Pankration Athletes - Ancient Combat Sport - Wrestling and Boxing techniques - Olympic Games - Alabaster sculpture

Item Specifics

Condition: New, Handmade in Greece.
Material: Alabaster
Height: 16 cm (6.3")
Width: 14 cm (5.5")
Weight: 900g

Pankration, which literary means ‘all force’ was one of the most popular combat sports in ancient Greece. It combined two other popular sports of antiquity, wrestling and boxing, but kicking was allowed as well. It was a dangerous sport, in which everything was permitted except biting, gouging (stabbing with your finger in your opponent’s eye, nose or mouth) and attacking the genitals. The participants were called pankratiasts. Pankration was first introduced at the thirty-third Olympics in 648 BC. It impressed the crowds immediately because it was more diverse and exciting than any other combat sport they had seen.