DISCUS.See Games.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
dis?kus (δίσκος, dı́skos, ?the summons of the discus,? 2 Macc 4:14 margin, ?to the game of the discus,? the King James Version ?the game of discus?): The discus was a round stone slab or metal plate of considerable weight (a kind of quoit), the contest of throwing which to the greatest distance was one of the exercises in the Greek gymnasia, being included in the pentathlon. It was introduced into Jerusalem by Jason the high priest in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, 175-164 bc, in the Palaestra he had formed there in imitation of the Greek games. His conduct led to his being described in 2 Macc 4:13, 14 as that ?ungodly man? through whom even the priests forsook their duties to play at the discus. A statue of a discobolos (discus-thrower) is in the British Museum. From discus we have the words ?disc,? ?dish,? ?desk.? See GAMES.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.
Discus
(δίσκος, a quoit), one of the exercises in the Grecian gymnasia, which Jason, the high-priest, introduced among the Jews in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes (2Ma_4:9), and which he induced even the priests to practice (2Ma_4:14). The discus was a circular plate of stone or metal, made for throwing to a distance as an exercise of strength and dexterity (Lucian, Anachron. 27). It was indeed one of the principal gymnastic exercises: of the Greeks, and was practiced in the heroic age (Homer, Il. 33:839 sq.; 2:774; Odys. 8:129, 188). For details, see Smith's Diet. of Class. Antiq. s.v.; Mercurial. De arte gymnast. 2:12; Krause, Gymnast. d. Hellen. 1:440 sq. SEE GAMES.
CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.