Pankration

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Pankratiast
bronze 2nd century BC Chr.
Pankratiasts in ground fighting
3rd century BC Chr.

The Pankration ( Greek παγκράτιον "Allkampf, Gesamtkampf"; pronounced "Pankrátion", from the Greek pan "everything", kratos "power") describes a martial art at the ancient Greek festival, which first started in 648 BC. Chr. At the 33rd Olympic Games is detectable. After the Scholiast of Pindar , the pankration was invented by the mythological Theseus when he had to fight the Minotaur without weapons .

Historical

Pankratiast in fighting stance, ancient Greek red number amphora, 440 BC Chr.

The pankration always took place on the fourth day of competition. It was a combination of wrestling ( pale ) and boxing ( pygme ) , where, in contrast to boxing, fighting was done with bare hands (without the use of bandages). The Cestus was only allowed temporarily as a combat glove. The fighting took place on loose sand.

The victory in pankration only resulted in KO , surrender or the death of the opponent. Punches and kicks, knees and elbows as well as throws, levers and strangleholdings were allowed both in standing and in ground combat, only biting the opponent and pressing the eyes was prohibited. Due to these rules, almost every method was used in pankration to put the opponent in a state incapable of fighting. Many of the defeated fighters either died or left the battlefield crippled. It also happened that a contestant paid for the fight with his life, but was posthumously awarded the victory for his good fight.

More precise statements are difficult due to the sources.

The fighters were called pankratiasts . Hellanodiken monitored compliance with the rules and determined the winner.

A famous athlete who won this discipline several times at the Olympic Games was Theogenes from Thassos . Dioxippus won 336 BC. The discipline after all campaigners had retreated because of his superiority.

Modern pankration

Today there are attempts to make the pankration Olympic again in a regulated form, or at least to re-establish it as an independent and serious sport in the form of the pangration athlima . For this purpose, Canadians of Greek origin and Americans in particular tried to reconstruct the historical pankration using sources and representations. But this modern pankration is also very popular in Greece, and there is now a small offshoot in Germany.

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Pankration got particular attention through the film 300 , whose fight scenes were choreographed on Armak-Pankration and Spartan weapon fight.

Similar sports

The Brazilian Vale Tudo and the increasing popularity of mixed martial arts (MMA) and freefights are also reviving the tradition of style-free all-round combat.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Johann Samuelersch, Johann Gottfried Gruber, Moritz Hermann Eduard Meier, Hermann Brockhaus, Johann Georg Heinrich Hassel, AG Müller, August Leskien: General Encyclopedia of Sciences and Arts: In alphabetical order, Part 10, Pales - Panus. Gleditsch 1838, p. 381

Web links

Commons : Pankration  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files