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Pankration

"The Wrestlers", a reproduction of a 3rd-century bronze statue, from the Uffizi, Florence, Italy.
Focus	Mixed
Hardness	Full Contact
Country of origin	Greece
Parenthood	1
Olympic sport	Ancient Olympic Games from 648 BC, not in modern.

Pankration (Greek: Παγκράτιο(ν), Pagkratio(n), IPA: [paŋ.'kra.ti.o(n)]) is a martial arts sport introduced to the Greek Olympic Games in 648 BC and founded as a blend of boxing and wrestling. The term comes from the Ancient Greek παγκράτιον, literally meaning "all powers" and that from πᾶν (pan) "all" + κράτος (kratos) "strength" or "power". It is also used to describe the sport's contemporary variations. Some tout it as the first all-encompassing fighting system in human history. Modern mixed martial arts have many similar methods.

History

In Greek mythology it was said that the heroes Herakles and Theseus invented the pankration as a result of using both wrestling and boxing. They are credited as the two "inventors" of panmachia, "total combat", from πᾶν-, pān-, "all-" or "total", and μάχη, machē, "combat". The older term panmachia (παμμαχία) would later become disused in favor of the sport term pankration. The rhopalon (ῥόπαλον "club") and lion skin armor would also become symbolic among Hellenic warriors due to the famed feats of Hercules. Theseus is said to have utilized his extraordinary pankration skills to defeat the dreaded Minotaur in the Labyrinth. It had numerous forms such as katō pankration (κάτω παγκράτιον), in which the athletes could fall to the ground and continue fighting, and anō pankration (ἄνω παγκράτιον), in which athletes had to remain standing throughout the match.

Pankration was more than just an Olympic event; it formed the basis for all combat training for Greek soldiers - including the famous Spartan hoplites and Alexander the Great's Macedonian phalanx. The techniques varied just as in the oriental martial arts according to ‘style’. Pankration systems were taught within families and many times by master teachers to students (παγκρατιαστές "pankratiasts"). Forms or kata were known as Pyrrhics (Πυρρίχιοι) and single blow challenges as Klīmax (κλῖμαξ) "ladder". Internal energy was developed through breathing exercises, the equivalent of ‘Chi’ in Chinese arts, known as pneuma (πνεῦμα). Pneuma primarily denotes the "wind" (derived from the Greek word pneō (πνέω) which means "to breathe, blow") and also "breath"; in this case, especially the "spirit". Punching bags (kōrykos κώρυκος "leather sack") and wooden posts were used for striking practice and the hardening of the body and limbs. Herbal medicines were also used.

Pankration, as practiced in the ancient world, combined elements of both boxing (pygmē/pygmachia - πυγμή/πυγμαχία) and wrestling (palē - πάλη) to create a broad fighting sport similar to today's mixed martial arts. A match was won by submission of the opponent or if the opponent was incapacitated. A contestant could signal submission by raising his finger, but sometimes the only form of submission was unconsciousness or death. Joint locks and choke holds were common techniques of accomplishing this. In fact, there were only two rules: contestants were not allowed to gouge eyes or to bite.

Grave, even permanent injuries were common as an accepted means of disabling the adversary: mainly breaking limbs, fingers or even the neck. Pankration bouts were quite brutal and sometimes life-threatening to the competitors. As a result, a paides (παῖδες) event (a somewhat vague younger age group) for pankration wasn't established at Olympia until 200 B.C.

There were neither weight divisions nor time limits. Referees were armed with stout rods or switches to enforce the rules against biting and gouging. The contest itself continued uninterrupted until one of the combatants either surrendered, suffered unconsciousness, or was killed. Although knockouts were common, most pankration battles were decided on the ground where both striking and submission techniques would freely come into play. Pankratiasts were highly skilled grapplers and were extremely effective in applying a variety of takedowns, chokes, and punishing joint locks. Strangulation was most feared during ground combat, and was the leading cause of death in matches. A fighter would immediately raise his arm in defeat once his opponent's forearm had secured a firm grip across the windpipe or carotid artery (though there are stories of fighters who chose to die rather than surrender).

A bronze smaller reproduction in Munich of a Roman marble after a 3rd c.BC Greek depiction of pankratists grappling and striking

Ancient sculptures and pottery paintings depicting nude pankratiasts show stances and movements reminiscent of modern fighting systems.

The feats of the ancient pankratiasts became legendary in the annals of Greek athletics. Stories abound of past champions and masters who were considered invincible beings. Arrhichion, Dioxippus and Polydamas of Skotoussa are among the most highly-recognized names, their accomplishments defying the odds by besting multiple armed opponents in life-and-death combat.

Among pankration fighters, Dioxippus was perhaps the most famous. He won several Olympic games as no one dared challenge him, became friends with Alexander the Great and some accounts claim he defeated one of Alexander the Great's soldiers named Coragus (who fought with weapons and full armour), armed only with a club. Later, Dioxippus was framed for theft, which led him to commit suicide.

In an odd turn of events, a pankration fighter named Arrhichion (Ἀρριχίων) of Phigalia won the event despite being dead. His opponent had locked him in a chokehold and Arrhichion, desperate to loosen it, broke his opponent's fingers (some records say his ankle). The opponent nearly passed out from pain and submitted. As the referee raised Arrhichion's hand, it was discovered that he had died from the chokehold. His body was crowned with the olive wreath and taken back to Phigaleia as a hero.

By the Imperial Period, the Romans had adopted the Greek combat sport (spelled in Latin as pancratium) into their Games. In 393 A.D. the pankration, along with gladitorial combat and all pagan festivals, was abolished by edict of the Christian Byzantine Emperor Theodosius I. Pankration itself was practiced for some 1000 years in the context of an Olympic event. While there is proof that wrestling persisted in Greek society after the conclusion of the Games, little evidence exists that either boxing or pankration continued. As such it is safe to assume that pankration vanished for the next 2000 years.

Structure of ancient competition

Pankration competitions were held in tournaments, most being outside of the Olympics. Each tournament began with a ritual which would decide how the tournament would take place. Grecophone poet Lucian describes the process in a detailed manner: “A sacred silver urn is brought, in which they have put bean-size lots. On two lots an alpha is inscribed, on two a beta, and on another two a gamma, and so on. If there are more athletes, two lots always have the same letter. Each athlete comes forth, prays to Zeus, puts his hand into the urn and draws out a lot. Following him, the other athletes do the same. Whip bearers are standing next to the athletes, holding their hands and not allowing them to read the letter they have drawn. When everyone has drawn a lot, the alytarch, or one of the Hellanodikai walks around and looks at the lots of the athletes as they stand in a circle. He then joins the athlete holding the alpha to the other who has drawn the alpha for wrestling or pankration, the one who has the beta to the other with the beta, and the other matching inscribed lots in the same manner”. This process was apparently repeated every round until the finals.

If there was an odd number of competitors, there would be a bye (ἔφεδρος — ephedros "reserve") in every round until the last one. The same athlete could be an ephedros more than once, and this could of course be of great value to him as the ephedros would be spared the wear and tear of the rounds imposed on his opponent(s). To win a tournament without being an ephedros in any of the rounds (ἀνέφεδρος — anephedros "non-reserve") was thus an honorable achievement.

There is evidence that the major Games easily had four tournament rounds, that is, a field of sixteen athletes. Xanthos mentions the largest number—nine tournament rounds. If these tournament rounds were held in one competition, up to 512 contestants would participate in the tournament, which is difficult to believe for a single contest. Therefore one can hypothesize that the nine rounds included those in which the athlete participated during regional qualification competitions that were held before the major games. In this context, it should be noted that it is quite certain that such preliminary contests were held prior to the major games to determine who would participate in the main event. This makes sense, as the 15-20 athletes competing in the major games could not have been the only available contestants. There is clear evidence of this in Plato, who refers to competitors in the Panhellenic Games, with opponents numbering in the thousands. Moreover, in the first century CE, the Greco-Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria —who was himself probably a practitioner of pankration— makes a statement that could be an allusion to preliminary contests in which an athlete would participate and then collect his strength before coming forward fresh in the major competition.

Techniques

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. There were also multiple strategies documented in ancient literature that were meant to be used to obtain an advantage over the competitor. These strategies and techniques include:

Fighting stance

The pankratiast faces his opponent with a nearly frontal stance—only slightly turned sideways. This is an intermediate directional positioning, between the wrestler’s more frontal positioning and the boxer’s more sideways stance and is consistent with the need to preserve both the option of using striking and protecting the center line of the body and the option of applying grappling techniques. Thus, the left side of the body is slightly forward of the right side of the body and the left hand is more forward than the right one. Both hands are held high so that the tips of the fingers are at the level of the hairline or just below the top of the head. The hands are partially open, the fingers are relaxed, and the palms are facing naturally forward, down, and slightly towards each other. The front arm is nearly fully extended but not entirely so; the rear arm is more cambered than the front arm, but more extended than a modern-day boxer’s rear arm. The back of the athlete is somewhat rounded, but not as much as a wrestler’s would be. The body is only slightly leaning forward.

The weight is virtually all on the back (right) foot with the front (left) foot touching the ground with the ball of the foot. It is a stance in which the athlete is ready at the same time to give a kick with the front leg as well as defend against the opponent’s low level kicks by lifting the front knee and blocking. The back leg is bent for stability and power and is facing slightly to the side, to go with the slightly sideways body position. The head and torso are behind the protecting two upper limbs and front leg.

Striking techniques

Strikes with the Legs

Strikes delivered with the legs was an integral part of pankration and one of its most characteristic features as was discussed above. Therefore, kicking well was a great advantage to the pankratiast. Epiktētos is making a reference —albeit derogatory in the context of Epiktētos’ discussion— to a compliment one may give another: “μεγάλα λακτίζεις” ("you kick great"). Moreover, in an accolade to the fighting prowess of the pankratiast Glykon from Pergamo, the athlete is described as “wide foot”. The characterization comes actually before the reference to his “unbeatable hands”, implying at least as crucial a role for strikes with the feet as with the hands in pankration. That proficiency in kicking could carry the pankratiast to victory is indicated in a—albeit sarcastic—passage of Galen, where he awards the winning prize in pankration to a donkey because of its excellence in kicking. Below are the striking techniques with the legs that have been identified from the ancient sources (visual arts or literature). Any counters to these techniques identifiable in research of the sources are also provided. This is followed by the identified strikes with the arms and with the head, respectively.

Straight kick to the stomach

The straight kick with the bottom of the foot to the stomach (γαστρίζειν/λάκτισμα εἰς γαστέραν — gastrizein/laktisma eis gasteran "kicking in the stomach") was apparently a common technique, given the number of depictions of such kicks on vases. This type of kick is mentioned by Lucian.

Counter: The athlete sidesteps to the outside of the oncoming kick but grasps the inside of the kicking leg from behind the knee with his front hand (overhand grip) and pulls up, which tends to unbalance the opponent so that he falls backward as the athlete advances. The back hand can be used for striking the opponent while he is preoccupied maintaining his balance. This counter is shown on a Panathenaic amphora now in Leiden. In another counter, the athlete sidesteps the oncoming kick, but now to the inside of the opponent’s leg. He catches and lifts the heel/foot of the kicking leg with his rear hand and with the front arm goes under the knee of the kicking leg, hooks it with the nook of his elbow, and lifts while advancing to throw the opponent backward. The athlete executing the counter has to lean forward to avoid hand strikes by the opponent.

Locking techniques

Arm locks

Single shoulder lock (overextension)

The athlete is behind the opponent and has him leaning down, with the right knee of the opponent on the ground. The athlete has the opponent’s right arm straightened out and extended maximally backward at the shoulder joint. With the opponent’s right arm across his own torso, the athlete uses his left hand to keep the pressure on the opponent’s right arm by grabbing and pressing down on it just above the wrist. The right hand of the athlete is pressing down at the (side of) the head of the opponent, thus not permitting him to rotate to his right to relieve the pressure on his shoulder. As the opponent could escape by lowering himself closer to the ground and rolling, the athlete steps with his left leg over the left leg of the opponent and wraps his foot around the ankle of the opponent stepping on his instep, while pushing his body weight on the back of the opponent.

Single arm bar (elbow lock)

In this technique, the position of the bodies is very similar to the one described just above. The athlete executing the technique is standing over his opponent’s back, while the latter is down on his right knee. The left leg of the athlete is straddling the left thigh of the opponent—the left knee of the opponent is not on the floor—and is trapping the left foot of the opponent by stepping on it. The athlete uses his left hand to push down on the side/back of the head of the opponent while with his right hand he pulls the opponent’s right arm back, against his midsection. This creates an arm bar on the right arm with the pressure now being mostly on the elbow. The fallen opponent cannot relieve it, because his head is being shoved the opposite way by the left hand of the athlete executing the technique.

Arm bar - shoulder lock combination

In this technique, the athlete is again behind his opponent, has the left arm of his opponent trapped, and is pulling back on his right arm. The trapped left arm is bent, with the fingers and palm trapped inside the armpit of the athlete. To trap the left arm, the athlete has pushed (from outside) his own left arm underneath the left elbow of the opponent. The athlete’s left hand ends up pressing down on the scapula region of his opponent’s back. This position does not permit the opponent to pull out his hand from the athlete’s armpit and puts pressure on the left shoulder. The right arm of the athlete is pulling back at the opponent’s right wrist (or forearm). In this way, the athlete keeps the right arm of his opponent straightened and tightly pulled against his right hip/lower abdomen area, which results in an arm bar putting pressure on the right elbow. The athlete is in full contact with—and on top of—the opponent, with his right leg in front of the right leg of the opponent to block him from escaping by rolling forward.

Choking techniques

Tracheal grip choke

In executing this choking technique (ἄγχειν — anchein), the athlete grabs the tracheal area (windpipe and “Adam’s apple”) between his thumb and his four fingers and squeezes. This type of choke can be applied with the athlete being in front or behind his opponent. Regarding the hand grip to be used with this choke, the web area between the thumb and the index finger is to be quite high up the neck and the thumb is bent inward and downward, “reaching” behind the Adam’s apple of the opponent. It is unclear if such a grip would have been considered gouging and thus illegal in the Panhellenic Games.

Tracheal dig using the thumb

The athlete grabs the throat of the opponent with the four fingers on the outside of the throat and the tip of the thumb pressing in and down the hollow of the throat, putting pressure on the trachea.

Choke from behind with the forearm

The athlete has put himself behind his opponent, who is either in the standing, prone, or prostrate position. The choke is applied by placing the forearm against the trachea (i.e. the forearm is parallel to the clavicles of the opponent) and pulling back, with the other hand of the athlete possibly assisting the pull by gripping the hand of the choking arm. The pressure on the trachea is painful and causes a reduction of air flow to the lungs. An alternative way of applying this choke is to bend the choking arm in a “V” shape and put pressure with the biceps and the forearm on the two sides of the neck, respectively. This is a circulatory choke, which puts pressure on the arteries taking blood to the brain and thus deprives the latter of oxygen. The chokes from behind were usually accompanied with a grapevine body lock (ἄγχειν μετὰ κλιμακισμοῦ — anchein meta klimakismou "choking with the ladder trick"), as the resulting stretch of the body of the opponent accentuated the effect of the choke. There are few representations of this type of choke in surviving art objects, but there are a number of references to it in the ancient literature.

Counter: A counter to the choke from behind involves the twisting of one of the fingers of the choking arm. This counter is mentioned by Philostratus. In case the choke was set together with a grapevine body lock, another counter was the one applied against that lock; by causing enough pain to the ankle of the opponent, the latter could give up his choke.

Throws and takedowns

Heave from a reverse waist lock

From a reverse waist lock set from the front, and staying with hips close to the opponent, the athlete lifts and rotates his opponent using the strength of his hips and legs (ἀναβαστάσαι εἰς ὕψος — anabastasai eis hypsos "high lifting"). Depending on the torque the athlete imparts, the opponent becomes more or less vertically inverted, facing the body of the athlete. If however the reverse waist lock is set from the back of the opponent, then the latter would face away from the athlete in the inverted position.

To finish the attack, the athlete has the option of either dropping his opponent head-first to the ground, or driving him into the ground while retaining the hold. To execute the latter option, the athlete bends one of his legs and goes down on that knee while the other leg remains only partially bent; this is presumably to allow for greater mobility in case the “pile driver” does not work. Another approach emphasizes less putting the opponent in an inverted vertical position and more the throw; it is shown in a sculpture in the metōpē (μετώπη) of the Hephaisteion in Athens, where Theseus is depicted heaving Kerkyōn.

Heave from a waist lock following a sprawl

The opponents are facing in opposite directions with the athlete at a higher level, over the back of his opponent. The athlete can get in this position after making a shallow sprawl to counter a tackle attempt. From here the athlete sets a waist lock by encircling, from the back, the torso of the opponent with his arms and securing a “handshake” grip close to the abdomen of the opponent. He then heaves the opponent back and up, using the muscles of his legs and his back, so that the opponent’s feet rise in the air and he ends up inverted, perpendicular to the ground, and facing away from the athlete. The throw finishes with a “pile driver” or, alternatively, with a simple release of the opponent so that he falls to the ground.

Heave from a waist lock from behind

The athlete passes to the back of his opponent, secures a regular waist lock, lifts and throws/ drops the opponent backwards and sideways. As a result of these moves, the opponent would tend to land on his side or face down. The athlete can follow the opponent to the ground and place himself on his back, where he could strike him or choke him from behind while holding him in the “grapevine” body lock (see above), stretching him face down on the ground. This technique is described by the Roman poet Statius in his account of a match between the hero Tydeus of Thebes and an opponent in the Thebaid. Tydeus is described to have followed this takedown with a choke while applying the “grapevine” body lock on the prone opponent.

Strategy and tactics

Positioning in the Skamma (σκάμμα "pit")

As the pankration competitions were held outside and in the afternoon, appropriately positioning one’s face vis-a-vis the low sun was a major tactical objective. The pankratiast, as well as the boxer, did not want to have to face the ever-present Greek sun, as this would partly blind him to the blows of the opponent and make accurate delivery of strikes to specific targets difficult. Theocritus, in his narration of the (boxing) match between Polydeukēs and Amykos, noted that the two opponents struggled a lot, vying to see who would get the sun’s rays on his back. In the end, with skill and cunning, Polydeukēs managed so that Amykos’ face was struck with sunlight while his own was in the shade.

While this positioning was of paramount importance in boxing, which involved only upright striking (with the eyes facing straight), it was also important in pankration, especially in the beginning of the competition and as long as the athletes remained standing.

Remaining Standing Versus Going to the Ground

The decision to remain standing or go to the ground obviously depended on the relative strengths of the athlete in anō pankration and katō pankration, respectively. However, there are indications that staying on one’s feet was generally considered a positive thing, while touching the knee(s) to the ground or being put to the ground was overall considered disadvantageous. In fact, in antiquity as today, falling to one’s knee(s) was a metaphor for coming to a disadvantage and putting oneself at risk of losing the fight, as argued persuasively by Michael B. Poliakoff.

Offensive Versus Reactive Fighting

Regarding the choice of attacking into the attack of the opponent versus defending and retreating, there are indications—from boxing—that it was preferable to attack. Dio Chrysostom notes that retreat under fear tends to result in even greater injuries, while attacking before the opponent strikes is less injurious and could very well end in victory.

Identifying and Exploiting the Weak Side of the Opponent

As indicated by Plato in his Laws, an important element of strategy was to understand if the opponent had a weak or untrained side and to force him to operate on that side and generally take advantage of that weakness. For example, if the athlete recognizes that the opponent is strictly right-handed, he could circle away from the right hand of the opponent and towards the left side of the opponent. Moreover, if the opponent is weak in his left –side throws, the athlete could aim to position himself accordingly. Training in ambidexterity was instrumental in both applying this strategy and not falling victim to it.

Modern Pankration

In modern times Pankration could still be seen in cities like Smyrna and Constantinople even in the beginning of the 20th century. It was after the burning of the city of Smyrna by the Turks that caused many of the Athletic associations, including those who practiced and taught Pankration, to scatter to mainland Greece and other parts of the world and try to rebuild their lives. Of those pankratiasts that went to Greece, life was unmerciful given Greece's poor economic and political stability and providing for their families was the foremost priority. It was then that Pankration took a back seat to the reality of survival for the remaining pankratiasts.

The revival of pankration was essentially the innovative effort of Kirios (from Greek Κύριος "master") Grandmaster Jim (Demetrios) Arvanitis (Τζιμ Αρβανίτης), recognized today as the "Father of Modern Pankration." A visionary considered ahead of his time, Jim cross-trained in a number of martial arts and combat sports before it was common to do so. This included Western boxing and wrestling, combat judo, and Muay Thai. He extracted the best techniques from each, and, using his research of what remained of the legacy of his ancestors, reconstructed ancient pankration into a modernized form.

Grandmaster Arvanitis competed in the ring, but plied much of his trade in no-holds-barred challenge matches and street brawls. This was his personal "arena" and testing ground to discover what worked. Having observed Jim in action many times, prominent writer and firearms expert Massad Ayoob took an active interest in his evolving methods as early as 1971. Ayoob was so impressed that he publicly stated that Arvanitis' system was the "most effective for realistic fighting he had ever witnessed, and that Jim was very possibly the best martial artist that America had yet produced."

Arvanitis reintroduced the combat sport at a time when such practices were ignored in favor of the more traditional Asian styles such as karate and kung-fu. Mixed martial arts (MMA) and even pankration in Greece (pangration athlima) would not surface until more than 20 years after Arvanitis appeared on the cover of Black Belt magazine. It was through this ground-breaking article that he and Ayoob first exposed pankration to mainstream martial arts in 1973. The reaction was less than favorable, with many passing Arvanitis off as a renegade. The notion that the Greeks had originated a complete martial art/combat sport before the Asians was unacceptable. This only fueled his passion to further develop and promote his concepts.

In 1994, Grandmaster Arvanitis and Daskalos (teacher) Eric D. Hill created one of the first martial arts sites on the Internet. It was the first such site dedicated to Greek martial art and pankration. The content proved invaluable. Many martial arts enterprises would reference the content. Websites continue to utilize their material from this effort.

In 1998 Hill, a longtime mathitis (student) of Grandmaster Arvanitis, became the first American and only pankratiast to ever compete in the St. Petersburg, Russia cage fights. Later in 1999, Mr. Hill took part in the first MMA card sanctioned by the Canadian government. Daskalos Hill would go on to compete successfully in the Florida, USA MMA circuit.

Pankration has also periodically been reintroduced in the modern Olympic Games, but not with much success due to scarce participation. Given the rise in popularity of MMA around the world in recent years, interest in the sport has been renewed and there have even been talks about entering MMA in the Olympics under the banner of pankration.

In the lead-up to the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, a modern non-nude version of pankration was tipped as being a new sport in the Olympiad, especially due to its being an event in the ancient games. However, its application was not approved. The International Olympic Committee was unconvinced that Greece could handle the total number of sports proposed. To placate the IOC, the organizers removed all new medal sports and pankration missed out.

Arvanitis not only reintroduced pankration to the world close to four decades ago but continues to carry its torch by being a constant fixture in the media. He has been featured in hundreds of magazine articles, having graced the covers of many of them. This, along with his books, videos, television appearances, and world records, has brought global attention to the ancient art. Other Greeks have joined the effort since the first UFC in 1993, such as Aris Makris who appeared on the History Channels' Human Weapon series, "Pankration: The Original Martial Art." Master Makris' Armak-Pankration is more oriented to battlefield combat than sport and has drawn interest from a number of U.S. Military and Federal institutions. It should also be noted that Kirios Grandmaster Arvanitis and his elite following have trained law enforcement and SWAT team members, United States Marines and elite Army Special Forces since the 1980s.

Further reading

Books authored by Jim Arvanitis

• MU TAU: The Modern Greek Karate, Todd & Honeywell, NY, 1979
• MU TAU PANKRATION: Volume 1/Concepts and Skills of "All-Powers" Combat, Spartan Publications, Boston, MA, 1997
• PANKRATION: The Traditional Greek Combat Sport and Modern Mixed Martial Art, Paladin Press, Boulder, CO, 2003
• GAME OF THE GODS: The Historical Odyssey of Greek Martial Arts, Black Belt Books, Valencia, CA, 2007

See also

• Mixed martial arts
• Pancrase
• Greek Wrestling

External links

• Akrites Academy
• ARMAK-PANKRATION
• Spartan Pankration Academy
• International Federation of Pankration Athlima
• Asian Union of Pankration
• India Pankration
• Historical Pankration
• Official Great Britain IFPA Pankration
• Father of Modern Pankration
• First Modern Pankration School
• Ancient Greek vases, Pancration scenes
• International Federation of Wrestling