Each week sports reporter ROBERT CARRY looks at martial arts from around the world. This week it’s the ancient Greek art, Pankration
Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fans have been praying for decades that some day the toughest of one-on-one competitive fight competitions will make it into the Olympics. Sadly, the more squeamish sections of the sports-watching public, along with many inside the Olympic Committee, are somewhat turned off by the perceived barbarity of the discipline, which sees opponents face off in a metal cage with virtually everything except head-butts, eye-gouges, bites and groin-grabs permitted. However, its followers argue that if you break down MMA you will find all of its constituent parts already being practiced in other Olympic disciplines. They point out that you’ll see the punches in boxing, the kicks in taekwondo, the take-downs in judo and the ground fighting in wrestling. It’s a compelling argument, but there is a better one.
In 648 BC, the ancient Greeks added a competition to the Olympics which was to become one of the most popular at the games. Pankration, translated as ‘all encompassing’ or ‘all powerful’, was a martial art which involved two fighters locking horns inside a small square enclosure. There were no rounds, time limits or weight divisions and contests went on until a winner was declared.
There were variations in the rules for certain categories of fights, but the moves that were permitted in some bouts would make a seasoned modern-day cage fighter cringe, with kicks to the groin, the breaking of fingers and hair pulling all deemed okay. There were, however, some rules. Biting and scratching were deemed unacceptable, while discipline was enforced by a referee who stood over the fighters with a stick – and he used it whenever a fighter stepped out of line. Like the current MMA events, competitions were generally only brought to an end when one of the fighters either submitted or was knocked unconscious.
The events were a big hit with the Olympic-going public and the top pankratists were idolised. The names of some, like Hercules and Theseus, even slipped into Greek legend and are remembered today for their fighting prowess.
As well as the competition-sport aspect of pankration, it also served as a means of training combat soldiers in hand-to-hand fighting techniques. In fact, nearly every ancient warrior you’re likely to come across in a Hollywood blockbuster was trained in pankration, including the Spartans from the movie 300 and Colin Farrell’s Macedonian phalanx from Alexander.
The training for fighters was gruelling and competitors would kick, punch, knee and elbow wooden posts in a bid to condition their limbs for impact.
Sadly, the Roman Emperor Theodisius I did away with the Olympics in 393 AD and when it was finally revived in 1896, pankration was notably absent. There was little surviving evidence detailing pankration, which made it difficult to re-establish. Since then, however, pankration enthusiasts have been busy gathering information on the form from artistic representations on Greek and Roman artefacts and by examining martial arts still practiced in Greece, which are believed to have developed directly from the ancient style. Pankration training and competitions were re-established in Greece with the The World Pankration Federation (WPF) spearheading efforts to develop the sport worldwide and to fight for its inclusion in the modern Olympics. Although Ireland is yet to get on the bandwagon, teams have been set up across the world, with Europe and North America lining themselves up as the main pankration centres.
However, there are some key differences between the pankration of today and its ancient equivalent, one of the main ones being that the ancient competitors fought naked while their modern cousins are permitted to cover their modesty. The WPF has also toned down some of the other rules. Fights have a duration of either five or ten minutes depending on the skill level of the fighters, and a range of protective clothing has been introduced including gum-shields, groin guards, knee and elbow pads and headgear. There are also a series of restrictions on striking, with elbows and knees not permitted to the head and limits to the types of blows that can be landed on a downed opponent.
In the run-up to the 2004 Athens Olympics, the WPF made a bid for its inclusion. Sadly, its application was refused on the grounds that did not yet enjoy a broad enough following, although rumours abounded that its violent nature was the deciding factor. Despite the fact that MMA events are attracting millions of viewers around the world week-in-week-out, the often-conservative Olympic Committee has never looked likely to include any form of cage fighting in an Olympics. However, the WPF has vowed to continue its efforts to have the trimmed-down pankration, the world’s first-ever mixed martial art, reinstated in the games and that is a fight that looks extremely winnable.
