Pankration and Pammachon
Uploaded by zorzos on Oct 05, 2006
PANCRATIUM is composed of ðÜí and êñÜôïò, and accordingly signifies an athletic game, in which all the powers of the fighter were called into action. The Pancratium was one of the games or gymnastic contests which were exhibited at all the great festivals of Greece; it consisted of boxing and wrestling ( µ and ðÜëç ), and was reckoned to be one of the heavy or hard exercises ( µ áñÝá or áñýôåñá ), on account of the violent exertions it required, and for this reason it was not much practised in the gymnasia; and where it was practised, it was pro-bably not without modifications to render it easier for the boys. According to the ancient physicians it had very rarely a beneficial influence upon health (H. Mercurial. De Art. Gymnast, v. 7). At Sparta the regular Pancratium was forbidden, but the name was there applied to a fierce and irregular fight not controlled by any rules, in which even biting and scratching were not uncommon, and in which, in short, everything was allowed by which one of the parties might hope to overcome the other. In Homer we neither find the game nor the name of the Pancratium mentioned, and as it was not introduced at the Olympic games until 0 . 33 (Paus. v. 8. § 3), we may presume that the game, though it may have existed long before in a rude state, was not brought to any degree of per-fection until a short time before that event. It is scarcely possible to speak of an inventor of the Pancratium, as it must have gradually arisen out of a rude mode of fighting, which is customary among all uncivilized nations, and which was kept up at Sparta in its original state. But the Greeks re-garded Theseus as the inventor of the Pancratium, who for want of a sword was said to have used this mode of fighting against the Minotaurus (Scholia ad Pind. Nem. v. 89). Other legends re-presented Heracles as having been victor in the Pancratium (Paus. v. 8. § 1 , Hygin. Fab. 273), and later writers make other heroes also fight the Pancratium (Lucan, Pharsal., IV, 6 3, etc.); but these are mere fictions. After the Pancratium was once introduced at Olympia, it soon found its way also into the other great games of Greece, and in the times of the Roman emperors we...