DOI article:
No. I: Pythagoras of Rhegion and the early athlete statues
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11444#0361
326
APPENDIX.
L1-
more, sports became an end in themselves, until athletic exercise
became a profession, and all the time, the exertion and aspirations
of an individual became subservient to this acquisition. A similar
tendency may be noticed in modern times.
We know that the KapyjKOfxowvTes 'A^atoi took great pride in their
long and thick hair, and it was not only the case in the heroic age, that
short or thin hair was considered ungainly. So the ugly Thersites is
described ijjeSvrj 8' lirwrjvoOe Xdxy>]- Even in the historic age the same
tradition survived. Only the slaves were K£Kapp,tvoi and were not
allowed to wear long hair1. Long hair prevailed throughout the whole
of Greece. In Sparta Lycurgus fixed the custom by law2; the Spartans
not only considered long hair ornamental, but also useful, and devoted
great care to its preservation and adornment3; before the battle they
combed and braided their hair4. In Attica, and especially at Athens,
long hair was also worn, and after the time of the Alkmaeonidae specially
luxurious and ornamental forms of head-dress, such as the Kpu>/3v\.os,
seem to have come into fashion5.
Now it is evident that the free-born Greek youth was unwilling to
sacrifice his long hair, in which he took such pride, to avoid inconveni-
ence during his exercises in the palaestra, or on every occasion that
he took part in one of the national games. On the other hand, though
long hair must have been a great impediment in many of the daily
exercises, and especially in the palaestra, we can still conceive of its being
less troublesome in some of the lighter games of the pentathlon, such
as running, jumping, throwing the discus or the spear. But in wrestling,
boxing, and in the pancration0 (a combination of the two), the trouble
caused by long hair must have been too great. They were driven,
therefore, to have recourse to such a disposal of their hair as would
render it least in their way; this would consist in braiding the hair into
two long plaits, and in compactly laying these two braids round the
back of the head, along each side, and firmly tying them in front on the
top. This is a simple means of disposing of long hair, which we must
assume to have been adopted as the most practical.
1 Aristoph. Av. 1. 911.
- Xenophon, De Republ. Lac. c. xi. § 3 ; cf. J. H. Krause, Plolhia, od. liber die
Kosliimc des Hattpthaarcs bci den Vblkern der alten Welt, Leipzig, 1858. Absclm.
III.
" Plutarch, Apophthegm, reg. et. imperat. T. i. p. 754; Lacon. Apophthegm, p. 917;
Lycurg. c. 22.
4 Herodotus, vii. c. 208. 5 Thucydides, 1. 6.
8 Special mention is even made of a peculiar head-dress of the pancratiasts, cf.
Krause, Hellenica, I. Gymnastik und Agonislik der Gricchen, &c, p. 54.
APPENDIX.
L1-
more, sports became an end in themselves, until athletic exercise
became a profession, and all the time, the exertion and aspirations
of an individual became subservient to this acquisition. A similar
tendency may be noticed in modern times.
We know that the KapyjKOfxowvTes 'A^atoi took great pride in their
long and thick hair, and it was not only the case in the heroic age, that
short or thin hair was considered ungainly. So the ugly Thersites is
described ijjeSvrj 8' lirwrjvoOe Xdxy>]- Even in the historic age the same
tradition survived. Only the slaves were K£Kapp,tvoi and were not
allowed to wear long hair1. Long hair prevailed throughout the whole
of Greece. In Sparta Lycurgus fixed the custom by law2; the Spartans
not only considered long hair ornamental, but also useful, and devoted
great care to its preservation and adornment3; before the battle they
combed and braided their hair4. In Attica, and especially at Athens,
long hair was also worn, and after the time of the Alkmaeonidae specially
luxurious and ornamental forms of head-dress, such as the Kpu>/3v\.os,
seem to have come into fashion5.
Now it is evident that the free-born Greek youth was unwilling to
sacrifice his long hair, in which he took such pride, to avoid inconveni-
ence during his exercises in the palaestra, or on every occasion that
he took part in one of the national games. On the other hand, though
long hair must have been a great impediment in many of the daily
exercises, and especially in the palaestra, we can still conceive of its being
less troublesome in some of the lighter games of the pentathlon, such
as running, jumping, throwing the discus or the spear. But in wrestling,
boxing, and in the pancration0 (a combination of the two), the trouble
caused by long hair must have been too great. They were driven,
therefore, to have recourse to such a disposal of their hair as would
render it least in their way; this would consist in braiding the hair into
two long plaits, and in compactly laying these two braids round the
back of the head, along each side, and firmly tying them in front on the
top. This is a simple means of disposing of long hair, which we must
assume to have been adopted as the most practical.
1 Aristoph. Av. 1. 911.
- Xenophon, De Republ. Lac. c. xi. § 3 ; cf. J. H. Krause, Plolhia, od. liber die
Kosliimc des Hattpthaarcs bci den Vblkern der alten Welt, Leipzig, 1858. Absclm.
III.
" Plutarch, Apophthegm, reg. et. imperat. T. i. p. 754; Lacon. Apophthegm, p. 917;
Lycurg. c. 22.
4 Herodotus, vii. c. 208. 5 Thucydides, 1. 6.
8 Special mention is even made of a peculiar head-dress of the pancratiasts, cf.
Krause, Hellenica, I. Gymnastik und Agonislik der Gricchen, &c, p. 54.