Ancient Boxing: Origin Myths and Legends, Equipment and Rules.

The ancient Greeks thought that the first Games in Olympia were organized by heroes and gods. In his first Olympic Ode, dated to the fifth century BC, Pindar tells us about Pelops, the founder of the Games. Pelops, the son of Tantalus, came from Asia Minor to participate to a chariot race organized by Oinomaos, the king of Pisa in the Peloponnese. Oinomaos was told of an oracle according to which the marriage of his daughter Hippodameia would cause his death. Thus, he ordered his people to kill all the suitors who came to participate in the game. However, Pelops insidiously killed Oinomaos during the race and ended up marring Hippodameia. As king of the area, he was the first to organize the games to purify himself or, according to another version, to thank the gods for his victory. The organization of the chariot race was illustrated in the eastern pediment of the temple of Zeus in the 5th century BC. In the same way, Hippodameia instituted the Heraean games for the same reason. These were running games, conducted every four years and restricted uniquely to maidens.The Idaean Heracles is another heroic figure associated to the first Games. Heracles came with his brothers Kouretes from Crete, defined the length of the stadium at Olympia, organized a foot race with his brothers and crowned the victor with a wreath of wild olive leaves. Pindar also records that it was Theban Heracles, the son of Zeus who brought the wild olive from the Hyperborean countries, founded the foot race, introduced the cult of Zeus and determined the boundaries of the Sacred Altis. The historian Strabo reports that the descendants of Heracles (the Herakleidai) first organized the games, after the spread of the Aitolian and Dorian groups to Pisa. According to this interpretation, the Aetolian groups who conquered Pisa settled there under their leader Oxylus in the Late Mycenean period, ca. 1200-1100 BC. This occupation led to conflicts with the indigenous people, as indicated by the later antagonism between Eleans who migrated from Aetolia, and Pisatans. According to an Elean myth, Zeus took control of the sanctuary and founded the games.

Pausanius "With regard to the Olympic games, the Elean antiquaries say that Kronos first reigned in Heaven, and that a temple was made for him by the men of that age, who were named the Golden Race. When Zeus was born, Rhea entrusted the guardianship of her son to the Dactyls of Ida, who are the same as those called Curetes. They came from Cretan Ida—Heracles, Paeonaeus, Epimedes, Iasius and Idas.

Heracles, being the eldest, matched his brothers, as a game, in a running-race, and crowned the winner with a branch of wild olive, of which they had such a copious supply that they slept on heaps of its leaves while still green. It is said to have been introduced into Greece by Heracles from the land of the Hyperboreans, men living beyond the home of the North Wind.

Olen the Lycian, in his hymn to Achaeia, was the first to say that from these Hyperboreans Achaeia came to Delos. When Melanopus of Cyme composed an ode to Opis and Hecaerge declaring that these, even before Achaeia, came to Delos from the Hyperboreans.

And Aristeas of Proconnesus—for he too made mention of the Hyperboreans—may perhaps have learnt even more about them from the Issedones, to whom he says in his poem that he came. Heracles of Ida, therefore, has the reputation of being the first to have held, on the occasion I mentioned, the games, and to have called them Olympic.

Some say that Zeus wrestled here with Cronus himself for the throne, while others say that he held the games in honor of his victory over Cronus. The record of victors include Apollo, who outran Hermes and beat Ares at boxing. It is for this reason, they say, that the Pythian flute-song is played while the competitors in the pentathlum are jumping; for the flute-song is sacred to Apollo, and Apollo won Olympic victories."


Pindar "Then the mighty son of Zeus, having gathered together all his host at Pisa and all the booty, measured a sacred grove for his sovereign father. Having fenced round the Altis he marked the bounds thereof in a clear space, and the plain encompassing it he ordained for rest and feasting. He set apart the choicest of the spoil for an offering from the war and sacrificed, and he ordained the fifth year feast with the first Olympiad and prizes of victory.".


According to myth, Apollo invented boxing when he defeated and killed Phorbas, a fighter who forced travelers to Delphi to compete with him. Apollo defeated Ares in the first Olympia.

Phorbas vs Apollo

Philostratus: " This river, my boy, is the Boiotian Kephisos, a stream not unknown to the Mousai; and on its bank Phlegyans are encamped, barbarian people who do not yet live in cities. Of the two men boxing you doubtless see that one is Apollo, and the other is Phorbas, whom the Phlegyans have made king because he is tall beyond all of them and the most savage of the race. Apollo is boxing with him for the freedom of the road. For since Phorbas seized control of the road which leads straight to Phokis and Delphi, no one any longer sacrifices at Pytho or conducts paians in honour of the god, and the tripod's oracles and prophetic sayings and responses have wholly ceased. Phorbas separates himself from the rest of the Phlegyans when he makes his raids; for this oak-tree, my boy, he has taken as his home, and the Phlegyans visit him in these royal quarters in order, forsooth, to obtain justice. Catching those who journey toward the shrine, he sends the old men and children to the central camp of the Phlegyans for them to despoil and hold for ransom; but as for the stronger, he strips for a contest with them and overcomes some in wrestling, outruns others, and defeats others in the pancratium and in throwing the discus; then he cuts off their heads and suspends these on the oak, and beneath this defilement he spends his life. The heads hang dank from the branches, and some you see are withered and others fresh, while others have shrunken to bare skulls; and they grin and seem to lament as the wind blows on them. To Phorbas, as he exults over these ‘Olympian’ victories, has come Apollo in the likeness of a youthful boxer. As for the aspect of the god, he is represented as unshorn, my boy, and with his hair fastened up so that he may box with girt-up head; rays of light rise from about his brow and his cheek emits a smile mingled with wrath; keen is the glance of his eyes as it follows his uplifted hands. And the leather thongs are wrapped about his hands, which are more beautiful than if garlands adorned them. Already the god has overcome him in boxing, for the thrust of the right hand shows the hand still in action and not yet discontinuing the posture wherewith he has laid him low, but the Phlegyan is already stretched on the ground, and a poet will tell how much ground he covers; the wound has been inflicted on his temple, and the blood gushes forth from it as from a fountain. He is depicted as savage, and of swinelike features the kind that will feed upon strangers rather than simply kill them. Fire from heaven rushes down to smite the oak and set it afire, not, however, to obliterate all record of it; for the place where these events occurred, my boy, is still called ‘Heads of Oak.’"



According to Philostratus boxing was a Spartan advent and martial art used for military training.

Philostratos: "Boxing was a discovery of the Lakedaimonians, and Polydeukes was the best at it and for this reason the poets sang of him in this event. The ancient Lakedaimonians boxed for the following reason: they had no helmets, nor did they think it proper to their native land to fight in helmets. They felt that a shield, properly used, could serve in the place of a helmet. Therefore they practiced boxing in order to know how to ward off blows to the face, and they hardened their faces in order to be able to endure the blows which landed. After a time, however, they quit boxing and the pankration as well, because these contests are decided by one opponent acknowledging defeat and this might give an excuse for her detractors to accuse Sparta of a lack of spirit.

The ancient boxing equipment was the following: the four fingers were bound up so that they extended beyond the strap sufficiently to allow the boxer to clench his fist. The strap continued to the forearm as a support for the wrist. Now the equipment has changed. They tan the hide of a fat ox and work it into the boxing himas, which is sharp and protrudes from the hand, and the thumb is not bound up with the fingers in order to prevent additional wounds, and thus the whole hand does not fight. For this reason they also prohibit pigskin himantes in the stadium because they believe them to cause painful and slow-healing wounds.

The boxer should have a long hand and strong forearms and upper arms, broad shoulders, and a long neck. Thick wrists strike harder blows, thinner ones are flexible and strike more easily. He should have solid hips for support, since the thrust of striking out will unbalance him if his body is not set upon firm hips. I regard fat calves as worthless in every sport, and especially boxing. They are too slow for both offensive and defensive footwork. He should have a straight calf of proper proportion to his thigh, and his thighs should be set well apart from each other. The shape of the boxer is better for offense if his thighs do not come together. The best boxer has a small belly, for he is nimble and has good wind. On the other hand, a big belly will give some advantage to a boxer, for it will get in the way of the opponent who is striking for the face."

 

Theokritos gives us an account of the Polydeukes version of the first boxing match: "A gigantic man was sitting there and sunning himself, an awesome sight. His ears were crushed from the rigors of boxing, his mighty chest and his broad back bulged with flesh of iron; he was like a colossal statue of hammered metal. The muscles on his firm arms just below the shoulder stood out like rounded stones which a winter's torrent rolls and polishes in great swirling eddies. Over his back there was slung a lion's skin fastened at his neck by the paws. And Polydeukes spoke to him thus:

POLYDEUKES: Good day, stranger, whoever you are. What people are they who own this land?
AMYKOS: Good day? How can the day be good when it brings to me men I never saw before?
POLYDEUKES: Do not be afraid. We are not evil men, nor were our fathers before us.
AMYKOS: I'm not afraid, and I'm not likely to learn to be afraid from the likes of you.
POLYDEUKES: Are you completely uncultured, always perverse and sneering?
AMYKOS: I am what you see, and I'm not trespassing on your land.
POLYDEUKES: Oh, well, come along with us and you will return home again with gifts of friendship.
AMYKOS: I don't want any gifts, and I've none for you.
POLYDEUKES: Well, may we at least have a drink of this water?
AMYKOS: You'll find out when you're a lot thirstier than now.
POLYDEUKES: If you want money just say how much.
AMYKOS: I want you to put up your dukes and fight me like a man.
POLYDEUKES: In boxing? Or may we kick each other's legs, too, and ...
AMYKOS: Shut up, put'em up, and do your damnedest.
POLYDEUKES: Wait! Is there a prize for which we will fight?
AMYKOS: If you win, you beat me, and if I win, I beat you.
POLYDEUKES: Gamecocks fight on such terms.
AMYKOS: I don't give a damn if we look like gamecocks or lions. You wanted a prize, and that's it.

So spoke Amykos, and he picked up and blew upon a hollow shell, at whose blast the Bebrykians, whose hair is never cut, swiftly gathered beneath the shady plane trees.

When the two combatants had strengthened their hands with oxhide straps and had wound the long himantes around their arms, they met in the middle of the gathering and breathed out mutual slaughter. At this point there was jostling between them in their eagerness to see who would get the sunlight at his back. By quick skill Polydeukes slipped by the huge man and the sun's ray struck Amykos full in the face. Then Amykos, enraged, rushed forward aiming his fist straight at the mark, but Polydeukes sidestepped and struck him on the point of his chin. Then, even more aroused, the giant battled wildly and, hunching over, he rushed heavily upon Polydeukes. The Bebrykians roared applause, while the heroes on the other side shouted words of encouragement to Polydeukes, for they feared that the giant fighter would press him into a corner and finish him. But Polydeukes, shifting his ground this way and that, striking now with his right, now with his left, cut Amykos up and checked his attack in spite of his huge size. The giant came to a standstill drunk with blows and spat out red blood, while all the heroes cheered when they saw the gashes around his mouth and jaws, and as his face swelled his eyes became narrower and narrower. Then Polydeukes continued to bewilder him by making feints from all directions, but when he saw that Amykos was utterly helpless, he drove his fist against his brow smack above the nose and laid bare his forehead to the bone, and Amykos went down hard, stretched out on the layers of leaves.But he got up again, and the fight became truly bitter; they dealt each other deadly blows from the hard himantes. But the giant kept throwing his punches at his opponent's chest and just below his neck while Polydeukes kept on battering Amykos' face all over. The giant's flesh shrank as he sweated and from a huge man he was fast becoming a small one whereas Polydeukes displayed ever-stouter limbs and a healthier color. Then Amykos, hoping desperately for a knockout punch, seized Polydeukes' left hand in his own left hand and leaned sideways in his forward lunge and reached down to his right side to bring up a huge haymaker. Had he landed the blow he would have knocked out the Spartan prince, but Polydeukes ducked out of the way and at the same time he hit Amykos beneath the left temple with a crisp right hand delivered straight from the shoulder; and blood spurted forth from Amykos' gaping temple. Immediately, with his now free left hand, he planted a punch on the giant's mouth, and the teeth rattled loose. With blows that thudded ever sharper and sharper, he battered the man's face until his cheeks were crushed in. Then finally Amykos went down flat on the ground and, dazed, he raised his hand and gave up the fight since he was close to death.

Polydeukes, though he had won, did nothing brutal to Amykos, but did make him swear never again to insult strangers."



Onomastos Rules as I know them:

No wreslting of any kind, includes clinch.

Any type of blow with the hand was allowed but no gouging, poking, digging or scratching with the fingers

No barrier, ropes, lines drawn in sand, but there was limit. The skamma is often misreported as some sort of barrier or legal zone. It is a term that refers to the fighting area, but a wrestling skamma was dug out while boxing enjoyed nothing up until the fighters got to the chariot track. Several hundred yards of fighting space no one ever took up all of or needed. So sometimes you read no barrier, sometimes you read the term skamma, but really for all purposes there was no barrier which is why that's what you read most often.

No rounds, the fighting continues until one contestant concedes or can no longer support themselves. There is no count, they have as long as they need to get back up.

No weight divisions, there were Men's and Boy's boxing. Opponents were chosen by lottery.

Judges known as hellanodikai enforced the rules by beating offenders with a stick or whip

Fighters could agree to Klimax, the exchange of blows undefended, if the fight lasted too long.

No downs, the fight is over when a fighter can no longer get up, but you can hit a downed opponent at any point. Hand on the ground, knee on the ground, sat flat on ass, doesn't matter. Unless they're snoozing or called it quits they're fair game.


Equipment:

Everything but the hands is what your momma gave you at birth and nothing more, they were naked.

Through different periods they used different wraps. Generally speaking he Romans were a little more blood hungry and a little less sport hungry. There wraps were hardened with soft wraps underneath and weaponization on top. Everything from simple metal studs to complex caestus. The Greeks were all about the art of boxing and used wraps rather similar to present gloves. They were soft leather thongs wrapped from the knuckles to 3/4 of the forearm. the fingers were exposed and mobile. The Greek thongs were called hima or himantes, while the Roman's weaponized himantes were referred to as oxeis himantes and caestus. An oxeis himantes is a pre-formed and hardened himantes while a caestus is an oxeis himantes with studs or more, sometimes they used lead.


Homer's Epeius vs. Eurylasis, the oldest record of a boxing match.


Both pugilists aggressively step to center of ring. There appears to be little defense as the boxers exchange heavy punches. They both land often to the jaw which can be heard by spectators. Fatigue becomes a factor as both boxers profusely sweat. Eurylasis becomes distracted looking away toward the spectators. Epeius steps forward and lands a knockdown punch to jaw. Eurylasis’ legs buckle as he falls to ground. An unsteady Eurylasis flops about desperate until he lay still.

he victor, Epeius, steps over to lift his defeated foe off ground. Eurylasis’ friends enter the ring to assist. Eurylasis is dazed and cannot walk unaided. The boxer’s head tilts to one side as he spits and vomits bloodied gore. Eurylasis remains looped and does not know who he is or what has happened. The friends leave the barely conscious boxer alone as the double cup is retrieved.


Plutarch said that boxing was banned in Sparta by king Lycurgus because Spartans never surrender and the other city-states took this as poor sportsmanship rather than braggable culture.

Boxing didn't get the name boxing until the Dark Ages. To the Greeks the sport was called Pygmachia. To the Romans it was called Pyx.

Boxers were called Pygmachos.

Boxing, Wrestling, and Pankration were considered downing or heavy events called Barea Athla.

Akoniti means dustless, without challenge. No Contest.

The Hellanodikai are 10 judges. 3 for the equestrian events, 3 for the pentathlon, 3 for all other events, and 1 coordinator of all the events. They were considered sacred and above reproach, with dignity, courage, grace, and respect. All would be housed in a place called the Hellanodikaion

Korykeion was the name of the room they'd punch their Korykos or punching-bag, in. Not to be confused with the apodyterion or changing room.

I believe trainers were called gymnotribai or gymnastes.

A Periodonikes was someone victorious at all four Panhellenic Games; Olympic, Isthmian, Nemean, and Pythian.

kala ta chalepa - The more difficult the task the greater the glory.

I spoke about Oxy, Hmantes, and Caestus already but I didn't work in Caestus studs and the likeness were nicknamed mymikes or ants for their stinging effect.

The announcers were called grammateus, they introduced the participants.

sphairai, I think, are like practice pads.

Triastes - Tripler

Back to Heavyweight Champions from Ancient to Present

 

Alternatively, y'all already had this published:

19.09.05 – By M.C. Southorn: Unarmed combat was most likely practiced by humans since before we were humans. In Western culture it is the Greeks who are first credited with taming the practice for sport. Known as “Pygmahia” or “fistfighting”, the ancient Greeks asserted that the sport was invented by Apollo, the sun god. In this tradition, the first mortal Champion Of The World was a prince named Forvanta. He represented mankind in the first recorded Championship; a match between man and god. Forvanta challenged Apollo and for this outrage Apollo killed the human Champion during their match.

Other victims of Apollos were Phorbas, a mortal boxer who challenged travellers wishing to pass through Delphi (he was also killed) and none other than the god of war Aries, who fell victim to the sun god at the mythic first Olympic games but lived to tell the tale. Other mythological practitioners of the sport included Herakles, Tydeus, Polydeusus and Theseus.

The first known boxing artifacts derive from ancient Crete, dating 1600 BC. The sport receives its first literary mention in Homer’s “The Iliad” (circa 800 BC), in the 23rd chapter, wherein Epeus (builder of the Trojan horse) and Euryalus (a Captain of the Argonauts) hold a contest at the funeral of Patroclus.

Patroclus was Achilles’ squire and had met his end in his master’s armour at the hands of Apollo and Hector during the Trojan War (1200 BC). The passage presents the sport of boxing as having already achieved a near modern sophistication – complete with rules and even seconds – and as with today’s version of the sport, the jaw is ever the target.

The Olympic games were reputed to have been founded by the gods, and were brought to this mortal coil by one Aethlius (from whose name is derived todays word “Athlete”) as a challenge to his sons. After a period wherein their practice was ceased, they were ‘revived’ by Iphitus and Lycurgus, two descendants of Herakles, in 766 BC as a means of replacing war with sport in the ancient world. These games featured only one event: The Stadion (chariot) race. Further events were added as the centuries passed. It wasn’t until 688 BC, at the 23rd Olympic games, that mankind first officially practiced the sport of boxing at an international level (as the Olympic games were open to all Greek-speaking males and one needed not be Greek by birth).

The ideal boxer at the time was aggressive and the bouts – fought naked save for hands wrapped in hard leather thongs called “cesti” – went until one of the two contenders signalled submission by raising his opened hand, or by taking a knee. An umpire was on-hand to ensure that the winner recognised this surrender. The first recorded Champion was Onomastos of Smyrna. He won the title in the 23rd games and thereafter set the rules for the sport, which were the first in recorded history.

Boxing did not take place in a ring, which meant there was no opportunity for cornering – rather, the Greeks placed portable barriers such as ladders or sticks on the ground to set the boundaries. These objects could be moved closer until fighters were forced to stand toe-to-toe. Because all fights were outdoors, a common tactic was to gain an advantage by standing so the sun was in an opponent’s eyes.

There were no weight classes, no rounds and no time limit. Some fights lasted for days. If both fighters agreed, they could end the fight by “klimax’ whereby each fighter took turns striking the other, without pretense of defence by either, until a winner was decided. Athletes were selected by their city-states to represent their people, and although there were no weight classes it was obvious that size, height, weight, reach and strength were all advantages, therefore it was normally only the largest men who were chosen to represent their city-states in this sport.

The punching of the time was crude, and did not feature the straight punches normally seen today, but instead consisted mainly of wild hooks and hammer-like blows, mostly to the head. When defending, style and grace of movement were highly valued. Greek boxers trained for months before the games, because encounters between athletes armed with such terrible weapons as the cestus were bound to result in very serious injuries. In the days of Onomastos, courage was also valued and it was said that a fighter of the time named Eurydamas swallowed his own broken teeth rather than show that he was hurt. His opponent, disheartened that his best punches were having no effect, signalled defeat.

The rules of Onomastos were strict: No wrestling, grappling, kicking nor biting were allowed, and the contest ended when one combatant was knocked out or signalled submission It was this last rule, according to Plutarch, that had boxing banned in Sparta by its philosopher-king Lycurgus, since Spartans never surrendered. It was also strictly forbidden to intentionally kill an adversary, on pain of losing the match. Rhodes, Aegina, Arcadia and Elis produced most of the Olympic victors in boxing.

Onomastos held his title until 672 BC, when, in the 27th Olympic games, Diappos from Kroton was named Champion. The title changed hands again in 648 BC, when Komaios from Megara took the title. There were many great champions in the years that followed, but only one – Tisandros – was able to match Onomastos’ record 4 consecutive Olympic titles, and it was not matched again until the modern era.

Later, brutality gave way to technique and defence was valued more highly than attack. Matches became more lengthy, and records exist of some bouts lasting two days time. The zenith of this philosophy was reached in Melankomas, of whom Dio Chrysostum wrote in the 1st Century:

“Although he met so many antagonists and such good ones, he went down before none of them, but was himself always victorious… He won all his victories without being hit himself or hitting his opponent, so far superior was he in strength and in his power of endurance. For often he would fight throughout the whole day, in the hottest season of the year, and although he could have more quickly won the contest by striking a blow, he refused to do it, thinking that it was possible at times for the least competent boxer to overcome by a blow the very best man, if the chance for making it were offered; but he held that it was the truest victory when he forced his opponent, although uninjured, to give up because of his whole body, and not simply the part of his body that was struck…”

When Sulla plundered Olympia in 80 BC, the Greek Olympic tradition effectively ended, although boxing was evidently in vogue in very ancient times in Italy, and Greek or ‘provincial’ athletes were taken to Rome to compete. During the Republic, boxing was cultivated as a gentlemanly exercise, but contests increased in violence and depravity at the dawn of the Empire. Tacitus wrote that the emperor Caligula imported the best Campanian and African pugilists for the gladiatorial games. The sport remained popular in Italy throughout the reign of Nero but eventually boxing fell by the wayside in favour of more brutal pursuits.

Boxing continued to exist in pockets throughout the world, from Europe to China over the next two millennia, but no history has survived of organized events of a noteworthy scale until the sport was revived in England in the late 17th century.

The Olympic Champions

Onomastos 688-676 BC

Diappos 672 BC

Komaios 652 BC

Pythagoras 588 BC

Tisandros 572-560 BC

Praxidamas 544 BC

Glaucos 520 BC

Philon 500-496 BC

Ikkos 492 BC

Diognetos 488 BC

Euthymos 484 BC

Theagenes 480 BC

Euthymos 476 BC

Euthymos 472 BC

Menalkes 468 BC

Diagoras 464 BC

Akousilous 448 BC

Alkainetos 444 BC

Kleomachos 440 BC

Eukles 404 BC

Demarchos 400 BC

Phormion 392 BC

Damoxenidas 384 BC

Labax 376 BC

Aristion 368 BC

Philammon 360 BC Note: Philammon is believed to have been sponsored by Aristotle.

Asamon 340 BC

Mys 336 BC

Satyros 332 BC

Satyros 328 BC

Archippos 300 BC

Kallippos 296 BC

Kleitomachus 216 BC

Epitherses 184 BC

Xenothemius 144 BC

Agesarchos 120 BC

Atyanas 72 BC

Thaliarchos 32 BC

Nikophon 8

Demokrates 25-33

Melankomas 49

Herakliedes 93

Marcus Tullius 141-145

Photion 173
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Pretty decent MC, especially for 05. I want to brag on this because he included Klimax which might seem like something unimportant, but in my opinion it's a huge game changer from what we're used to. Most historians and authors don't bother mentioning it and when they do they never use it's name but rather it's explanation. I don't think any of the books I mentioned names Klimax and while it's easily sourced today online in 05 he was dropping some knowledge by naming it rather than simply stating boxers could agree to swap licks until one dropped in their favored wordplay. As far as his list-o-champ or quotes, things that contradict my post, go with me over him. I'm not being arrogant, I've like a decade of sources being made more available on him. I'm sure he held himself to some standard of quality when he wrote the piece, but more information has been made available since then.

 

Thanks dudes

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I hate to flood the section with bumps of my own threads, but I believe some of the glossary section will help others who are doing research in private at the moment. I'm not sure if people are leaving out proper terms because they mean to or because they don't know any better.

Periodonikes will be coming up in the Diagoras thread.