PENTATHLON (πέντα, five, and ἀθλον, the prize of contest), signifies properly the contest of the five exercises, and was a general designation given to the five Grecian games of leaping, running, throwing the discus, throwing the spear, and wrestling. This is the order in which, according to Böckh, these games followed each other in the pentathlon. This was considered, after the pancratium, the most beautiful of all athletic performances. It was called by the Romans quinquertium.