The ancient Olympic pentathlon, started in 708 b.c., consisted of five events: discus, jumping, javelin, running, and wrestling. The pentathlon while a prestigious event was sometimes looked down upon by the Greeks because the athletes did not specialize in any certain event. That, however, was the purpose of the event, to see who the most versatile athlete was. This event was also liked by the Greeks because of the stature of the athletes. Because there were many different events requiring many different skills the athletes had very well balanced statures. The Greeks found large "overdeveloped" muscles to be unsightly(Swaddling 49).
The Events
Olympia, the site of the ancient Olympics.
Created by: Tim Sakmar(tsakmar@uakron.edu)