236 VICTOR STATUES REPRESENTED IN MOTION. 
of the glove in Greece is attested by its origin being ascribed to the 
myth of Amykos, king of the Bebrykes.!_ Gloves were already known to 
Homer, who speaks of “well-cut thongs of ox-hide.”? ‘They are not 
mentioned in any detail before the time of Pausanias and Philostratos, 
so that we are mostly dependent for our knowledge of them on the 
monuments. ‘The simplest form consisted of long, thin ox-hide thongs, 
which were wound round the hands, the soft gloves (iuavtes yada- 
K@Tepor or wecAcxat) of later writers.” They were used, not to deaden 
the blow, but to increase its force. Vase-paintings show that the thongs 
were about 10 or 12 feet long before being wound.* On the exterior 
of a r.-f. kylix from Vulci by Douris, in the British Museum, showing 
chiefly boxing scenes, we see two youths standing before a paidotribes 
preparing to put on the thongs (Fig. 54).° One of them is holding the 
unwound thong in his outstretched hands. A similar figure appears 
on the r.-f. vase in Philadelphia already discussed (Fig. 50b), which 
represents a palestrascene.® ‘This scene has been wrongly interpreted 
as an illustration of the game of oxamépdn described by Pollux’ as a 
sort of tug-of-war, the unwound thong being explained as the rope used 
in this game,® and the hurling-sticks stuck in the ground at either end 
as goals instead of akontia. A wound thong is seen hanging on the wall 
to the left. Philostratos describes how the boxing thongs were put on,? 
and vase-paintings illustrate the method.!® ‘The bext example of the 
thongs on statuary 1s afforded by the bronze arm found in the sea off 
Antikythera (Cerigotto) (Fig. 52), which Svoronos" believes to be a rem- 
nant of the statue of the Nemean victor Kreugas of Epidamnos, which 
1Schol. on Plato, de Leg., VIII, 796 A; Clem. Alexandr., Strom., I, 16.76. 
2iudvras éUrunrovs Bods aypavAovo: Il., XXIII, 684. In the Odyssey Iros and Odysseus fight with 
bare fists. 
3. g., P., VI, 23.4 and VIII, 40. 3; Apoll. Rhod., Argon., II, 52-53; cf. Plato, de Leg., VIII, 830 B. 
4F. g., on ar.-f. kylix in the British Museum: B. M. Vases, E 63, and Pl. II]; Juethner, p. 68, 
fig. 54; Gardiner, p. 403, fig. 132; it represents boxers with bundles of thongs in their hands 
standing before an official. 
5B. M. Vases, E 39; J. H.S., XXVI, Pl. XII; Gardiner, p. 404, fig. 133; Juethner, p. 66, fig. 53; 
Hoppin, Hbk. Attic r.-f. Vases, p. 237, Pl. On the interior of another a youth is seen, thongs in 
hand, standing before an altar: Murray, Designs from Gk. Vases in the British Museum, Pl. VI, 24. 
SMuseum no. 2444; Trans. Univ. Penn. Mus., II, 1906-1907, Pl. XX XV, b, and p. 142 (text by 
W.N. Bates). 
7] X, 116. A similar game is mentioned by Plato, Theaet., X XVII (=181 A). On both games, see 
Krause, pp. 323 f. 
8Juethner, pp. 69 f., rightly explains such objects as boxing thongs. 
*GhlO: cab VLE ees 
107’. g., on the kylix just mentioned, E 39; on ar.-f. amphora in Munich (Jahn, no. 411B): Hart- 
wig, Die griech. Meisterschalen, p. 410, fig. 55; on the interior of a r.-f. kylix in Munich, no. 1156: 
Juethner, p. 70, fig. 56; and on the interior of the r.-f. kylix in the British Museum to be discussed, 
E 78 (=Fig. 55): Murray, Designs from Gr. Vases in the B. M., Pl. XIV, 55; Juethner, p. 72, 
fig. 58; Gardiner, p. 406, fig. 134; on ar.-f. amphora in the Hofmuseum in Vienna by Epiktetos we 
see (figure at the left) a boxer who is just finishing tying the thongs on his left hand and wrist: 
Dar-Sagl., IV, 1, p. 755, fig. 5854; Schneider, Arch.-epigr. Mitt. aus Oesterr., V, 1881, pp. 139 f., 
and Pl. IV; Hoppin, Hbk. Attic r.-f. Vases, p. 334, no. 25, and Pl. on p. 335. 
1Tafelbd., Pl. V, no. 4; Textbd., p. 35. 
