Two bronze statuettes in the Metropolitan Museum,[1621] New York, belonging to the second half of the fifth century B. C., may be representations on a small scale of pentathletes with the _akontion_. The first shows a youth standing with the weight of the body on the left foot, the right drawn slightly back. The left hand, held close to the side, may have carried an akontion, the right arm being extended. The other, more carelessly executed, represents a youth standing similarly with his weight on the left foot, the right being drawn back. Here again the left arm is hanging by the side, and probably held the same attribute as the first statuette. The right arm is also bent at the elbow. A patera may have been held in the outstretched hand of each. The square build, short thighs, flat abdomen, long skull, and oval face are all Polykleitan characteristics, and remind us of the series of kindred works already discussed, which, as Furtwaengler believed, went back to the original statue of the boy wrestler Xenokles at Olympia, the work of the younger Polykleitos.[1622]
Wrestling (πάλη) is perhaps the oldest, and in any case is the most universal, of athletic sports. Wall-paintings at Beni-Hasan on the Nile, dating from about 2000 B. C., show nearly all the grips and throws now known.[1623] Plato says that this sport was instituted in mythical times.[1624] In Greece its origin is lost in mythology.[1625] The very name _palaistra_, “wrestling school,” indicates the early importance of the contest. It was one of the most popular of Greek sports from the time of Homer down.[1626] This popularity is shown by the frequency with which it appears in mythology and art. Early b.-f. vases picture Herakles wrestling with giants and monsters. Here we see the same holds and throws as in the palæstra scenes on later r.-f. vases. The whole history of coins down to imperial days shows such scenes. No other exercise required so much strength and agility, and consequently wrestling matches early became a part of the great games. At Olympia wrestling was introduced in Ol. 18 (= 708 B. C.), the same year in which the pentathlon was instituted.[1627] The boys’ match appeared there less than a century later in Ol. 37 (= 632 B. C.).[1628] Pausanias mentions statues erected to 36 victors (for 45 victories), which makes this contest second only in importance to boxing there.
