Diaulos (
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
: Δίαυλος,
English translation: "double pipe") was a double-
stadion race, , introduced in the 14th
Olympiad
An olympiad ( el, Ὀλυμπιάς, ''Olympiás'') is a period of four years, particularly those associated with the ancient and modern Olympic Games.
Although the ancient Olympics were established during Greece's Archaic Era, it was not unti ...
of the
ancient Olympic Games
The ancient Olympic Games (Ὀλυμπιακοὶ ἀγῶνες; la, Olympia, neuter plural: "the Olympics") were a series of athletic competitions among representatives of city-states and were one of the Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece. ...
(724BC).
The length of each foot race varied depending on the length of the stadium. This was because the Greek foot varied widely from one locality to another, for example the stadium at
Olympia was but at
Delphi
Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), in ancient times was a sacred precinct that served as the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient classical world. The oracle ...
it was long. Scholars debate whether or not the runners had individual "turning" posts for the return leg of the race, or whether all the runners approached a common post, turned, and then raced back to the starting line. Although at Delphi an inscription referenced "turning-posts" as opposed to "turning-post", which suggests each runner had their own turning post, to prevent an outside runner from losing . These were called ''kampteres''. Archaeological evidence at
Nemea also shows that there were individual turning posts.
[Sweet p. 30]
Notes
References
*
Miller, Stephen G., Ben Schmidt, ''Ancient Greek Athletics: the events at Olympia, Delphi, Nemea, and Isthmia''. Yale University Press, 2004.
* Golden, Mark. ''Sport in the Ancient World from A to Z''. Routledge, 2003.
* Gardiner, E. Norman. Athletics of the Ancient World. Oxford: Clarendon. Print. .
* Sweet, Waldo E. Sport and Recreation in Ancient Greece a Sourcebook with Translations. New York: Oxford UP, 1987. Print. .
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Ancient Greek units of measurement
Ancient Olympic sports
Extinct sports