Javelins - Written and Pictorial Sources

[Astiryu1]

I am looking for comprehensive source material (single or multiple source) on Javelin Practice. I know that the Ancient Olympics had Javelin tossing as a sport and obviously they were used in the Military and hunting as well so I am wondering if there is any pointers anyone passed on to us from back in the day.

Some points I am looking for-

Target?
Common Distance thrown to qualify or train for
Any winners or extraordinary feats with Javelins
Javelin Descriptions Lengths,Weights,etc.
Number of Javelins Carried Commonly
or anything else...

I like Javelins... :mrgreen:

[M. Caecilius]

Did Javelin-throwing exist as a discipline of its own, rather than as a part of the pentathlon? Some of the victors of the latter are listed, for instance in Phlegon of Thralles (Timarchus of Mantineia in the 121st) and Pausanias (search the two parts on Elis on Perseus for Pentathlum), but none are mentioned for javelin in particular.

There are a number of vase paintings - for instance, a Vulcian kylix - which you could use, but you ask for written sources.

Some sources (e.g. http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Olympic3.htm) point out that the athletes would use a loop attached to the javelin to throw it further, but this author's reliance on Seneca's Phaedra that the javelin-throwers could exceed the range Cretan archers is perhaps taken too directly. There's some interesting information there, though.

The other source I can think of is Pliny's de jaculatione equestri (on throwing [javelins] from horseback), but there is the slight inconvenient that this work has not survived, although we can assume it explained how to use the horse's own movement to make a better throw. You may also want to check the Cynegeticum (which suggests two javelins for hunting, though I did not have the time to read it fully) and other literary works on Hunting.

This is pretty much brainstorming, but I hope it helps to kick this off.

[hoplite14gr]

Some sources are very lax in their discription. In the protype you will the the verb

"ikontizon" (plural, past tense) literally meaning casting javelines. But some times its used to mean "raining missiles upon the target".

Some other times the sources talk of "toxeumata" literally meaning "bow missiles" but somrtimes they use it to describe all missiles in general.

Kind regards

[M. Caecilius]

The same lack of precision is found in Latin, too. "Telum", more frequently encountered as plural "tela" can also mean just about any kind of missile, as far as I am aware.

[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.

[Astiryu1]

Thanks guys! The links may help though it is a pity that Pliny's work didn't survive. 300 feet is the consensus? That is roughly 100 yards and I will give it a shot with what I have now. I will get back to this as soon as I can. I need to figure out if my library has JSTOR access. I hope it does.

[Astiryu1]

From:
www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Olympic3.htm

"ekivolos ( &epsilonκήβολος) distance throw and stohastikos (στοχαστικός) thwrowing to a target"

There is a reference to target throwing but is there anything else? I do know of the Vase Paintings but most (if any) don't have the details that I seek. It is a shame that this is apparently the humdrum sport of the Ancient Olympics. I always liked watching it.

P.S.- added "pictorial" to title