Identifier: withworldspeopl04ridp (find matches)
Title: With the world's people; an account of the ethnic origin, primitive estate, early migrations, social evolution, and present conditions and promise of the principal families of men
Year: 1915 (1910s)
Authors: Ridpath, John Clark, 1840-1900
Subjects: World history Ethnology
Publisher: Washington : Clark E. Ridpath
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
esorts in the openspace were converted into gymnasiaproper. Every city had them. In Athenstheie were three great institutions of thesort. A shady grove suitable for a re-sort and promenade was generally se-lected. Within the inclosure there wereareas for wrestling; others, for castingthe quoit; others, for hurling the jave-lin ; and others still for the extendedrace. Attached to the gymnasia werebuildings where the gymnasts mightbathe, anoint their bodies, rub them-selves with sand, or apply the scraper indeveloping and cleansing the skin. Inone point porticoes were set apart forgames, for conversation, for promenade,and social amusement. Others still wereapportioned to the spectators who hadthemselves passed through the exercises in their youth. Within the arena were altars dedicated to the gods, ornamented with statues, garlanded with iiowers. The gymnastic apparatus of the Greekswas exceedingly simple as compared with the ingenious contrivances of mod-ern times. The youth was projected
Text Appearing After Image:
THE CRFJiKS.—rn) :s/CA /, tka lying. 127 gymnastic ap-paratus andmethod. into his sports and training much as anyyoung animal might be flung into theSimplicity of the Water to learn to swim. Theexercises themselves werethe natural actions ofthe human body, rarely artificial. Fir.stof all the boy, the young man, eventhe middle-aged, contestant, mustrun. An extended course was pre-pared for this purpose. As a rule.the bottom was of loose, dry sand.It was not intended to furnish thefeet with a solid vantage from whichto bound, but rather to impede theprogress of the runner by the uncer-tainty of his footing. In the ad-vanced stages of the exercise the runner was weighted with armor,sometimes complete, sometimes only a shield and helmet. Naked was he who bounded through the deep sand, like the splendid young animal that he was, straining for the goal. Of all the Greek gymnastic sports the race was the favorite. The runners attained a marvelous speed. Some of them were swifter than horses; an

Note About Images