Phayllus and the long jump record

Extract

This epigram, which tells us that Phayllus jumped 55 feet and threw the discus 95 feet, has caused difficulty because it is clear that no man can or could jump 55 feet. But this difficulty only arises if we consider a foot to be an absolute, or nearly absolute, measure of distance, as in our own linear measurement. However, the flea that jumped from the head of Chaerephon to the head of Socrates (Aristophanes, Clouds 150) had its jump measured in terms of its own feet, so the feet in which Phayllus's jump was measured may have been less than normal human feet—perhaps the feet of his small son. We may like to assume that some wag composed the epigram for the amusement of those who knew what happened and the baffling of those who did not, which includes ourselves. This explanation would also help to clarify his apparently equally phenomenal performance in throwing the discus. If we may judge from the account of the chariot-race at the funeral games of Patroclus in Iliad XXIII δίσκουρα was a distance not much more than the length of a chariot and horses, perhaps 40 or 45 feet. In this case, then, Phayllus' performance in both events is represented as being about double that which might be expected from an athlete— or, if my explanation is accepted, his distances were measured in feet rather less than half the length of a normal foot.