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Old 02-13-2010, 02:42 PM
Jason19th Jason19th is offline
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Join Date: May 2009
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Default Original Olympics

Thanks for starting the thread. it give me a chance to show one of my odder and by far my oldest sports memorabilia. The woodcuts below are from John Potter Antiquities of Greece published in 1697. The cuts are part of a section where Potter details the ancient games and depict the discus event and a brutal boxing event where the contestants would have there hands wrapped in "gloves" that would contain lead and iron. potter notes that contestants would prepare themselves "us'd all means they could contrive to render themselves fat and fleshy, that so they might be able to endure blows"
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