Pankration

Pankration (from the Greek 'all force') is a sport or martial art introduced in the Olympic games in 648 BC, and its modern version.

Classical pankration, possibly deriving from an Egyptian martial art, combined striking and grappling, and a match was won by submission of the opponent. A contestant could signal submission by raising his hand, but sometimes the only form of submission was the death of one of the contestants. Joint locks and choke holds were common techniques of accomplishing this. In fact, there were only two rules: contestants were not allowed to gouge each other's eyes out, or to bite each other. Grave, even permanent injuries were common, as an accepted means of disabling the adversary: mainly breaking limbs, fingers or even the neck. The ancient Olympics also had a less violent pankration contest for young boys. If there was no winner by sunset, each could in turn take a full-force swing at the opponent who was not allowed to dodge from the position chosen by the striking adversary.

Ancient sculptures and pottery paintings depicting naked pankration fighters show blade-like hands and crouches reminiscent of modern martial arts.

A classic depiction of pankration's grappling and striking

Among pankration fighters, Dioxippus was the most famous. He won several Olympic games as no one dared challenge him, became friends with Alexander the Great, and was challenged by one of Alexander's soldiers named Coragus. Coragus fought with weapons and full armour, but was still defeated by the almost unarmed Dioxippus, whose only weapon was a club. Later, the ashamed Macedonians framed Dioxippus for theft, after having introduced a golden cup under his pillow, and forced him to commit suicide.

In the lead-up to the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, a modern version of pankration (not naked, usually wearing only short or a type of loin cloth, sometimes also T-shirts) was tipped as being a new sport in the Olympiad, especially due to its being an event in the ancient games. However, its application (along with that of inline skating) was not approved. Rumours were that it was rejected due to its inherently violent nature, even though the modern version is significantly less violent than the original, and, like boxing and wrestling, also ancient Olympic sports, there is an international set of humane rules governing the modern sport.

Influence

Because of Alexander the Great's impact on the Middle East and India , there is belief by some that cultural exchange may have occurred in these civilisations. It has been suggested that the fighting systems of India were influenced by the invasions of Alexander, but this has not been substantiated by firm scientific evidence. It is very likely that the Indians already had their own systems of fighting like Silambam Nillaikalakki and Kalarippayattu. It is still unknown what cultural influence he may have had on India , however, an indicator of this may be the Kalash people who still speak a Greek dialect today. A thorough anthropological study of this history would be required. Also, suggestions that Chinese Kung-Fu was influenced by Pankration are not supported by archaological or scientific evidence.

Pankration's influence on modern culture is still debatable as the modern version of Pankration is not the original form as practiced by the ancient Greeks. The original ancient Greek form of Pankration was not fully transmitted to later generations due to the fall of the Greek and Roman civilisations and the subsequent Dark Ages of western Europe. The modern resurrected form of Pankration is influenced by both western boxing, Greco-Roman wrestling, ancient Greek artifacts(i.e. pottery, vases, sculptures, writings), as well as East Asian martial arts like karate, kung-fu, jujitsu, and Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do. It is also widely believed that brazilian no-holds barred fighting is the closest modern approximation of ancient Greek Pankration, despite their separate origins.

There is actually a US Pankration Team, and it is possible that the sport will be adopted into the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

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