Vol. 17 No. 2 (2024)
Estudios e investigaciones

HUMAN GAIT AND SPORT IN ARISTOTLE'S DE INCESSU ANIMALIUM. THE GREEK WEIGHT JUMPING WITH WEIGHTS

Juan RODRÍGUEZ LÓPEZ
Universidad de Granada
Bio
Published January 6, 2025

Keywords:

Aristotle, Incesssu Animalium, Aristotle's gait, Aristotle's biology, Aristotle's sport, Greek jumping, , Greek jumping with weights
How to Cite
RODRÍGUEZ LÓPEZ, J. (2025). HUMAN GAIT AND SPORT IN ARISTOTLE’S DE INCESSU ANIMALIUM. THE GREEK WEIGHT JUMPING WITH WEIGHTS. Citius, Altius, Fortius, 17(2), 13–36. https://doi.org/10.15366/citius2024.17.2.002

Abstract

The article selects and analyses the explanations of human gait in Aristotle's De Incessu Animalium, its explanatory principles, especially those referring to a) ‘nature always does what is most suitable and does not fall short of its task’ according to the possibilities of each animal; b) the Aristotelian body dimensions, especially the ‘high-low’ dimension, which distinguishes human bipedal and upright bipedal gait from those of other animals, and the right-left dimension, because in humans and in all animals the ‘origin of movement is in the right’. This principle is applied to the widespread, apparently contradictory, preference of right-handed long jumpers to jump with their left foot. Aristotle's extensive comparison of human gait with that of birds and quadrupeds is analysed. Finally, based on Aristotle's statement in De Incessu Animalium that ‘jumpers jump more with weights than without them’, the form of the ancient Greek jump is investigated, proposing as a hypothesis compatible with the historical sources and recent experiments, the quintuple jump with a previous run, a single-footed hop (necessary for coordination with the previous run and contrasted with the sources) and subsequent four hops with feet together.

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