Sports
GREECE
Pankration
By Argyros, Vasiliou, Giorgas
The word Pankration comes from the
Greek pan (all) and kratos
(power). Thus it literally means
“all powers.” It was originally
developed by combining boxing
and wrestling techniques into a
singular contest of strength and
courage.
In Greek mythology, it
was said that the heroes Heracles and
Theseus invented pankration as a result
of using both wrestling and boxing
in their confrontations with
opponents. Theseus was said to
have utilized his extraordinary
pankration skills to defeat the
dreaded Minotaur in the
Labyrinth. Heracles was said to
have subdued the Nemean lion
using pankration, and was often depicted
in ancient artwork doing that. However,
pankration was more than just an event
in the athletic competitions of the ancient
Greek world; it was also part of the
arsenal of Greek soldiers – including the
famous Spartan hoplites and Alexander
the Great’s Macedonian phalanx.
The athletes engaged in a pankration
competition — i.e., the pankratiasts
employed a variety of techniques
in order to strike their opponent
as well as take him to the
ground in order to use a
submission technique. When the
pankratiasts fought standing, the
combat was called an?
pankration (??? ??????????
“upper pankration”); and when they took
the fight to the ground, that stage of
pankration competition was called kat?
pankration (???? ??????????
“lower pankration”). Fatalities
were common, especially by
strangulation, as many fighters
refused to give up after being
caught in a choke. Submissions
were prominent, and there is
ample evidence to suggest that
the ancient Greeks knew all or almost all
the submissions that current fighters use
today, including knee bars, heel
hooks, and a variety of chokes
and arm locks.
At the time of the revival of
Olympic Games (1896),
pankration was not reinstated as
an Olympic event. Specifically, in
1895 Pierre-Hector Coullié,
archbishop of Lyon, voiced his official
decision on the reinstatement of sports to
Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the
Modern Olympic Games, by stating “Nous
acceptons tout, sauf pankration” meaning
“We accept all [events to be reinstated],
except pankration.The International
Olympic Committee (IOC) does not list
pankration among Olympic sports, but
the FILA, which governs the Olympic
wrestling codes, also recognises
pankration as “a mild form of
Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), which
forbids striking to the head”.
Efforts to have pankration as a
demonstration sport in the 2004
Olympics in Athens were
unsuccessful. Pankration was first
contested at the World Combat Games in
2010.