Historical presentation of pankration from antiquity to its modern rebirth

Matsaridis Charalampos, Matsar

Abstract

Pankration is a combating sport of ancient Greece. It was a full contact sport which used mixed techniques taken from boxing and wrestling. It had also developed its own ones like grappling, kicking, or breaking the opponent’s bones. It was one of the most beloved sports in ancient Greece and not only. After its incorporation in the ancient Olympic Games, it developed unique regulations, strict methods of training, and nutrition directions for the athletes or else the ‘’pankratiasts’’. However, pankration was used from the ancient Greeks not just as a sport. It was the combat craft used by the Hoplites, the ancient greek soldiers, in real battle crashing the enemies, either defending or offending. While we moved on from the Classical and Hellenistic age to the Medieval, the sport declined and survived with different names and forms around the eastern Mediterranean sea until the 20th century when an attempt of rebirth started. Finally, the sport takes international recognition by starting from its birth place, Greece, and expanding worldwide, following the expectation to be included again in the Olympic Games.