Pentathalon
The five-event Olympic competition combining running, jumping, discus, javelin, and wrestling, considered the test of the complete athlete.
The Meaning of Pentathalon
The pentathlon was introduced at the ancient Olympics in 708 BC and was considered the supreme test of all-round athletic ability. The five events were: stadion (a sprint of about 192 metres), halma (standing long jump, performed holding stone or lead weights called halteres), diskos (discus throw), akon (javelin throw), and pale (wrestling). Athletes competed naked and oiled. The order and elimination system are debated by scholars — one theory is that competitors were eliminated after each event, with the final pair wrestling for the victory. The pentathlete was considered the ideal of physical beauty because training for five events produced a balanced physique, unlike the bulk of wrestlers or the leanness of runners. Aristotle praised pentathletes as the most beautiful athletes. Myron's famous Discobolus (discus thrower) sculpture depicted a pentathlete mid-throw — one of the most recognised images in art history.
Symbols
Fun Fact
The halteres — stone or lead jumping weights used in the ancient pentathlon's long jump — have been shown by biomechanics researchers to actually increase jump distance by 5-17 centimetres when used correctly, by shifting the athlete's centre of mass forward during flight. The Greeks weren't using decorative props; the weights were genuine performance-enhancing technology. Modern long jumpers might benefit from them, but the rules don't allow hand-held equipment — meaning 2,700-year-old Greek sports technology is too advanced for the modern Olympics.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
God of Athletes
💭 conceptAthletics, competition, physical excellence, gymnastics
Hermes presides over athletic contests, protecting competitors and rewarding speed, skill, and fair play.
Pankration
💭 conceptathletics, combat
The ancient Greek combat sport combining wrestling and boxing with virtually no rules, considered the most brutal and prestigious event at the Olympic Games.
Olympic Games
💭 conceptAthletics, Zeus, Olympia
Panhellenic athletic festival held every four years at Olympia in honour of Zeus
Olympian
💭 conceptExcellence, supreme achievement, athletic greatness
Pertaining to supreme mastery or athletic competition, from Mount Olympus, home of the gods.
Pan-Hellenic Games
💭 conceptCulture
The four great athletic and religious festivals that united the Greek world in sacred competition
Discobolus
💭 conceptClassical sculpture
A bronze sculpture by Myron depicting a discus thrower frozen at the peak of his backswing, created around 450 BCE and celebrated for capturing athletic motion in a single instant
Pythian Games
💭 conceptathletics, music
One of the four Panhellenic Games held at Delphi every four years in honour of Apollo, unique for combining athletic events with musical competitions.
Panathenaea
💭 conceptfestival, athletics
The most important festival of Athens, held annually in honour of Athena with a grand procession, athletic contests, and the presentation of a new peplos to the goddess.
Pindar Odes
💭 conceptLiterature
Pindar's victory odes celebrating athletic champions at the great Panhellenic festivals of ancient Greece
Gymnasium
💭 conceptLanguage and athletics
An English word for a facility for physical exercise, derived from the Greek gymnasion where men trained naked, from gymnos meaning nude
Isthmian Games
💭 conceptathletics, Poseidon
One of the four Panhellenic Games held at Corinth every two years in honour of Poseidon, with victors crowned in pine or celery wreaths.
Olympiad
💭 conceptAthletics and time-keeping
A four-year period between Olympic Games used as a dating system in ancient Greece, now applied to the modern Olympic Games and international athletic competition generally