Javelins - Written and Pictorial Sources

[D B Campbell]

I like Javelins... :mrgreen:

You probably need H.A. Harris, "Greek javelin throwing", Greece & Rome 10 (1963), pp. 26-36 (http://www.jstor.org/stable/642789)!

Target?

The sources only talk about an "area" -- maybe like the modern javelin-throwing event?

Common Distance thrown to qualify or train for

The poet Statius describes a chariot-racing stadium, and says that, between the turning-posts (which ought to be a stade, 600 Greek feet = 185m, but might be more*), "there lay a space thou mightest reach with four times a javelin's cast, with thrice an arrow's flight" (Statius, Thebaid 6.353-4, with apologies for the 1928 Loeb translation) -- meaning that (a) a javelin could be thrown 3/4 as far as you could shoot an arrow, and (b) this might be 150 feet/46m (but might be further -- it doesn't seem very far).

* Harris reckons that a hippodrome could be 400-600 yards long, making the javelin-throw about 300 feet.