“Greek Combat Sports and Their Transmission to Central and East Asia”, 2013-03 ():
After the conquests of Alexander the Great and during the reign of his numerous successors, the tradition of combat sports games became institutionalized by the elite of an Hellenized warlike aristocracy in Asia. The heroic cult of the Greeks was perpetuated as far as Central Asia, improving the local traditions by building a gymnasium in every new city of the colonies. The various technical aspects of ancient Greek combat sports were transmitted as well in order to improve effectiveness in close-combat fighting.
To trace back these technical features, a detailed description of wrestling, boxing and pankration as developed in ancient Greece are compared together with their East-Asian counterparts.
…Eurydamas from Cyrene is said to have lost his teeth during his fight and swallowed them so as not to give satisfaction to his adversary, according to the Roman author Aelian.52 The boxers used head protection and leather bands, called imantes or sphaira, around their fists in the place of gloves.53 In Roman times, boxers also wore iron rings called caestus54 on their fists, for the amusement of the Roman spectators during gladiatorial contests. Philostratus, a Greek living in the Roman Empire in the third century A.D., describes clearly how the bands of leather were tightened around the boxers’ fists and why pigskin was prohibited in boxing competitions.55 Unlike modern boxing, pygmachia also used various open-hand strikes, as indicated by various sources. In Homer’s verses, Apollo came down to earth to kill Patroclus with an “open-palm strike to his back”56 and Damoxenos pierced the internal organs of Kreugas with a finger strike (plate 2).57 Vase paintings also depicted ancient boxing practices, as in the case of the pseudo-Panathenaic amphora from Exarchos in Locrid by the painter Eucharides (~500 B.C.), which shows a palm strike and a forearm block (plate 3).
The painting of Eucharides also shows the unusual “distended” abdomen of the athletes, as if filled with air, a characteristic that is seen today in China among the adepts of traditional combat sports. The use of the principles of pneuma together with other concepts from Greek medicine led to training in various breathing techniques that were later lost in the West because of the mind/body split introduced by the Catholic Church. Indeed there is no trace of this practice in the Western world today. The explanation of Pausanias concerning the fight of Damoxenos, that “with the sharpness of his nails and the force of blow he drove his hand into his adversary, caught his bowels, and tore them out”,58 is incomplete in my opinion.
Pausanias, a second-century A.D. traveler and geographer, must have had a superficial understanding of what he heard, since he had no practical knowledge of ancient pygmachia training. To pierce the human body with one’s bare hands requires strengthening of the fingers together with explosive power developed through breathing exercises, allowing one to apply the muscular strength of one’s whole body instantaneously when striking (plate 4). Standing without changing position, and breathing techniques such as those used by Melankomas or those described by Oreibasius,59 were an integral part of a boxer’s training to fill his body with pneuma. Today in China, the best traditional boxers60 are those who apply the notion of an inner vital breath or energy. Oreibasius called this type of exercise “side therapy” or apotherapia, techniques which developed the athlete’s strength through inner breathing exercises or massage to activate the pneuma within their bodies. He advised combat-sports athletes to breathe from the lower abdomen, and to push the pneuma down using other types of breathing exercises, and also to speak with a deep voice, in order to open and fill the “empty spaces of the body.”
…Pythagoras himself is said to have been crowned in boxing, according to Eusebios of Cesarea (A.D. 265–339). During the 48h Olympiad (588 B.C.), Glycon of Croton won the stadion race. Pythagoras of Samos was excluded from boxing in the junior category because of his effeminate appearance, but he was still able to participate in the adult contest and beat all his adversaries.70 Diogenes Laerce also writes that, having been expelled from the junior category, Pythagoras went on to participate in the adult contest and beat all his adversaries.71
Some of the boxers had such excellent technique that they were never hit by their opponents. They were called “the untouchables” (atravmatisti), and included famous boxers such as Kleoxenos of Alexandria (240 B.C.; one-hundred thirty-fifth Olympiad), Melankomas of Caria,72 and Hippomachos. Hippomachos, son of Moschion, sustained no blows or injuries from his 3 successive opponents in the games.73 Julius Africanus (A.D. ~200) wrote that Kleoxenos had never been injured in any of his fights, and that he won all the Panhellenic games without being hurt. Melankomas was particularly well versed in standing positions, which are practiced today in China,74 but have been lost to the Western world.75 He could remain standing for 2 days with his 2 hands raised,76 a practice far removed from modern boxing. Being so skilful at his art, he was never beaten by his opponents and neither did he hurt them. He just let them exhaust themselves. Dio Chrysostom (A.D. 30–117) wrote that he had perfect control over his mind and body:
The most fantastic thing is that he was not only undefeated by his adversaries, but also by hard training in the heat, avoiding hunger, and sexual desires. The men who wish to be superior to their adversaries should not be defeated by these things. If Melankomas did not have control of himself (enkrateo),77 I doubt that he would be superior in strength, even if he was naturally strong.78