Neo-Pancratium
By By R. Logan-Browne (Health and Strength Magazine, 1898)
(Compiled by Mike Munro) Website Link
The
ancient Pancratium was a mode of battle which for brutality would put any
modern prize-ring to the blush. The word is composed of two Greek words,
one meaning all and the other strength. The custom was so named because it
called all the powers of the fighter into action. In this contest the
combatants, naked and oiled, fought against each other in a personal
conflict, and the contest continued until one of the combatants declared
himself vanquished. It was a union of boxing and wrestling, and was opened
by an attempt to force one’s adversary into an unfavorable position with
the sun shining into his eyes. Then began either wrestling or sparring. As
soon as one party was either thrown or knocked down, the other kept him
so, and pommelled him into submission; and when he arose at last, to
receive the plaudits of the assembly, it was occasionally from the corpse
of his antagonist.
According to Pausanias, Pancratium was
evidently the best liked of all the ancient Olympic contests, for he says
of it in one instance “that for the future they took care that neither the
pentathlon nor the horse races should stand in the way of the Pancratium.”
To win the prize both in the boxing and in the Pancratium on the same day
was considered the highest honor to be won at Olympia. Strangling,
striking with the hands, knees and elbows, twisting and dislocating the
limbs, breaking the fingers and toes and all practices except biting and
kicking were allowed. The boxer’s cestus of course was not used, since the
hands were required in grasping one’s antagonist. It was really a contest
for personal supremacy, and to engage in it an athlete must have been of
the greatest courage and of the most symmetrical development.
Sometimes the prize
was awarded without a contest, as when Dromeus won the olive wreath, he
being presumably so terrible a competitor that no one entered against him.
In the following Olympiad, however, he was beaten by Theagenes. The same
champion often won the prize in two or more Olympiads, as in the case of
Arrachion, whose second contest is thus described by Pausanias: “For when
he contended for the prize of wild olive with the only one of his
antagonists that remained, his opponent got hold of him first and hugged
him with his feet and grappled his neck tightly with his hands, And
Arrachion broke the finger of his antagonist and gave up the ghost, being
strangled; and his antagonist also, though he had throttled Arrachion,
fainted away from the pain his finger gave him. And the people of Elis
crowned the dead body of Arrachion and proclaimed him victor.” There is
also a story of two of these combatants, neither of whom could worst the
other, agreeing to take a blow in turn at each other. One, rising on
tip-toe, struck the other full on the top of the head, but did not disable
him. The other dug his five fingers into his adversary’s stomach and
pulled out his entrails. The dying fighter in this contest was crowned
with the victor's wreath, it being held by the judges that the blow with
the five fingers extended was a foul one.
It may be suggested that
the Pancratium is too terrible to serve any useful purpose in these modern
times, save perhaps as a salutory reminder that even a society as
civilised as that of classical Greece required an outlet for those
primitive and violent impulses which, if left unexpressed within the
confines of sport, might wreak havoc without. Vis-a-vis its unalloyed
form, replete with the breaking of fingers and throttling, no gentleman
could disagree. However, several years ago it occurred to me that
the ancient Pancratium, suitably adapted, might afford us an excellent
method of physical culture and athletic contest, with the additional
benefit of being a secure and versatile method of self-defence against
roughs and thugs.
With the above in mind, I have undertaken a
series of experiments in reviving this archaic sport. The first
order of business was to select a committee representing both scholarly
and athletic interests, and in this I had good fortune of securing the
enthusiastic co-operation of my colleagues within the Department of
Classical Studies and several well-regarded Professors of Physical
Culture. With the former providing translations and access to a wide
range of pictorial resources, including illustrated vases, friezes and
other artworks of the Golden Age, and the latter volunteering their
expertise in the antagonistic arts and a willing body of first-rate
student athletes, we were well-prepared for the task at hand.
In
re-constructing Pancratium for the modern age, our raison d’etre has been
that whilst blows are legitimately outlawed in wrestling, they are the
boxer’s stock in trade, and whilst gripping and throwing are banned in the
ring, they are practiced safely by wrestlers everywhere. By
combining these two sports we may approximate the Pancratiast’s art in all
but the its most savage aspects, thereby enjoying its benefits without
suffering its excesses. Our Committee has elected to name the result
Neo-Pancratium, for although our experiments have referred to classical
sources wherever possible, there are certain aspects of the ancient Greek
practice that we have determined as being unsuitable for this more refined
era. Never-the-less, we feel confident that this new sport will
serve its several purposes most admirably.
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The first
matter to be considered is that of upright offence and defence, and here
we have no better model than our modern art of boxing. Many of the
blows of a Greek Pancratiast seem curious to us, being round-arm swipes or
crushing knocks on the top of the head. Several of these blows have been
retained in Neo-Pancratium, although the majority of punches to be found
in this new sport will be familiar to any habitue of the prize-ring or
amateur boxing salon. These blows and their various stops and guards
are too well-known to require any further detailing here. Where
Neo-Pancratium differs significantly from modern boxing is that, when
devotees of the purely pugilistic art close together, they are immediately
parted by the diligent referee. The Neo-Pancratiast, by comparison,
simply segues from boxing into wrestling and continues his contest. The
importance of this point cannot be too strongly reinforced, especially
with regards to preparation for self-defence against a determined and
ruthless assailant who will not care two figs for the niceties of the
Marquis’ rules.
At this point during our early experiments we
found ourselves at the mercy of the same set of circumstances that plagued
our Olympic forebears. Just as they discovered regarding the
boxer’s cestus, the modern glove, so crucial in cushioning the force of a
blow, becomes an absolute handicap when wrestling. For a time we
prevaricated, dividing our contests into separate bouts for boxing and
wrestling, but this was found to be unsatisfactory. The solution has
been to devise a novel form of glove, rather more open in the palm and
with room for the fingers to grip securely, yet well-padded across the
knuckles. This innovation allows Neo-Pancratiasts to successfully move
between boxing and wrestling as required by the exigencies of any given
contest. The Committee is presently undertaking discussions with a leading
purveyor of sporting goods and hopes to be able to offer these new gloves
to the public in the not-distant future.
In
selecting the most suitable form of wrestling to round out our new sport,
the Committee has examined a variety of British and French styles and has
settled for the time being on the Catch-hold method native to Lancashire,
as being that most closely representative of the ancient Greek
style. This method allows wrestlers the greatest freedom in coming
to grips, and includes as ingenious a selection of chips and hanks as are
to be found anywhere. More importantly, however, the Catch-hold
school offers the option of forcing one’s adversary to surrender through
painful holds applied to the joints of the limbs, exactly as was the
custom in ancient Greece. This is considered to be more realistic,
and certainly better suited to the exigencies of self-defence, than simply
throwing him off his balance or forcing his shoulders to the mat.
What man would not, in extremis, prefer to hold his attacker helpless
while a policeman comes up, rather than suffer the frustration of
repeatedly throwing a fit man down only to have him scramble up and renew
his attack with even greater vigour and cunning?
The question
remains as to how far we may follow our predecessors and yet remain within
the bounds of civilised sportsmanship. For example, Englishmen
regard pommeling a downed opponent to be the nadir of dishonourable
behaviour, and yet precisely this method was frequently the most
successful tactic of the original Pancratiasts in securing victory.
Of course, in the extreme circumstance of a life-or-death struggle, the
conventions of sportsmanship should not apply and one must do whatever is
necessary to prevail, but how to translate this ethic into sporting
competition? The answer has been, as needs must, to compromise by
barring any blows against an obviously helpless athlete, who will in any
case generally elect to surrender once it becomes obvious that, if he did
not, more than his pride would suffer at the hands of his
adversary.
In keeping with the historical flavour of this new
sport, and mindful of the bounds of decency, we have devised a strip that
combines the best of the old with the latest athletic fashions. For
purposes of public performance at assaults-of-arms and similar spectacles,
the strip consists of ribbed, flesh-coloured tights and thonged leather
sandals.
Athletes in private
training, of course, may wear whatever they wish so long as it affords the
requisite freedom of movement, with most opting for a combination of
orthodox boxing and wrestling attire. We have also experimented with a
range of surfaces upon which to stage our contests, and have found that
the orthodox wrestling mattress as found in gymnasia and schools-of-arms
throughout the land offers the most suitable option.
The
Committee is presently in the final stages of drafting a charter and set
of formal rules for Neo-Pancratium contests, which will be forwarded to
the appropriate authorities forthwith. The Army has already
expressed an interest and we are confident that the sport will become
well-established both within the military and public Schools of Physical
Culture within the next few years.
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