For capitals exactly the same as ours, see, for example, those in the Ekklesiaterion and in shops of the South Agora of Miletos. The example cited by Morricone 245 n. 66 from the South Stoa of Ephesos lacks the astragal below the echinus.

288. Morricone 245.

of the period for making an impression on the spectators, which certainly would have been created by the sudden explosion of the runners from their hidden positions. To that same taste for making theatrical impressions should be ascribed the custom of hiding all the working elements and moving parts of the hyspleges in this period.

The details of the architecture in the stadium of Kos are similar to those at Priene.289

In every horizontal and vertical member of the construction there are channels, holes, and cuttings (figs. 99, 100) in which would have been the cords that moved the mechanism. All these elements must have been connected together, thus "tying" the starting system into a single whole. One of the differences that we note with the corresponding constructions of Stadium II at Priene is that here the vertical channels of the pillar-half columns are not on the sides of the pillars but are carefully hidden inside them. The only place where the channels "show" is the empty space (figs. 101, 102) about 1 m. high and 0.15 m. wide between the two lowest elements of the half columns from which the indispensable barrier seems to have extended.

Again, another place where the elements of the system would have been visible must have been at the bottom of the central wider intercolumniation where the channel of the foundation is interrupted and probably—by analogy with Priene—at a vertical hole in the epistyle of the central wider intercolumniation.

289. See above, pp. 112-119.


In addition to these elements that we have seen in other cases, there are also extant in Kos, because of the very good state of preservation of the lower parts of the construction, some other characteristics that allow us now to hypothesize with a great deal of probability not only the general principles of the working of the mechanism of the hysplex but also the reconstruction of the system in considerable detail. These elements come from a horizontal semicircular cutting (figs. 103-107) with a total length of 0.425 m. and a diameter—in its longer part—of 0.08 m. chiseled in the back of the pillar and thus visible in the empty space between the pillar and the orthostate. This cutting, which has a narrower "mouth" at that side of the half column with a diameter of 0.067 m., is at a height of 1 m. from the stylobate—that is, at a height that we have seen associated with the barriers in many hyspleges of various types and times.

In one of the half columns, at the far end of the semicircular cutting, there is preserved an iron ring, slightly smaller in diameter than the cutting, leaded into the "shoulder" of the cutting (figs. 106, 107). Corresponding traces indicate the existence of similar rings in all the half columns. On the bottom side of this cutting and projecting from it is another cutting with a quarter-circle section and measuring 0.055 m. in length (from the horizontal semicircular cutting) and 0.04 m. in width. The long axis of this cutting is exactly on the vertical axis of the half column. Along the interior edges of the upper surfaces of the pillar and the orthostate there is a matched set of ledges cut to lengths that vary from 0.365 to 0.40 m. The depth and width of these ledges range from 0.015 χ 0.015 m. to 0.015 x 0.020 m. in the different half columns. These ledges begin at the same side of the pillar as do the semicircular cuttings and, like them, do not extend to the other side; their lengths are the same or slightly shorter than those of the semicircular cuttings (fig. 107). Finally, at a point at both edges of both the pillar and the orthostate and at a height of about 0.47-0.50 m. appear two small L-shaped cuttings (figs. 103, 107), measuring 0.07 χ 0.03 m. overall, which are to be associated with a pair of shallow oblong cuttings, 0.165 χ 0.02 m., which are on that part of the base of the half columns (fig. 99) that was left visible by the empty space between them and the orthostates behind them.

Using only some of these data, but the most characteristic, Krinzinger, the only scholar who has worked on this system, tried to grasp and analyze the workings of the mechanism in the following way.

We may assume that in the horizontal cuttings, where we can still recognize substantial remains of an iron ring, a roller was used. A cord running vertically, that connected above and below through the channels with the gate in the middle, could have been coiled on this roller until it achieved a very great tension and then was held in place by a wedge in the socket of the central cutting. The horizontal bars would have been so connected to this cord with such a system that they would be held up by the tensed mechanism at the starting positions which they closed off. From a central position the holding wedges in every starting gate could be released at the same time by a sharp tug on the cord, the cord snapped up inside, the bars disappeared into the hollow space of the columns, and the track freed to the runners . . . . The cuttings on the sides [attest] to small wooden covers

130 Hysplex

that were hung for the protection of the mechanism when the games were

not in session.290

Although I essentially agree with the very general principles for the working of the

mechanism that Krinzinger establishes, I will proceed with an analysis of all the data

and offer a new hypothesis for the detailed working of the hysplex. In fact, we are sure

that the system operated by means of cords that moved through the vertical holes of

the pillar and the horizontal channels of the base and—probably—of the geison. A l l

these cords must have been tied together into two halves (one to the left and one to

the right), as at Priene, and the ends of each would have come together at the hole

of the central epistyle and at the interruption of the channel in the foundation at the

central wider intercolumniation where the aphetes apparently would have stood.

It is also obvious that the parts of the mechanism as well as the barriers themselves

must have been located in the empty space that is formed by the two lower members

of the pillar-half columns that communicated above and below with the system of

cords.

Studying the details of the empty space, starting from the top and proceeding to

the bottom, I propose the following:

(1) In the pair of ledges at the top of the empty space , based on a parallel with

the cuttings in the channel of the stadium at Rhodes, 2 9 1 I suggest the placement of

a thin sliding horizontal wooden board measuring about 0.20 χ 0.40 m. (fig. 108A).

This board would have had an hole through which was passed the cord that came

down from the drum above in order to hold the cord in a stable position so it could

not oscillate very much inside the stone casing at the moment which it was supposed

to work.

(2) The horizontal semicircular cutting in the back of the pillar could have taken

a heavy wooden roller (fig. 108B) that would have rotated on its axis, held in place

by the iron ring at the one end and the narrower mouth of the cutting at the other.

The quarter-circle cutting below the semicircular cutting surely indicates that from

its space and exactly in its center there extended—from the side of the roller in which

it was embedded—a metallic tongue (fig. 108C) that protruded into the empty space

and could have both held and released the heel of the ankon.

(3) If the previous ideas are correct, we have identified the purpose of all the de

liberate cuttings (with one exception) of the empty space for the mechanism, with

the result that it is not possible that the barriers were attached to one of them. The

barriers themselves were probably wooden sticks that protruded horizontally into the

gates in front of the runners. The only element that remains is the pair of facing L-

290. Krinzinger 230: "Wir nehmen nun an, dass in der horizontalen Einarbeitungen, wo sich noch deutliche Reste eines Eisenringes erkennen lassen, eine Rolle angebracht war. Ein vertical verlaufendes Seil, das oben und unten durch die Rinnen mit dem mittleren Tor verbunden war, konnte auf diese Rolle gewickelt werden, bis es unter grosser Spannung stand und in dieser Stellung durch einen Zapfen in der Lagernut der mittleren Vertiefung arretiert wurde. An diesem Seil waren mit irgendeiner Vorrichtung die Sperrbalken so befestigt, dass sie bei gespannten Mechanismus quer in die Ablaufstände hereinragten und diese verschlossen hielten. Vom Mittelstand aus konnten nun durch einen Ruck am Seil die Arretierzapfen in allen Ablaufständen zugleich gelöst werden, die Seile schnellten innen hoch, die Querbalken verschwanden in den Zwischenräumen: der Weg für die Läufer war frei . . . . die beiseitigen Einarbeitungen, an denen man zum Schutz des Mechanismus kleine Holztafel einhängen konnte, wenn der Spielbetrieb ruhte."

291. See above, p. 84 and 90.


shaped cuttings that Krinzinger suggests were used for the placement of wooden lids so that the mechanism could be closed up when not in use.292 But as we have seen in every case, and as appears to have been true at Kos as well, all the elements of the mechanism were movable and were set in place only for the duration of the games. For the rest of the time they were removed, which means that nothing remained in the empty space that had to be protected.

Nonetheless, I do agree that the L-shaped cuttings were intended to receive pins protruding from the sides of boards, the bottom edge of which were held in place by the oblong sockets that appear on the stone bases in the empty space. The only use that this perpendicular board could have had was to hold the ankon of the hysplex (fig. 108 D, E) . In other words, it is also a basic part of the mechanism with the ability to be set in place and removed. It must have extended to the height of the trigger of the roller, and at its top there must have been a slot in which, by means of a simple wooden pin, the ankon was held. The ankon thus had the ability to move from a horizontal to a vertical position and back again. The swift and sure movement of the ankon could have been achieved by means of the appropriate bronze spring plate, which would have been nailed in place near the joint of the two wooden elements, as we suggested was also the case at Epidauros, with one end in the vertical support and the other in the ankon.294

The existence of two openings and of two pairs of facing L-shaped cuttings in every empty space, as well as the placement of the system of tying and releasing in the center of the half column, shows that each vertical architectural member held two ankones that projected horizontally and on opposite sides of its shaft, thereby closing off the corresponding gates. Yet another decisive detail leads to this same result. In order for the ankon to cover the width of 0.98 m. of each gate it would have to have been at least 1.15 m. in length—that is, roughly 0.90 m. for the space of the gate plus 0.25 m. for its heel to reach to the trigger of the roller. But such a long element could not have fallen all the way down when released because the distance to the base of the half column is only about 0.65 m. Therefore we conclude that in each half column there were two ankones (figs. 108, 109), each 0.70 m. long, of which 0.25 m. was hidden in the empty space while the remaining 0.45 m. was used to close its gate. Thus each half column holds two half ankones, except for the middle and end half columns, which would have held only one each.

We see that the system at Kos surpassed in two ways the closely related system of Stadium II at Priene. First, the working cords are now completely hidden within the vertical architectural members. Second, it is now possible to operate two barriers at the same time with a single working cord.

I would, then, see in all the channels, horizontal and vertical, two systems operating at the same time, and these two systems divided into two halves, one for each side of the starting line. One system, which produced the torsion for the mechanism, consisted of the cords that would have connected the ends of the two half ankones and, passing through the hole in the base, would have connected with some central cord that ran in the channel of the foundation. One such cord from the left and one from the

292. Krinzinger 230. 293. See above, p. 30. 294. See above, pp. 100-101. In the drawing, fig. 85 it has been restored, by convention, with the

form of a triangle.

right half of the hysplex transferred the operation of the system to the central wider intercolumniation and into the hands of the aphetes.

The second system, for releasing the barriers (fig. 108), passed through the vertical hole in each half column and, after going through the hole of the wooden board, was connected to the trigger that held the ankones, already under the pressure of the torsion, horizontal. The cords of each half column were connected at the top with a central cord that ran through the channel of the geison (fig. 109). This dropped through the vertical hole of the central intercolumniation from the two sides into the hands of the aphetes.

When he wanted to prepare the system for working, the aphetes pulled the lower cord, producing torsion, lifting the ankones to the horizontal (thus closing the gates), and securing the heels of the ankones beneath the triggers of the heavy rollers. In this position the system was ready to work. Then the aphetes would pull the central cord— which was hanging above him—of the release system, at which point the triggers of all the half columns were lifted, allowing the half ankones to fall suddenly and freely, forced by the torsion of their springs.

In this way all the passages of the system are explained without entangling anywhere the cords of the torsion-producing system, which entered through the foundations to the lower part of the half columns, with the cords of the release system, which entered through the geison to the upper part of the half columns. The only elements of the construction that remain unexplained at this point are the two holes in the epistyle (fig. 96) that appear to have recurred in every regular gate.295 These must be connected with the existence of two barriers in each intercolumniation since through them would have passed cords that would have been tied to the ends (the noses) of the ankones, sharing in some way in their operation. But since we saw in the above analysis that all the passages of the system were hidden inside the architectural members and since the construction of the holes in the epistyle were seen to be hasty and informal, I think that we can assign these holes to some repair of the system. During this repair, one of

295. See above, p. 100.


the two systems—either that of the torsion production or that of the release—must have ceased to be wholly within the architectural elements and have been replaced by those cords that were in front of the athletes in every intercolumniation.

It is, finally, self-evident that, to avoid malfunctions in the system, there must have been at every corner either small and sensitive rollers or a working down of the stone members so that with a good greasing they could facilitate easy movement of the cords.

Conclusion

With these complicated systems we have come to the end of a series of mechanisms that, set in front of or on top of the balbides of ancient stadia, had the purpose of achieving an equal and fair start for all the runners in the races. We should give to all these systems the name, known from many sources, hyxplex since, despite their differences and clear evolution, all had as a basic and common characteristic the existence of barriers in front of the athletes which fell suddenly and with a bang, thanks to the help of a system of cords, and thus allowed the simultaneous start of the runners. Such systems must have first appeared in the hippodromes and have been adopted with some adaptations in stadia in the second half of the 5th century BC, as we are shown by the oldest preserved system at Isthmia and by a reference in the comedies of Aristophanes.

These first hyspleges were simple. They consisted of individual wooden posts, one for each runner, fixed in sockets in the balbis. These posts held, at their upper parts, a horizontal wooden barrier that, on the appropriate action of the aphetes, fell only due to its own weight, thus allowing the runners to start. A depiction on a Panathenaic amphora of the archon Lykiskos (344/3 BC) shows that from the middle of the 4th century there was conceived a new system with two end posts, and a third central post that held two tightly stretched cords in front of the runners. Support bases for this system, added in front of the balbides of four stadia of the northeastern Peloponnesos, show its installation there around the beginning of the 3rd century BC This system, as the depiction on the Panathenaic amphora, the cuttings in the bases of the Peloponnesian stadia, and some terminology for parts of the hysplex that we encountered in inscriptions from Delos show, must have worked in the same way as the great military machines (i.e., catapults) of antiquity.

Each of the two end posts of the hysplex (i.e., the ankones) was placed within neura (i.e., within a twisted mass of animal sinews). These were stretched with the aid of choinikides and epizygides set in rectangular wooden frames that were boxed in the stone bases in the stadia. Then, with the help of a pipe and a crank, the neura were twisted, thereby giving to the whole system such torsion as would achieve the necessary power to be able to hurl the vertical ankon down and out suddenly. The start must have been given by an aphetes who stood behind the athletes, as in Stadium I at Isthmia, and who by a single motion released rings or loops that had secured the top of the ankones. These then fell and pulled with them the horizontal cords stretched between them (or long wooden sticks attached to them), thereby allowing the runners to start. The indications from the stadium at Nemea and the exceptionally well preserved example at Rhodes with the operating channels and the pit for the aphetes are important evidence for the survival of older effective methods. In all these systems we have a horizontal layout of the start and of its operational mechanism in the form of an isosceles triangle on the surface of the ground.

For successive uses of the hysplex it was sufficient to lift the ankones back to their original position by hand. In the new system that is depicted on the Panathenaic

143

144 Hysplex

amphora, with the existence of a single unified barrier for all the athletes, as opposed to the individual barriers of Stadium I at Isthmia, as well as with the sudden fall of the barrier thanks to the use of torsion produced by the twisted neura, it was possible not only to reduce favoritism or the opposite, whether intentional or not, toward a certain athlete but also to produce a greater theatrical impression at the significant moment of the start of the race.

Given the principles and the practices of the ancients a similar type of barrier must have existed in every Greek stadium. Traces of it are to be noted at Olympia, doubts about its specific reconstruction at Delphi are expressed, and hypotheses are made relative to the starting lines of some stadia in Asia Minor in which it is possible that there was a simpler completely-movable-as-a-whole mechanism that was placed on top of a heavy base and was transported to the front of the balbis only during the period of the games, just as took place otherwise with the main part of the mechanism of the hysplex as we have seen. Again, such a movable system no traces of which remain, might have existed in the gymnasia—in both the xystoi and the paradromides. Such a light system could have been constructed after the replacement of the neura for the production of torsion in war machines by a smaller system of metal springs that was invented in the middle of the 2nd century BC.

In later Hellenistic years, at the same time that the principles of the classical system were being preserved in most cases (e.g., at Isthmia, Olympia, Delphi, Didyma, and Rhodes) and even in the frame of monumental architectural form, remodeling of the hysplex systems in some ancient stadia is to be noted. Thus, in Epidauros, Priene, and Kos there are preserved the remains of monumental starting systems with foundations, pillar-half columns, and epistyles, with channels, holes, and cuttings through which passed cords that moved the mechanism. In these new systems we have a return to the old principle of an individual barrier for each runner, but also the improvement of the mechanisms and of the systems of operation was such that the danger of mistakes was reduced. In these Hellenistic hyspleges the development of the mechanism was upward into high architectural members, and the operation of it was by the aphetes who stood in the central wider intercolumniation. It is characteristic, finally, that the mechanism in these later hyspleges was divided into two systems, independent of one another. With the one, that of torsion production, the barriers came into a position of preparedness, while with the other, that of release, they all fell at the same time, and the runners were off.296

296. It is worth noting that barriers with the same principle of operation as the ancient hysplex have been used for starts of different types even today. See Harris (1972) 31 and n. 10. Compare the related system that is used in our own day for the start of the motorcycles in the "super cross" competitions.

Appendix

The Rebirth of the Hysplex at Nemea

The problem of the form and method of functioning of the ancient hysplex has vexed me ever since the discovery of the stone bases for it at Nemea in 1975, but a reading of an early draft of Panos Valavanis's study convinced me that he had solved all, or nearly all, the problems of that mechanism. I was, in fact, so convinced of the correctness of his theories that I asked to be allowed to do an English translation of his work.

During the translation a question nagged: Could the hysplex as hypothetically restored by Valavanis actually work? The idea of a practical demonstration—a life-size working model based, literally, on the ancient blocks in the stadium at Nemea—was thus born. Valavanis graciously, if with some anxiety, agreed to allow me to put his theories to the test. During preliminary discussions, a day spent on the site at Nemea with Valavanis, Manolis Korres, and Petros Briles297 was crucial since certain questions were resolved, at least temporarily, so that decisions could be made about the actual reconstruction. The latter took place during the first two weeks of July 1993. What follows here is, in part, a description of our work and, in part, observations about modifications to a few details of Valavanis's theories.

General Purpose

The overall goal of the project was to recreate, with as much accuracy and precision as possible, the appearance and the workings of the ancient starting line at the south end of the Nemea stadium. The principal part of this work was the recreation and reinstallation of the hysplex starting mechanism, but with this opportunity we decided also to re-erect the posts of the balbis and of the kampter base.

Materials

The fundamental material in terms of bulk and cost was wood for the posts on the balbis and the kampter base, for the ankones, for the column behind and to which each ankon was tied prior to its release,298 and for the frame of the mechanism that was to rest in the stone base. Although Valavanis correctly suggests that the wood used

297. Mr. Briles is a local Nemean cabinetmaker and woodworker who, together with his wife Voula, was responsible for many practical applications of our theoretical plans. Without their enthusiastic help, the model could not have come to life. I also thank M. Richardson for generous help with photographic and grammatical work.

298. Initially there was some question whether this column might have been of stone, but a careful examination of the surfaces of the semicircular cutting of the balbis showed clearly that they were not intended to be in contact with other stone surfaces and that wood therefore surely had been used here in antiquity.

145

146 Appendix

in antiquity might have been elm, ash, or boxwood,2 we were limited by the wood available on the market in a size sufficiently large for the various parts, particularly for the post of the left end of the balbis.300 We were also concerned with resistance to rot and with ease of working, as well as with strength. The final decision was for African mahogany, and even then it was necessary to laminate large planks to produce blocks of the size necessary for the lower frame and the columns.3 0 1 Of course, had we taken more time, we might well have been able to search out larger single blocks of wood of an appropriate type.

The metallic elements were all of iron or steel, and they did not, as will be seen below, always reproduce exactly the ancient forms as we understand them. This was due, mostly, to a desire to use items that were readily available in today's marketplace. Still, the basic elements of syrinx, choinikis, epizygis, and mochlos302 will be recognized in their modern steel reincarnations, although in forms that are not absolutely authentic.

For the cords we used hemp rope with a diameter of 0.005 m. I suspect that this is fairly close to the ancient cords.

The remaining element, the neura, was the most difficult. Again motivated by a desire for the easily and quickly attainable, and lacking long-haired women and sinews,303

we settled on hemp rope again, but this time with a diameter of 0.01 m. 3 0 4

The Posts of the Balbis and the Kampter

Of the post holes of the series cut after the installation of the hysplex support bases3 0 5

two still retain their lead lining and indicate that the posts were square, measuring 0.065 m. on a side. We accordingly cut and smoothed 12 posts 0.065 χ 0.065 m. and 1.16 m. long. These were inserted in the holes to a depth of 0.11 m. so that they were visible above the surface of the balbis to a height of 1.05 m.—a height slightly above my waist and commensurate with the indications of the physical remains and with the vase painting discussed above by Valavanis.306

299. Above, p. 36 and n. 110. 300. The various parts were not standardized in size, and the most surprising variation is between

the columns of the two ends. The cuttings for them indicate clearly that the one on the left (or west) end had a diameter of nearly 0.30 m. while that on the right measured slightly less than 0.25 m. in diameter. The difference was particularly noticeable to us as we carried the columns out to be set in place; it was difficult for two men to handle the larger, whereas one (strong and sturdy) man could carry the smaller by himself.

301. We were assisted in this decision by Mr. G. Hatzinikolaou of Nauplion. I thank him for his advice and for the substantial discount he gave us on the price of the wood. Although we tried not to make price a factor in our decision for the best wood, questions of cost always are close at hand.

302. For the mochlos—a lever, bar, or crowbar—see above, p. 42 and n. 128. 303. See above, pp. 39 f. To the best of my knowledge, no one has ever successfully reproduced

neura made from sinews or tendons. See H. Diels and E. Schramm, "Über den griechischen Text von Heron's Belopoiika," Abh.Berlin.Akad. 1918 no. 2, 48, n. 1. See also J.G. Landels, Engineering in the Ancient World (Berkeley, 1978) 107-111.

304. A trial with the thinner rope quickly resulted in the rope breaking under the pressure we applied. The heavier rope, however, responded very well.

305. See above, pp. 19-20. 306. See above, n. 84 and fig. 23. By making all the vertical elements end at the same height,

we actually compromised between these apparently higher balbis posts and the lower columns and ankones as described by Valavanis.

Appendix 147

Since most of the holes were badly weathered and broken as well as missing their lead lining, 10 of the 12 posts were pinned in place by wooden wedges. But in the two cases in which the lead was preserved, we discovered that by leaving the posts out in the sun to dry and shrink, it was possible to slip them easily into the lead sheathing in the early evening when the lead had cooled and also shrunk. By the next morning, the dew from the night had caused the posts to swell and fill the holes tightly and securely. Deliberate dampening during the day, aided by the expansion of the lead in the heat of the sun, would also have created this tight fit. We further noted that the sides of the lead lining are smooth as if from wear and do not possess some of the sharp edges that one might have expected of lead that was poured while molten around a post that subsequently eroded, leaving its negative impression in the surface of the lead.

This raises, again, the question about the use of the lead in these holes. Broneer had stated that the purpose of the lead in the post holes at Isthmia (and by extension elsewhere) was to fasten turning posts "in the sill so firmly that the runner could grab his post with his left hand and swing around with a minimum loss of time and momentum."307 Sweet, realizing that such a use for the posts would be awkward, at best, for the hoplitodromoi, hypothesized that those runners reversed the normal—and so far as I know, universal—counterclockwise turn to the left to make a clockwise turn to the right.308 As I have pointed out elsewhere, there is no ancient evidence for any turn in a clockwise fashion or for swinging on the posts.309

After our experience with slipping the posts into and out of the lead lining (fig. 110), I must wonder if the real purpose of the lead was not precisely to facilitate such a practice. Indeed, once we remember that the wood, if left in these holes between celebrations of the games every two years, would soon rot, and that for just such reasons the hysplex itself had to be removable,310 such a conclusion seems inevitable. The combination of lead and wood, then, made it possible both to fix the posts firmly during the day, and yet easily to put them into place—quickly and precisely vertical and aligned with each other—the evening before the games and to remove them again the evening after the games.

We cut a 13th post with the same dimensions as those just mentioned, and it fit neatly into the base of the kampter. That base has no lead in it, and I cannot tell if it ever did. If it was unleaded, the posts of the balbis and the kampter were of the same dimensions, as we have recreated them. If it was leaded, the post that originally fit into this base was either smaller than those of the balbis or of a different type altogether with the socket in the base actually representing a dowel hole for the attachment of a pillar significantly larger than the socket.

For each of the two hysplex machines we manufactured a column to rest in the semicircular cutting in the balbis at the back of the base (figs. 15-17, 111). The column at the left was 0.295 m. in diameter and 1.24 m. high. Of that height, 0.19 m. was embedded in the stone cutting on the back side and wedged in place by the wooden blocks on the front side. The height of the column above the balbis was therefore, like that of the posts, 1.05 m. The column on the right also extended to a height of

307. Broneer 51. 308. Sweet 31. 309. "The Stadium at Nemea and the Nemean Games," Proceedings 86 n. 26. 310. See above, p. 30 and nn. 90, 93, 111.

1.05 m., but because the stone at the bottom of the socket is broken away, the bottom of the column rested on the earth surface at a depth of 0.25 m. as excavated below the bottom of the stone for a total height of 1.30 m. Its diameter is slightly less than 0.25 m.

Wedged into the bases in front of these columns were three pieces of wood as suggested by Valavanis on the basis of the three back-to-front broad stepped levels (fig. 111).311 We did not, however, extend the side pieces of wood above the level of the top of the stone as Valavanis suggests because we felt that the device would be more sturdy and secure if it was entirely encased in the stone. Thus we attempted (but not always completely successfully) to bring the upper surfaces of all the wooden blocks to a level with the upper surfaces of the stone bases. This resulted, as will be noted below, in considerable variations in heights between, and within, wooden blocks because of variations in the stone cuttings on which the wooden blocks rest. All six of these blocks began with a length of 0.72 m., and all were cut down to varying degrees to fit around the column although the two outer blocks of each base retain their full original length on their outer faces.312 If the other dimensions of the blocks of wood from the two bases are compared in a mirror-image fashion, interesting facts emerge:

311. See above, pp. 38-39. We labeled the blocks, starting from the west, from A through Z, as will be seen in the table below; see figs. 113 and 114.

312. Several hours of patient cutting and fitting had to be done by the Briles couple. Some of this was done in his shop with heavy tools, but the final touches had to be done on the spot (fig. 112) as they worked the surface of the wood to bring as much of it as possible into contact with the stone, which has considerable irregularities. This maximization of contact was crucial to the distribution of weight and pressure over the largest possible area of stone surface.

First, we note that there is considerable difference of dimension from one wooden block to the next within a single base unit and that the central blocks of each unit are quite different from one another. But, even though the outer and inner blocks of a single unit (A and Γ, Δ and Z, respectively) are also very different, the outside blocks of both units (A and Z) and the inside blocks of both units (A and Γ) are quite similar to one another in their widths (0.171 vs. 0.178; 0.220 vs. 0.230). Finally, the widths of the inside blocks are about 0.05 m. greater than the widths of the outside blocks. An explanation for this will be offered below, but at least we can already say that there appears to be some system at work which was not so apparent from the cuttings alone.

It needs also to be noted that both of the central blocks, although retained at their full height at the rear of the system where they are wedged up against the columns, were cut down for a depth of 0.105 m. to a point 0.105 m. behind (south of) the axis of the cuttings that extend to the outside of the base supports. As will be seen below, this was to allow installation and operation space for the "heel" of the ankon and for the neura in which it was embedded (figs. I l l , 113-115).

The next step was to drill horizontal holes with a diameter of about 0.05 m. through the side blocks A and Γ, Δ and Z. These were aligned with the axes of the cuttings that run to the outside of the stone support bases. The size of the drilled holes was dictated by a desire to make them as large as possible, on the one hand, and by a fear of making them so large that the wood would be weakened, on the other. Their purpose was, obviously, for the passage of the neura.

It was now time to provide an anchor for the neura, which we did by means of countersinking an iron bar, 0.015 m. square, that runs the full length of the block (0.72 m.), thereby distributing the pressure to come from the torsion over the maximum amount of wooden surface possible. This was done only on the "inside" blocks (Γ and Δ), and this bar might be thought of as in some way analogous to the epizygis discussed above.3 1 5

Although we had originally thought that a similar bar should be placed on the "outside" blocks, it became clear that such a bar interfered with the introduction of

313. This is the maximum width at the bottom of the block, but the width is less at the top in order to accommodate the inward slope of the cutting in the stone base, and I give it in parentheses.

314. This the the maximum height at the center of the block, but the lower corners are beveled to fit the cutting in the stone below so that the height on the outer surfaced is 0.14 m.

315. See pp. 40 f. Of course, since torsion is to be introduced only from the "outside" blocks, this bar is immobilized, apparently unlike the epizygis that was used in association with the choinikis in catapults. The difference is the result of the introduction of torsion from both sides of the catapult frame. For ancient examples of various types of the choinikis, made of cast bronze, see D. Baatz, "Recent Finds of Ancient Artillery," Britannia 9 (1978) 4-6. I thank G. Sines of UCLA for this reference. See also D. Baatz, "Ein Katapult der Legio IV Macedonica aus Cremona," RM 87 (1980) 283-299; Baatz (1982) 213-222; and Baatz (1985) 680-688. Examples of the iron epizygis are not so frequently preserved. At Ephyra, for example, only one epizygis is preserved, although there were probably originally as many as 28; see Baatz (1982) 225-226.

torsion and that a smooth surface was needed for the turning of our version of the syrinx. Thus large metal iron washers with an exterior diameter of 0.115 m. and an interior opening diameter of 0.053 m. were countersunk at the point of exit of the horizontal hole on the outside block toward the channels cut in the stone support bases (figs. 116, 117). Although clearly the analogy is not precise, these washers might be thought of as reflecting, but only in part, the choinikides. That they are only slightly countersunk on the surface of the wooden blocks as opposed to the greater countersinking of the bar on the "inside" blocks means that the thickness of the wood that forms the working, pressure-resisting, frame of the hysplex is roughly the same on both sides. This explains the difference in the overall thicknesses of the blocks as noted in the table above.

Now the rope (neura) was passed through the holes and looped around the iron bar on the inside block so that there were three strands on each side of the bar and the ends of the rope were sufficiently beyond the outside block. The amount of rope was limited by the size of the holes, although we clearly wanted to use as much rope as possible in order both to increase the torsion produced and to reduce the likelihood of breaking the ropes.

The next step was to place the blocks into the stone base, outer blocks first and the central block last. With all these, and the columns, now in place, the elements were wedged tightly and securely against one another, and we should note that the wooden blocks helped considerably—in fact were indispensable—in the fixing of the vertical columns behind them. Assuming that our reconstruction is, to this point, more or less like the real hysplex of antiquity, I must agree with Valavanis's suggestion that the

outer blocks (Α, Γ, Δ, and Z), with their metallic attributes now embedded in them, are very strong candidates for the parastades of the Delian inscriptions.3 1 6

Now the ends of the rope were passed through the "outside" blocks and thence through a metal pipe situated in the channels of the stone base. The diameter of this pipe (0.06 m.) was dictated by the size of the rope; the length (0.15 m.) was somewhat arbitrary, although considerations of working space (i.e., long enough to be able to work with it but not so long as to be unwieldy or to extend beyond the outer surfaces of the stone base) provided general guidelines. This is clearly our version of the ancient syrinx.

At the outside end of the pipe and perpendicular to its long axis were drilled matching holes through which an iron pin with a diameter of 0.016 m. and a length of 0.14 m. was inserted. On either side of it passed three of the six strands of rope organized in the same grouping as the loop around the iron bar on the other side of the hysplex. This pin was, again in vague terms, the equivalent of the epizygis. The ends of the rope were tied down as tightly as possible on this pin (fig. 111).

At this point, and before entering the ankon into the neura, it was important to counter twist the ropes on the inside part of the hysplex in such a way as to allow the torsion introduced from the far side to be translated to this side. As noted above,3 1 7

316. See above, pp. 35, 30-39. Does the language of Vitruvius (10.10.2) support such an identification when he calls the sides of the frame of the catapult "parastaticae dextra ac sinistra"? I also wonder if we would be justified in identifying the central blocks (B and E) with the mesostates known from the frame for the euthytonos, above p. 35 and n. 106.

317. See p. 42. At this point our neura-rope looks very like that in the reconstruction of a miniature onager shown in Marsden II, pl. 14.

Appendix 155

this pre-twisting was important to keep the ankon more or less centered in the frame so that it could move freely without contact with any surfaces. But we discovered that the pre twisting, if done in the proper direction, also increased significantly the force of the torsion.318

Now the ankon could be inserted between the two groups of rope and the rope twisted by means of the pipe and pin. It was usually possible to make two or three turns by hand, but the final twisting was done by means of a pipe (of an arbitrary length but sufficient to provide good leverage) the inner diameter of which was just slightly larger than the outer diameter of the pin so that by slipping this thin pipe over the pin one was able to exert a great deal of pressure. When the limits of possible pressure were reached, a wedge of wood placed between the pin and the stone below held the tensed rope in torsion. The next step was to lift the ankon into a vertical position, thus "cocking" it for release by the addition of a quarter turn of torsion on the ropes.

Several additional details about this process should be presented here. (1) The ankon was a round piece of wood, 0.055 m. in diameter with a height of

1.15 m. Given that the central wooden block was cut down 0.105 m., it thus protruded 1.05 m. (allowing 0.005 m. for movement of the "heel" of the ankon) above the level of the balbis, as did all the vertical members in our reconstruction. The first few times we released it, there was a "hesitation" at the point of release. This was due to the flat bottom of the post the corners of which caught on the recessed upper surface of the central wooden block. By rounding that end of the post, we enabled the ankon to fall fluidly and immediately.

(2) As torsion was increased, and particularly during the "cocking" action, there was a noticeable tendency for the wooden blocks to try to lift out of the stone base. The purpose of the undercut wedging of the three blocks into the base was surely intended to counteract this lifting pressure.

(3) The thin iron pipe used to apply greater pressure to the ropes is analogous to the mochlos (and at a different scale, to the skytale).319 I found this much preferable to a crank, which could not have produced as much pressure, and I am thereby forced to disagree with Valavanis's restoration of a crank.320 I would call attention to a fact that he makes clear in his text: no ancient source associates a crank with a hysplex. And the crank is the only technical term used by Valavanis for any part of the hysplex mechanism that is not mentioned in at least one source relevant to that mechanism. I also am not very happy with the notion that a pit had to be dug beyond the limits of the stone for the crank to be turned. My objections are not just those of aesthetics. Once torsion has been introduced, some means of holding that force in place until the desired time of release is necessary. Perhaps some sort of rächet catch existed, but it would have to have been tied to the release mechanism, and I think that is unnecessarily complicated—and perhaps a little too advanced—for this stage in the development of the hysplex. At the same time, our pipe and pin is probably a little too

318. The idea for the pre twisting came from Petros Briles, and for doing it in the proper way from John Quick. I thank both of them for this as for so much else in this project. The need for this pre twisting is the result of introducing torsion from only one side of the machine, unlike the situation with the catapult where there was a choinikis — epizygis set on both sides of the frame.

319. See above, pp. 42-43 with nn. 130, 132, and 133. 320. See above, pp. 43 f.

158 Appendix

simple, for the syrinx-choinikis element was surely a specially manufactured element of greater stability than our version even if the sources that mention it are rather later in date than our machine (see above, n. 315). But the point here is, what part of the ensemble is going to take the pressure of holding the torsion in check? I do not think that the earth, on the one hand, in a supposed crank pit is a very secure candidate, and I suspect that the wooden elements, on the other, ought not be be subjected to the sort of pressure that would tend to split them. But the stone base itself is clearly capable of undergoing such pressure, whether in the form of our simple wooden wedges or some more elaborate device. If this line of reasoning is valid, then the pipe-turning element ought not to extend beyond the line of the stone base, and the purpose of the cutting that runs to the outside of the support bases is revealed as providing space for the movement necessary to introduce torsion into the ropes as well as for a base to withstand the pressure of holding that torsion in check.

(4) The modern ground level at the balbis is slightly lower than the ancient level (because of test trenches), but it is still too high for the hysplex. On our initial trials, the ankon came down to hit, at a single point in its length, the corner of earth in front of the stone support base with the obvious danger that the ankon might snap at that point. It was therefore necessary to excavate a narrow "trough" (not yet done at the time when the photographs presented here were taken), the bottom of which was level with the neura so that the ankon would hit the earth along its full length. This gives added weight to Valavanis's observations about the similar "trough" found in the excavations at Corinth.321 But we would now add to the purpose of having the horizontal cords come down flat onto the ground, that of having the ankon also come down flat and thus lessening the danger of breaking it.

This increase of contact surface of wood with earth increased the characteristic bang—a noise heard distinctly and distinctively even before the "trough" was created but even more emphatically afterward.322

(5) After three or four "falls," the neura had to be tightened by an additional half turn on the pipe—sometimes a full turn if we had not succeeded in twisting the neura adequately at the beginning. I suspect that such a preliminary fine-tuning of the hysplex in antiquity might have been necessary to ensure that the system was working at the height of its capacity for the actual competitions (see above n. 129 and p. 42). Additional tightening might also have been required later in the day after a few races.

(6) After this extra tightening, the final quarter-turn cocking was extremely dim-cult and required great strength of arms, legs, and particularly back. As I watched others perform this task, and did it myself, I was absolutely convinced that Valavanis's explanation of Lykophron's metaphor—comparing the exertions of an oarsman to those of one who is cocking the hysplex—is correct.323 The positions—sitting in the boat/standing over the ankon—may be different, but the muscles of legs, back, and arms are strained in the same way.

321. See above, pp. 14 and 45. 322. No traces of such a trough were observed during the course of excavation in the Nemea stadium,

and given the biennial renewal of the track's surface, it is perhaps not surprising that none survived. 323. See above, p. 49 and n. 142.

Appendix 159

The Release System

We duplicated closely the system suggested by Valavanis324 with a short cord secured at one end to a nail in the top of the column and at the other end to an iron ring that slipped over an iron pin in the top of the ankon (fig. 118). This is the ring that held the force of the torsion in check and that released it when pulled by another, much longer, cord that was attached to the ring at one end and that ran back to the apex of the isosceles triangle to the hand of the aphetes.

The actual execution of the release proved interesting for while it is possible to perform it faultlessly repeatedly, to do so requires skill and strength. Four different people—including the two whose names appear on this work—tried their hand, and each failed to cause both ankones to fall together on the first try. Because it is necessary to have the rings at the extreme top of the pins of the ankones in a relatively treacherous position, the long pull cords must be raised deliberately and carefully off the ground. Next, the aphetes must be sure that the pull cords have as little sag as possible and that whatever sag exists is equal for each cord. Needless to say, the length of the pull cords—that is, the distance from aphetes' hand to ankon's ring—must be the same for each.

When he releases the ankones the aphetes must pull the cords upward equally and with considerable force. (It is the requisite strength and upward pull that caused all four "aphetai" their problems—none was predisposed to believe that so much of each was necessary.) Part of the reason for this is the height of the tops of the ankones, which, if lowered, might obviate some of the upward pull. But the main reason is that for the rings to slip off the pins of the ankones, the latter must be pulled slightly backward—and the torsion of the neura works in direct opposition to such a movement. Thus, Valavanis's interpretation325 of the semicircular pit south of the starting line at Nemea as a place for the aphetes to stand with the sloping bottom that would allow his weight to help in his pull is, I am certain, correct.

The Barriers

We tied two thin ropes to the ankones, one near the top at about waist height and one lower down at about knee height as shown by the Panathenaic amphora discussed by Valavanis above. The weight of these cords made them sag—as one expected—and pulled the ankones toward one another and forced them to rub against the sides of the wooden block frames of the hysplex. We therefore tied an additional rope to each ankon and pulled it out to the side to form a guy or stay. Since the end of the guy attached to the top of the ankon would follow the motion of the latter and ultimately therefore come to rest on the ground, it was important that the other end of the guy be anchored at ground level. To have anchored it at any height above the ground would have suspended the released and fallen ankones—and their connecting barrier cords—in midair. Thereby was a long-standing question answered.

324. See above, pp. 45 and 49. 325. See above, p. 48.

Appendix 161

Immediately north of the settling basin at the west end of the Nemea starting line is a large block the placement of which caused a westward shift in the location of the water channel north of the basin.326 This change in the water channel brings quickly to mind the similar change in the posts on the balbis occasioned by the addition of the hysplex.327 It is clearly tempting to think that both changes were the result of the same cause—the newly added hysplex. We tied one guy at the bottom of this block so that the cord would allow the ankon to fall flat on the ground (see above), and the block worked very well for the anchor of the guy at this end of the line (fig. 119). I am now confident that this was the original purpose of this block. The corresponding water basin and channel at the east end of the starting line also show clearly that the channel there was moved eastward from its original position.328 About 5 m. directly north of this location there was discovered in 1976, no longer in place, a block that is very similar in size and shape to that at the west end of the starting line.329 We had no qualms in placing (replacing?) it in a position analogous to its western mate, and it served equally well as an anchor for the guy at this end (fig. 120). We have, then, resolved the purpose of these two blocks in the stadium at Nemea.

By tightening the guys, it was possible to bring the two horizontal cords to an almost perfectly straight line (fig. 121), and the whole system was thus taut with torsion and tension waiting for release by the aphetes. I suspect that some similar system for the horizontal cords existed in other stadia, and the suggested use of wooden bars as barriers can be discarded. It is improbable in any event. First, the bars restored by Aupert at Delphi are extremely long and certainly would have sagged dramatically at their centers—and, unlike the cord and guy system, there is no way to straighten the sag.330 Secondly, as mentioned above, all meanings of the word hysplex have to do with rope or cord.331

If the guys were important to the system when it was cocked and the ankon was in a vertical position, they were equally important after the fall of the ankon, for they kept the horizontal barrier cords taut and thus held them firmly on the ground and prevented them from jumping and flapping and, thereby, creating a hazard for the runners' feet.

The use of these guys also explains another heretofore enigmatic detail of the Nemea stadium (see also above, p. 19). Why were the hysplex support bases set so far in from the ends of the balbis? Why was it necessary to waste two lanes at each end of the balbis, which in turn forced a rearrangement of the lanes so as to retrieve two of the four lost lanes? The answer is the need for the guys, and the additional consideration that the guys exert a downward force on the ankones. This force tends to drive the ankones down into the base of the hysplex, and the closer the anchor of the guy to

326. Nemea: A Guide 180 and fig. 63. 327. Nemea: A Guide 82; and above, pp. 19-19. 328. Miller (1976) 199 and pl. 42 b. 329. S.G. Miller, "Excavations at Nemea, 1976," Hesperia 46 (1977) pls. 13 c, and 15 d: it can be

seen lying off to the east side of the track where we placed it south of a much larger block found in the area. The original place of discovery of the block in question was about 3 meters west of the location seen in the photographs cited.

330. I must, then, disagree with Aupert 's theory of wooden bars, although I certainly share his (and Valavanis's) belief in the existence of a hysplex system at Delphi. See above, pp. 61-63; and Aupert 59-60.

331. See n. 12.

the ankon, the greater the downward force. Thus, given that the system could not extend outside the limits of the track as defined by the water channel,3 3 2 the guy anchor blocks were set at that limit, and the hysplex support bases were set into the balbis at the shortest distance permitted by the downward force of the guys. It should be noted that, even with that consideration effected, our ankones—used only a few dozentimes—wore depressions in the surfaces of the central wood blocks directly beneath them. This shows that the oblong depressions of wear on the bases at Corinth noted by Valavanis were, as he maintains, created by the friction of heels of the ankones.333 The absence of such indications of wear at other sites—including Nemea—should indicate that the wooden element passed beneath the heel of the ankon and protected the stone surface from wear at those sites. If this interpretation is correct, and considering that the friction of wood on wood is less than that of wood on stone, then we may well have another indication that the Corinthian system was the earliest of the four now known in the northeastern Peloponnesos3 3 4 and that the addition of the wooden protection—blocks Β and Ε in our reconstruction—was part of a refinement in a later stage of development of the hysplex. (We might also note that the central wooden block, even at a lowered level, greatly increases the stability of the frame and, hence, of the whole system. The two putative causes for its addition are not, obviously, mutually exclusive.)

332. The height of the top surface of the water channel is above the surface of the track, and were a guy to pass over the top of the water channel it would, as pointed out above, hold the ankon—and the cord barriers—above the ground surface and thereby provide difficulties for the runners.

333. See above, pp. 15 and 39, figs. 13-14. 334. See above, p. 15 and n. 159.

In the context of the barriers, we need also to consider the need for a central post or ankon that Valavanis restores on the Panathenaic amphora 3 3 5 and that he suggests was necessary to prevent excessive sag in the horizontal cords. As we subsequently learned, sufficient tension can be exerted through the guys to obviate the need for such a post. But initially we looked for evidence and discovered that a break along the front edge and very near the center of the length of the balbis had obscured a shallow cutting (0.056 m. deep) that is 0.065 m. square. Such a dimension does not, however, allow for both the lead lining of the other sockets in the balbis and a post of standard size (but see the kampter above). Further, one of its sides is the front edge of the block. In other words, it is effectively only three-sided and could never have secured a post by itself. Nonetheless, it was deliberately cut and seems to have had something to do with the starting system. We embedded another 0.065 χ 0.065 m. wooden post in the earth directly in front of this cutting in anticipation of using it somehow to support the cords—unnecessary in the event. But this post effectively divided the wider central lane into two smaller lanes about 1.10 m. wide as opposed to the roughly 1.30-m.-wide lanes otherwise typical of this phase of the balbis.336

335. See above, p. 29 and fig. 25. 336. See above, p. 19 and n. 64.

It should be pointed out that exactly on the place where we set this central post test excavations had revealed a cluster of three post holes cut through the bedrock and documenting that a post like ours did exist in that location at least some of the time in antiquity. See Stephen G. Miller, "Excavations at Nemea, 1979," Hesperia 49 (1980) 200 and pl. 51 b.

The System in Use

On July 18, 1993, we held a test of the working model. 3 3 7 Since the northern end of the track at Nemea is not preserved, we halved the length to 300 feet and decided to run the diaulos event, but at half its total length (i.e., an actual length of 600 feet or a stadion). The posts on the balbis were duplicated at the 300-foot mark in the form of smaller stakes driven into the ground at the same intervals from each other as the originals on the balbis. Given my obvious prejudice—supported by Valavanis—for lanes marked out for the short-distance races,3 3 8 it will not surprise that we used these posts as the point of contact for string guides for white sand lines that marked off the lanes (figs. 121-123). By using the central post mentioned above, we created 12 lanes, or, in the double-lane usage suggested for the diaulos, six pairs of lanes. Valavanis's

337. I would like to thank the Fourth Ephoreia of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities at Nauplion and its Ephor, Mrs. F. Pachyianne, for permission to stage this experiment. The participants were members of the track teams of the local high school at Nemea, coached by Mr. G. Velentsas, and of Drake High School in Marin County, California, coached by Mr. W. Taylor. The "hellanodikai" were the mayors of the towns of Archaia and Nea Nemea, Mr. K. Peppas and Mr. A. Kalles, respectively. The "aphetes" was Mr. Th. Zavitsas, and the "keryx" was Mr. D. Skotades. Preparations of the track were performed by A. Marmaras, K. Papoutses, V. Papoutses, K. Peppas, E. Skazas, and M. Skoupas. My sincere thanks to all of them, but especially to the students who actually ran: S. Anderson, M. Barrall, A. Butterfield, J. Eckert, H. Edde, V. Elia, Α. Glenn, Α. Greenwald, P. Iliopoulou, J. LaPlante, M. Liakou, Ν. Papadoyianni, A. Peppas, Κ. Peppas, and M. Skoupas.

338. See above, p. 30 and n. 86.

contention that this was one of the purposes of the posts339 gained credence in my mind, although the original purpose of the central post—if, indeed, it existed—remains obscure. Nonetheless, that central post did work very well for our purposes as the southern end of one dividing line, and the creation of an even number of lanes fits well with the notion of a pair of lanes for each runner in the diaulos.

We should also note in this regard that the kampter was almost exactly on a dividing line and thus was not an impediment to the running of the race (fig. 124).

As the athletes lined up for the race, we noted that they persisted in placing the rear foot significantly behind the rear groove: they simply and instinctively were not comfortable with the stance prescribed above with left foot slightly ahead of right, toes curled into the grooves, and leaning forward at the waist with arms stretched out over the top of the two horizontal cords.340 It was necessary for the "hellanodikai" to "coax" the runners to put their feet in the proper position by gentle taps with their switches on the offending ankles. I have to wonder, then, if the ancient stance was not equally uncomfortable for ancient athletes. Perhaps it was introduced by the same desire to provide an equal start for all the runners as is to be seen in the introduction of the hysplex. This is surely the meaning of Moeris's reference to the two grooves in the balbis as understood by Valavanis.341 By forcing the feet of the athletes to fit into

339. Ibid. 340. This stance has produced negative comments from every modern athlete who has been con

fronted with it. I had thought that the modern aversion was due to the current practice of using starting blocks with the feet apart and a four-point stance, but I now believe that the ancient stance is simply unnatural. See above, n. 86, for the stances used a century ago.

341. See above, p. 4 and n. 24.

168 Appendix

those grooves—as we did at Nemea with the modern runners—we assured an equal starting stance for every runner.

The start of the races was accompanied by a verbal command from the aphetes. Our version was a three-part shout using the words "έτοιμοι," "εμπρός," "απιτε," the last of which was dictated by the documented use of the word in antiquity.3 4 2 It became clear that the athletes tried to synchronize a rocking motion with the rhythm of the commands from the "aphetes" so that the upper parts of their bodies would be moving forward—no matter how slightly—with the third command. It thus seems likely to me that such a system of rhythm—whether introduced by verbal commands or by the accompaniment of a flute—was used in antiquity. It was certainly clear that the invention and use of the hysplex in no way obviates the need for an audible starting signal.

But the major question that was answered by the experiment at Nemea was whether the feet of the runners would become tangled in the cords that were thrown down in front of them by the ankones of the hysplex.343 The answer is that there were absolutely no problems. To be sure, a couple of the runners—obviously very concerned with the possibility of tripping—hopped or jumped out over the cords. But most simply put their heads down and ran over and beyond the cords without fear and without mishap (figs. 125-128).344 Given the much greater speed of the fall of the cords compared with that of the first steps by the athletes,3 4 5 and the position of the cords fiat on the ground and naturally located between the first and second footfall of the runners,

342. See above, n. 8. The American equivalent is "on your mark," "get set," "go!" A more authentic version has been pointed out to me by Valavanis: πόδα παρά πόδα: έτοιμοι: απιτε.

343. See above, p. 45 and η. 136. Every one of the dozens of visitors to Nemea with whom I had previously discussed Valavanis's theoretical reconstruction of the hysplex had voiced this possibility of entanglement and tripping as a major objection to Valavanis's hysplex.

344. As is visible in the photographs (figs. 125-128) and also to be seen in videotapes taken at the event, the first step of most of the athletes was with the right foot, which fell naturally just short of the lower cord. The second step (with the left foot) fell beyond the upper cord, again always naturally and with no special forethought or maneuver. Two of the athletes, however, made an apparently instinctive short first step with the left foot before the first full stride with the right. This extra left foot half-step caused the right foot to fall, in two cases (but with the same athlete), directly on top of the lower cord, which was already at rest on the ground, and in one case (fig. 127) just beyond the lower cord. Again, no tangle resulted, nor was any possible with the cord held firmly down by the weight of the foot resting temporarily on it. It is perhaps significant that these two athletes are left-handed, but so too was a third whose footfalls were "normal."

345. The same analysis of the videotapes referred to above showed that as the barrier fell, the center of the cords, and particularly of the upper cord, lagged behind the ends, which were tied to the ankones. The result was that a slight arc was extended along the cords as they fell. Further, the ankones and the cords bounced two or three centimeters back up into the air after their initial smash on the ground and then came back down to rest fully on the ground. Arc and bounce occurred so quickly—thanks to the great torsion introduced to the hysplex—that neither was apparent to the naked eye but was captured on film. The bounce was also completed well before the first foot of the athletes hit the ground. The success of the whole system depends on the speed with which the ankones and the cords hit the ground, and that speed is a function of the mechanically produced torsion of the hysplex. It is this element of the "machine" that sets the late Classical hysplex apart from the early Classical predecessor at Isthmia. I note in this context that the Isthmia example was used for a short period; see above, p. 8 and n. 44, and Broneer 50, 138. I have to wonder if it was actually used more than once. That early attempt clearly failed because it could not provide an assuredly equal start for all the runners. Its operation of individual gates made it quite possible that some gates would open earlier than others as the string and staple system for each gate responded to the aphetes in different ways. Even the greater friction developed in the strings of the gates farther from the aphetes could, at least in theory, have retarded the fall of those gates. The late Classical system, as seen now at

Appendix 169

such an absence of fear and of actual mishaps is natural. The theoretical possibility of tripping was not encountered in the event, and it provides no basis for objections to the hysplex system as restored by Valavanis.

In other words, the working model based on Valavanis's hypothetical hysplex functioned extremely well and was appreciated by the whole crowd of about 200 spectators— mostly parents—who gathered to watch the "New Nemean Games". 3 4 6 Particularly gratifying were the silence that fell upon the crowd as the athletes tensed on the balbis in anticipation of the start of the race and the unsolicited comments of several in the crowd about the sharp, harsh, and pervasive "bang" from the hysplex as its ankones threw the cords to the ground and the races began. This bang was amplified in the cavity of the Nemea stadium and was actually best heard near the rim. It is clearly the ψόφος referred to in the ancient sources.

The Finish

Valavanis rightly expresses interest in the question of how the winner was determined.3 4 7 It was a simple task for our "hellanodikai" to see who crossed the balbis first, second, and even third. There will have been cases when the finish was extremely close, but our experience (admittedly limited, but in a very short distance race where the field will have been the closest at the end of the race) suggests that extremely close finishes were the exception and that the presence of a committee of "hellanodikai" will have assured—usually—that the winner was determined fairly.348

Nemea, with its single barrier for all the athletes and its machine-driven fast fall, clearly provided a secure equal start for all.

[As of June 1, 1996, when the first modern Nemean Games were celebrated in the presence of some 6,000 or 7,000 spectators with 520 athletes from 29 different countries, the reconstructed hysplex at Nemea has been used more than 65 times, and there have been no problems with its operation and no misadventures for the athletes.]

346. It was interesting and perhaps worth mentioning that although most of the crowd had gathered in the curved end of the théâtral area (where the view of the track is best) before the races began, they instinctively moved to the sides for a better view of the races even though such a move forced many of them from the shade and into the sun. The preference for sideline over end-zone seats seems to be a natural, and perhaps venerable, one. On this point, see Robert C. Knapp in Nemea II: The Early Hellenistic Stadium forthcoming.

347. See above, pp. 59-61. 348. For the three-man committee of the hellanodikai at Olympia who were concerned with the

footraces, and for a rare case of disagreement between them—caused apparently by local favoritism by some of the judges—about the winner of a race, see Pausanias 6.3.7 (= Arete 74, #79) .

By the exchange rate current in the summer of 1993, this was roughly the equivalent of $1,500. How does this compare with the ancient cost of the hysplex? We know that Philon of Corinth was to have produced the hysplex for the Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidauros for 500 drachmas.3 5 0 If the formula I have proposed elsewhere351 has any validity, this should be the equivalent of $11,000. At first glance, this appears to be very different from the cost of our hysplex at Nemea, but the difference is not really so great. First, the contract at Epidauros must have been for the whole system at both ends of the track so that our $1,500 must immediately be doubled to $3,000. Secondly, we received, as noted above, a great discount on the price of the wood so that our total for both ends of the track would have been closer to $4,000. Thirdly, and most important, a part of Philon's work must have included the construction of the four stone support bases for the hysplex and their placement up against the balbis. I do not know how to estimate the value of that work, but it clearly would take our costs closer to the supposed cost of $11,000 for the whole if we had been required to find the stone for the bases and then shape and place them. 3 5 2 Finally, there must have been some profit for Philon. If we factor into the costs of our reconstruction the

349. This is the expense of the lamination of the wood, cutting it to size, and working it to a precise fit against the stone base. Br. Briles actually only charged me 80,000 drachmas for this work, but stated emphatically that he "would have charged an Athenian at least 150,000 drachmas." Note, too, that we received a hefty discount on the cost of the wood itself. See above, n. 301.

350. IG IV, l 2 , 98. See above, p. 50 and n. 152. I am afraid that my translation of this text in Arete # 6 1 is misleading. The contract price for the work must have been 500 drachmas, on which are based (1) the amount paid to Philon for the work actually done (200 drachmas); (2) the remainder, which he was not to receive (300 drachmas); (3) and the penalty for failure to complete the contract (50% of the remainder, or 150 drachmas). The upshot is that Philon gets 50 drachmas for the 40% of the work he was judged to have accomplished. The basic problem stems, I believe, from the obscure meaning of the word ζημία as "expense" as opposed to its more usual meaning of "penalty." This is exacerbated by its appearance in the same text with the verbal form ζημιόω which does mean "to penalize."

351. Arete x-xi. 352. Although there is no evidence, and a certain amount of speculation is required, one might

suppose that the 40% of the contract that Philon fulfilled represents the stone bases that, as we know from the excavations at Epidauros (see above, pp. 10-19) were actually installed. It does not require too much fantasy to imagine the agonothetes and the Hellanodikai waiting impatiently in front of the athletes and the spectators at the games of Asklepios for the arrival of the wooden frames of the hysplex that were to be set in the stone bases that had already been prepared. If such a suggestion were to be proven correct, then the cost of the stone work—in preparation for the setting of the hysplex—might have been in the range of $2,500 to $3,000, taking us even closer to the $11,000 total.

Appendix 173

value of my own labor (slight though it be), I believe that we would probably be close to the hypothetical cost of $11,000 for the hysplex system at Epidauros. Certainly the ancient cost and the modern—to the degree that we can establish them—are sufficiently similar to suggest that we are on the right track.

Conclusion

The re-creation of the hysplex in accordance with the theories of Valavanis—with minor changes—was a success in every way. This may not prove that his is the hysplex system that was actually used in antiquity at Nemea and elsewhere, but I am convinced that no other system will come so close to satisfying all the requirements of the ancient texts, of the cuttings on the actual stone bases, and of the need to be removable and to function properly and faultlessly.

Stephen G. Miller Berkeley, California

June 1, 1994

P. Valavanis Hysplex, The Starting Mechanism in Ancient Stadia

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