WRESTLING
Wrestling is perhaps the oldest and most universal of all sports. The
wall-paintings of Beni Hassan show that almost every hold or throw known
to modern wrestlers was known to the Egyptians 2500 years before our
era. The popularity of wrestling among the Greeks is proved by the
constant metaphors from this sport, and by the frequency with which
scenes from the wrestling ring appear not only in athletic literature
and art but also in mythological subjects. Despite the changes in Greek
athletics caused by professionalism, which affected wrestling and boxing
more than any other sports, the popularity of wrestling remained
unabated. On early black-figured vases Heracles is constantly
represented employing the regular holds of the palaestra not only
against the giant Antaeus but against monsters such as Achelous or the
Triton, or even against the Nemean lion, and centuries later the
language in which Ovid and Lucan describe these combats is in every
detail borrowed from the same source. Still more is this the case with
the wrestling match between Cercyon and Theseus which occurs so often on
the red-figured vases of Athens. On coins wrestling types survive into
imperial times. The fight with the Nemean lion is represented on the
fourth-century gold coins of Syracuse, and that with Antaeus on imperial
coins of Alexandria (Fig. 109).
[Illustration: Fig. 109. Wrestling types on coins, in British Museum.
_a_, _b_, _c_, Aspendus, fifth and fourth centuries. _d_, Heraclea in
Lucania, fourth century. _e_, _f_, Syracuse, _circa_ 400 B.C. _g_,
Alexandria, Antoninus Pius. (_J.H.S._ xxv. p. 271.)]
These fights are one of the many forms under which Greek imagination
loved to picture the triumph of civilization and science over barbarism
and brute force. To the Greek wrestling was a science and an art.
Theseus, the reputed discoverer of scientific wrestling, is said to have
learnt its rules from Athena herself.[633] The greatest importance was
attached to grace and skill; it was not sufficient to throw an opponent,
it had to be done correctly and in good style.[634] Hence even when
athletics had become corrupted by professionalism, wrestling remained
for the most part free from that brutality which has so often brought
discredit on one of the noblest of sports. Pausanias records the case of
a certain Sicilian wrestler, Leontiscus, who defeated his opponents by
trying to break their fingers.[635] But such tactics did not commend
themselves to the Greeks, although it does not seem that they were
formally prohibited, and Pausanias expresses his disapproval by the
comment that he did not understand how to throw his opponents.
The very name palaestra sufficiently indicates the early importance of
wrestling in Greek education, an importance which it maintained even
during the Empire. The method of instruction was strictly
progressive.[636] There were separate rules for men and boys; the
different movements, grips, and throws were taught as separate figures,
the simpler movements first, then the more complicated. In learning them
the pupils were grouped in pairs, and more than one pair could be taught
at the same time. In the early stages a beginner would be paired with a
more advanced pupil, who would help him. Later on the movements were
combined, and practice was allowed in free play. The paidotribes seems
to have enforced his instruction with a free use of the rod. In Fig. 96
a vivid picture of a wrestling lesson is seen. A pair of paidotribai are
engaged in instructing a pair of youthful wrestlers. One of the latter
has seized his opponent round the waist and prepares to give him the
heave; the other has allowed him to obtain his grip and stands with
outstretched hands waiting for the paidotribes to give his next order.
There were doubtless numerous text-books of drill in wrestling and other
sports for the use of paidotribai. A fragment of such a text-book has
been found on a papyrus of the second century A.D.[637] It contains
orders for executing a number of different grips and throws, and each
section ends with the order “complete the grip” (πλέξον) or “throw him”
(ῥεῖψον). The sections dealing with the throws are hopelessly mutilated,
but considerable portions of four sections dealing with the grips
remain. Unfortunately, the brevity of the commands, characteristic of
all drill books, makes them extremely difficult to understand
accurately, and the interpretation is too technical to deal with here.
Competitions in wrestling, boxing, and the pankration were conducted in
the same way as a modern tournament. Lucian’s description of the manner
of drawing lots has already been quoted. In case of an odd number of
competitors one of them drew a bye. This of course gave him a
considerable advantage in the next round over a less fortunate rival,
who had perhaps been exhausted by his previous contest. Thus the crown
may sometimes have depended on the luck of the lot. It is to such an
accident that Pindar refers at the close of the sixth Nemean Ode when he
says that Alcimidas and his brother were deprived of two Olympic crowns
by the fall of the lot. So it is mentioned as an additional distinction
for an athlete to have won a crown without drawing the bye, and
Pausanias speaks with some contempt of such as have ere now won the
olive by the unreasonableness of the lot and not by their own
strength.[638] There is, of course, no ground for the idea that one who
had drawn a bye in the first round remained a bye till the final. To
draw a bye in a single round is quite sufficient advantage, and
archaeologists should really credit the Greeks with a certain amount of
practical common-sense.
The number of competitors varied. Lucian, in the passage referred to,
speaks of five or twelve competitors,[639] and this statement agrees
generally with our other evidence. Pindar’s heroes, the Aeginetan
wrestlers Alcimedon and Aristomenes,[640] were each victorious over four
rivals, that is, in four rounds. The same number is mentioned in the
Olympic inscriptions on the wrestler Xenocles and the boxer
Philippus.[641] Four rounds imply nine to sixteen competitors. A long
epigram on Ariston,[642] who won the pankration in Ol. 207, tells us
that there were seven competitors, and that he took part in all three
rounds and did not owe his crown to the luck of the lot.
Sometimes a famous athlete was allowed a walk over, in which case he was
said to have won ἀκονιτεί, without dust, that is, without having even
dusted his body with the fine sand which athletes used before exercise.
Such a victory is recorded of Milo at some unknown festival when he was
the only competitor in wrestling.[643] The first victory of this sort
recorded at Olympia is that of Dromeus in the pankration of Ol. 75.[644]
An inscription found at Olympia enumerating the victories of the
Diagoridae at Rhodes records that Dorieus won a victory in boxing
(ἀκονιτεί) at the Pythia.[645] These instances, which could be
multiplied, are sufficient to prove that Philostratus is mistaken when
he asserts that no crown was awarded at Olympia without competition
(ἀκονιτεί).[646] The case of Dorieus disproves the similar statement
made by Heliodorus with regard to the Pythia.[647] There can hardly have
been any necessity for such a rule in early times, but a rule requiring
more than one competitor may well have been introduced at the time of
the athletic revival under the Empire, if not at the Olympia or Pythia,
at some of the many festivals which bore their names. A rule to this
effect might be reasonably expected at festivals where valuable prizes
were offered.
The Greeks distinguished two styles of wrestling, one which they called
“upright wrestling” or wrestling proper (ὀρθὴ πάλη, or σταδιαία
πάλη,[648] or simply πάλη) in which the object was to throw an opponent
to the ground (καταβλητική), the other “ground wrestling” (κύλισις or
ἁλίνδησις) in which the struggle was continued on the ground till one or
other of the combatants acknowledged defeat. The former was the only
wrestling admitted in the pentathlon and in wrestling competitions
proper; the latter did not exist as a separate competition, but only as
part of the pankration, in which hitting and kicking were also
allowed.[649]
In the practice of the palaestra ground wrestling as well as wrestling
proper was freely indulged in. We gather from Lucian that separate
places were assigned to the two exercises. Ground wrestling took place
in some place under cover, and the ground was watered till it became
muddy.[650] The mud rendered the body slippery and difficult to hold,
and so rendered accidents less likely; while wallowing in the mud was
supposed to have a most beneficial effect on the skin. Wrestling proper
took place on the sandy ground in the centre of palaestra. This was
called the skamma, the same word that is used for the jumping pit. It
denotes a place dug up, levelled and sanded so as to form a smooth soft
surface. For actual competitions a skamma must have been provided
somewhere in the stadium, probably, where such existed, in the
semicircular theatre at the end.
In heroic times boxers and wrestlers wore a loin-cloth (περίζωμα), such
as is occasionally depicted on black-figured vases (Fig. 128), but this
loin-cloth seems to have been usually discarded even in the sixth
century. Wrestlers, especially boys, sometimes wore ear-caps (Fig. 17),
but there is no evidence of their use in competitions. For obvious
reasons they always wore their hair short.[651] Professional athletes
under the Empire wore the little hair that was left uncut, tied up in an
unsightly little topknot called the “cirrus.”[652]
In the present chapter we are concerned only with wrestling proper.
Before discussing its rules let me utter an emphatic protest against the
slanderous fallacy implied in the use of the term Graeco-Roman to
describe a style of wrestling in vogue in some of the Music Halls at the
present day. There is nothing in Greek wrestling proper, or in the
pankration, which bears any resemblance to, or can offer any
justification for, this most useless and absurd of all systems, which,
as Mr. Walter Armstrong remarks, might have been invented for the
express purpose of bringing a grand and useful exercise into disrepute.
We have no definite statement as to the rules of Greek wrestling, and
are forced to infer them from the somewhat fragmentary evidence of
literature and art. The two essential points which distinguish one style
of wrestling from another are the definition of a fair throw and the
nature of the holds allowed.
In most modern styles a man is considered thrown only when both
shoulders, or one shoulder and one hip touch the ground at the same
time; in the Cumberland and Westmorland style he is thrown if he touches
the ground with any portion of his body, or even with his knee. A throw
may be either a clean throw or the result of a struggle on the ground.
With the Greeks it is practically undisputed that only clean throws
counted; if one or both wrestlers fell to the ground the bout was
finished. Further, it is certain that a fall on the back, on the
shoulders, or the hip counted as a fair throw.[653] An epigram on one
Damostratus is conclusive evidence for the back, an epigram on
Cleitomachus for the shoulders.[654] Another epigram relates how Milo,
advancing to receive his crown after a “dustless” victory, slipped and
fell on his hip, whereupon the people cried out not to crown a man who
had fallen without an adversary.[655] The question of a fall on the knee
is more difficult. The passages quoted from Aeschylus are doubtful, and
capable of being interpreted either way. So is the epigram on Milo
ascribed to Simonides, which states that he won seven victories at Pisa
without ever falling on his knee.[656] The evidence of the monuments is
divided. We have a group of bronzes, apparently copies of some
well-known Hellenistic original, which represent a wrestler who has
fallen on one knee (Figs. 130, 131). His victorious opponent stands over
him with one hand pressing down his neck, with the other forcing back
his arm. There can be no doubt that he is in a position to throw him on
his back if necessary, but he seems to make no effort to do so. On the
other hand, we have a group of vases and wall-paintings representing the
throw known as “the flying mare,” in which the wrestler as he throws his
opponent over his head sinks on one knee (Figs. 114, 115). Various
explanations are possible, the most plausible being that these scenes
really belong to the pankration; but none of them is quite convincing.
Where the evidence is so evenly balanced, certainty is impossible. On
the whole I am inclined to abandon the view which I formerly held and to
accept Jüthner’s view that a fall on the knee did not count.
What happened if both wrestlers fell together? The only evidence for
this is the wrestling match in the _Iliad_, described in our second
chapter. There it will be remembered that in the first bout Odysseus
fell on the top of Ajax, in the second they both fell sideways, after
which Achilles declared the contest drawn. From this we inferred that if
both wrestlers fell together no fall was counted. The accounts of
wrestling in later writers are merely literary imitations of Homer, and
of little independent value.
One fall did not decide the victory; three falls were necessary. There
are numerous allusions in literature to the three throws.[657] The
technical word for winning a victory in wrestling was τριάσσειν, “to
treble,” and the victor was called τριακτήρ. At first sight it seems
uncertain whether the reference is to three bouts or three falls. But
the latter interpretation is the only one which suits every passage, and
is rendered certain by the categorical statement of Seneca that a
wrestler thrice thrown lost the prize.[658]
So much for the actual throw and the number of throws necessary for
victory. We pass on to the question of the means employed by the Greek
wrestler to throw his opponent. In particular, was tripping allowed, and
were leg-holds allowed? In the artificial “Graeco-Roman” style of to-day
tripping is forbidden and no holds are allowed below the waist. Tripping
is seldom represented in art; but the frequent references to it in
literature from the time of Homer to that of Lucian leave no doubt that
it played an important part in Greek wrestling, as it has in every
rational system in every age.[659] The evidence for leg-holds is less
definite, but it seems certain that in practice at least the Greeks made
little use of them. This is the natural inference from a passage in the
_Laws_,[660] where Plato contrasts the methods of the pankration in
which leg-holds and kicking played a conspicuous part with the methods
of upright wrestling. The latter is the only form of wrestling which he
will admit as useful in his ideal states, and he defines it as
consisting in “the disentangling of neck and hands and sides,” a
masterly definition showing a true understanding of wrestling, for the
wrestler’s art is shown more perhaps in his ability to escape from or
break a grip than in his skill in fixing one. The vases show that the
omission of leg-holds in Plato’s definition is no accident. In the
pankration one competitor is frequently represented in the act of
seizing another’s foot in order to throw him; Antaeus and Cercyon, whose
methods Plato in the above passage strongly condemns, are commonly
depicted as grabbing at the feet of Heracles and Theseus. But in
wrestling proper, though arm, neck, and body-holds occur constantly, we
never see a leg-hold. It is probable that this is the result not so much
of a direct prohibition as of the practical riskiness of such a hold
under the conditions of upright wrestling. A wrestler who stoops low
enough to catch an opponent’s foot is certain to be thrown himself if he
misses his grip. On the other hand, there is no practical objection when
once the wrestlers are engaged to catching hold of an opponent’s thigh
whether for offence or defence. Indeed, one of the commands of the
papyrus implies that it was lawful to take a grip between an opponent’s
legs, or round the thigh.[661] In wrestling groups which represent the
heave we sometimes see a wrestler trying to save himself by seizing the
other’s legs. Perhaps we may recognize as a wrestling scene a group
which occurs on an Etruscan tomb.[662] One man has lifted another on to
his shoulder, with his right arm clasped round his right thigh, and his
left hand holding his right hand. He may intend to throw him, or he may
merely be carrying him. Further, we must remember that upright wrestling
formed part of the pankration, and such groups may therefore belong to
the pankration.
The conditions of Greek wrestling may be summed up as follows:—
1. If a wrestler fell on any part of the body, hip, back or
shoulder, it was a fair fall.
2. If both wrestlers fell together, nothing was counted.
3. Three falls were necessary to secure victory.
4. Tripping was allowed.
5. Leg-holds, if not actually prohibited, were rarely used.
The positions of the Greek wrestler, the grips and the throws which he
employed, are known to us from numerous monuments. In view of the number
of the monuments and the complexity of the subject it is impossible
within the limits of this work to treat them exhaustively, and I must
confine myself to the most important and most interesting of the types
represented.
The attitude adopted by the Greek wrestler before taking hold was very
similar to that of the modern wrestler. Taking a firm stand with his
feet somewhat apart and knees slightly bent, rounding (γυρώσας) his back
and shoulders, his neck advanced but pressed down into the shoulder
blades, his waist drawn in (σφηκώσας), he tried to avoid giving any
opening (λαβή) himself, while his outstretched hands were ready to seize
any opportunity offered by his opponent.[663] This position is
frequently represented in art; but no better illustration of it can be
found than the Naples wrestling-boys, generally miscalled Diskoboloi
(Fig. 110).
[Illustration: Fig. 110. One of a pair of bronze wrestling boys,
generally known as Diskoboloi. Naples. (Photograph by Brogi.)]
Generally the wrestlers stand square to one another, and prepare to take
hold somewhat in the style of Westmorland and Cumberland wrestlers,
“leaning against one another like gable rafters of a house,” or “butting
against each other like rams,” or “resting their heads on each other’s
shoulders.”[664] This position, known apparently as σύστασις, is
frequently depicted on the vases (Fig. 111). Needless to say, this type
does not represent a preliminary “butting-match,” as a certain foreign
archaeologist seems to imagine, it is the natural position of two
wrestlers engaging. Sometimes their heads do crash together as they
meet. I read recently an account of a wrestling match in which the heads
of the two wrestlers met with a noise which could be heard through the
whole house.
[Illustration: Fig. 111. Panathenaic amphora, in British Museum, B. 603.
Archonship of Polyzelus, 367 B.C.]
Sometimes instead of taking hold from the front the wrestlers try to
obtain a hold from the side as in preparing for “the heave,” and in such
a case the bodies are turned sideways to one another, a position
described as παράθεσις.[665] A not very satisfactory illustration of
such a position is shown on a British Museum kylix representing Theseus
and Cercyon[666] (Fig. 112), with which we may compare the group of
Heracles and Antaeus on the frieze of the theatre at Delphi,[667] where
the sideways position is more clearly marked. Theseus and Heracles seem
in both cases to have avoided the ponderous rush of their foes by
stepping sideways.
[Illustration: Fig. 112. R.-f. kylix, in British Museum, E. 84.]
[Illustration: Fig. 113. Group from British Museum amphora, B. 295 (Fig.
143).]
In endeavouring to obtain a hold wrestlers frequently seize one another
by the wrist. This action which is probably denoted by δράσσειν is often
a purely defensive movement to prevent an opponent from obtaining a hold
on the neck or body. Sometimes, as on a Munich amphora (Fig. 123), each
wrestler holds the other by the wrist. Sometimes one wrestler holds both
his opponent’s wrists. Such holds are merely momentary and of little
importance. A more effective hold was obtained by seizing an opponent’s
arm with both hands, one hand seizing the wrist, the other gripping him
at the elbow or under the armpit (Fig. 113). This seems to have been a
very favourite hold and led to one very effective fall of which we have
many illustrations.
It is the throw known in modern wrestling as the flying mare and is
probably what Lucian describes as εἰς ὕψος ἀναβαστάσαι.[668] Having
seized his opponent’s arm in the manner described the wrestler rapidly
turns his back on him,[669] draws his arm over his own shoulder, using
it as a lever by which to throw him clean over his head, at the same
time he stoops forward, sometimes sinking on one knee or both. The
beginning of the throw is seen on an Etruscan wall painting.[670] One
wrestler has swung his opponent off his feet and hoisted him over his
shoulder. His right hand still grasps his left wrist, and his left hand
has been transferred to his neck, and he leans forward in order to
complete the throw. A somewhat later moment occurs on a British Museum
kylix (Fig. 114). The drawing is rough and careless, and the stoop of
the legs is probably exaggerated because otherwise the group would be
too high for the vase space. Two wonderfully life-like pictures of this
throw occur on a kylix in the Bibliothèque Nationale of Paris (Figs. 54,
115). On the interior we see the victor kneeling on one knee; he has let
go with his right hand, and his opponent, left unsupported, is about to
fall on his back. The exterior, which is unfortunately much mutilated,
shows the same fall a moment later, the falling wrestler tries to save
himself by placing his right hand on the ground. This throw was
undoubtedly common to wrestling proper and to the pankration. A
black-figured amphora in the British Museum, B. 193, represents Heracles
employing it against the Nemean lion.
[Illustration: Fig. 114. R.-f. kylix, in British Museum, E. 94.]
[Illustration: Fig. 115. R.-f. kylix. Paris. (Interior of Fig. 54.)]
Returning to the arm-hold which leads to this throw, we find several
methods of meeting it represented. On the Amphiaraus vase (Fig. 3)
Peleus has seized with both hands the left arm of Hippaleimus. The
latter with his free right hand grips Peleus under the right arm-pit,
and thus weakens his grip and prevents him from turning round. A similar
defence is shown on the black-figured amphora in the British Museum, B.
295, where the attack is made on the right arm. A Berlin amphora by
Andocides (Fig. 116) shows another style of counter. The wrestler to the
left grasps his opponent’s left wrist, but the latter, by a quick move
forward, has rendered useless the right hand which should have grasped
his upper arm, and passing his own right hand behind his back grasps his
right arm just above the elbow. In all these cases the object is to
prevent the opponent turning round or to loosen his grip. The latter
object is noticeable on the coins of Aspendus (Fig. 109), where the
left-hand wrestler grasps with both hands his opponent’s left, while the
latter with his right hand grasps his right wrist or left upper arm. We
may remark how on some of the coins the right-hand wrestler’s hand hangs
down helplessly as if rendered powerless by the grip.
[Illustration: Fig. 116. R.-f. amphora. Berlin, 2159.]
Greek wrestling was governed, it would seem, more by a tradition of good
form than by actual rules. Thus, though it was not regarded as good form
to seize an opponent’s fingers and break them, as Leontiscus did, such
practices do not appear to have been actually prohibited. They were well
enough in the pankration, where the object was to force an opponent, by
any means to acknowledge defeat, but they could hardly be regarded as
legitimate means for throwing an opponent, which was the object of true
wrestling.
The neck is an obvious and effective place by which to obtain a hold,
and strength of neck is essential to a wrestler.[671] Pindar, in the
seventh Nemean ode, speaks of the wrestler’s “strength and neck
invincible,” and Xenophon, describing the training of the Spartans, says
that they exercised alike legs and arms and neck. In the _Knights_ of
Aristophanes Demos advises the sausage-seller to grease his neck in
order to escape from Cleon’s grip. The technical word for obtaining a
neck-hold is τραχηλίζειν. Neck-holds were freely used in the pankration,
but rather for the purpose of choking an opponent than of throwing him.
Several varieties of neck-hold are exhibited on the vases. On a
red-figured krater in the Ashmolean (Fig. 117) one wrestler seizes the
other’s wrist with his left hand, his neck with his right. The wrestler
so attacked defends himself by seizing the other under the left arm-pit
with his left hand. An interesting feature of this vase is the figure of
winged Victory seated upon a pillar watching the contest. A different
defence is shown on the black-figured amphora in the British Museum, B.
295 (Fig. 118). Here the left-hand wrestler grasps with his left hand
his opponent’s right which is seizing his neck. We may notice that he
grasps it at one of the weakest points just below the elbow. Yet another
means of defence is to seize the opponent’s neck.
[Illustration: Fig. 117. R.-f. krater. Oxford, Ashmolean, 288.]
[Illustration: Fig. 118. Reverse of Fig. 143. British Museum, B. 295.]
Perhaps the best illustration of a neck-hold occurs on a black-figured
amphora in Munich, representing the wrestling match between Peleus and
Atalanta, which took place at the funeral games of Pelias (Fig. 119).
Peleus has apparently tried to seize Atalanta’s right arm with both
hands, but Atalanta, moving forward, seizes him by the back of the neck,
very much in the style of a modern wrestler. The picture reminds us how
in the gymnasia of Chios young men and maidens might be seen wrestling
with one another.[672]
[Illustration: Fig. 119. B.-f. amphora. Munich, 584.]
The neck-hold is commonly employed by Heracles in his fight with the
Nemean lion. Sometimes his left arm is round the animal’s neck, while
his right hand grasps its left paw, sometimes both hands are clasped
round its neck. The interlocking of the hands is the same as that
employed by Westmorland and Cumberland wrestlers to-day, the hands being
turned so that the palms face one another and the fingers hooked
together. On an amphora in Munich Heracles employs this same grip
against Antaeus, who, sinking on one knee, grabs characteristically but
vainly at the hero’s foot.[673]
Of the actual throws to which a neck-hold led we have little evidence in
the monuments. On a psykter of Euthymides Theseus has secured a powerful
hold on Cercyon with one arm passed over his left shoulder, the other
under his right arm-pit and swings him off his feet.[674] Tripping was
doubtless freely employed with these holds, but the only illustration of
this combination occurs in a group of bronzes discussed below. Similarly
the movement described as ἕδραν στρέφειν, to turn one’s buttocks towards
an opponent was certainly combined with neck-holds. A good illustration
of this occurs on a Panathenaic vase in Boulogne (Fig. 120).
[Illustration: Fig. 120. Panathenaic amphora. Boulogne, Musée
Municipale, 441.]
Passing on to body-holds we find a preliminary position represented on a
Panathenaic vase in the British Museum (Fig. 111). The wrestlers have
each one hand round the other’s back, and one of them with his other
hand grasps the other’s wrist.
A very effective body-hold is obtained by seizing the opponent round the
waist with both hands: he can then be lifted off his feet and swung to
the ground. The hold may be obtained from the front, from behind, or
from the side, and all three forms are constantly represented. There are
various technical terms for such grips,[675] and the effectiveness of
the grip is shown by the proverbial use of the expression μέσον ἔχειν,
to hold by the waist.
The body-hold from the front is difficult to obtain, but when obtained
is extremely effective. It is the hold by which Hackenschmidt, a few
years ago, gained his sensational victory over Madrali. But clumsiness
and slowness are fatal, for, as the wrestler stoops to obtain the under
grip, his opponent can either, by a sideways movement, obtain a hold for
the heave, or falling on him may force him to the ground. This is the
fate which continually befalls Cercyon and Antaeus as they rush in
blindly, head down, in hope of obtaining this hold.[676] The danger of
it is well illustrated by a pair of groups from a black-figured amphora
in Munich (Fig. 121). In both cases a bearded athlete rushes in to seize
his opponent by the waist: the upper group is merely preliminary; in the
lower group his opponent, unable to secure a hold for the heave owing to
the grip on his right hand, seems to be pressing on him with all his
weight to bear him to the ground. Perhaps a further stage is represented
on a red-figured kylix in the Museum at Philadelphia (Fig. 122). One
wrestler has already lost his balance, and is supporting himself with
both hands on the ground. The other with his left hand holds his right
arm down, and with the other prepares to take a body-hold and roll him
over. Usually then the body-hold from the front is unsuccessful. On the
Berlin amphora (Fig. 116) we see a youth who has successfully obtained
this hold on a bearded athlete, and lifts him off his feet in order to
throw him.
[Illustration: Fig. 121. B.-f. amphora. Munich, 1336.]
[Illustration: Fig. 122. R.-f. kylix. Philadelphia.]
[Illustration: Fig. 123. B.-f. amphora. Munich, 495.]
More commonly the hold is secured from behind in the manner represented
on a black-figured amphora in Munich (Fig. 123). We may notice that the
wrestler in mid air has, in defence, hooked his right foot round his
opponent’s leg. The hands are interlocked in the manner already
described. But despite of these realistic touches the drawing as a whole
is stiff and lifeless, and contrasts strangely with the much more
vigorous portrayal of the same type on gems and coins. The type is
particularly connected with Heracles and Antaeus. The lifting of Antaeus
is first represented on the fourth century coins of Tarentum. From this
time it is constantly repeated in bronzes and statues, and especially on
coins and gems.[677] Roman poets said that Antaeus being the son of
earth derived fresh force from his mother each time he touched earth,
and that Heracles therefore lifted him from earth and squeezed him to
death in mid air. This version of the story is, however, unknown to the
literature and art of Greece; and though it may have originated in a
mistaken interpretation of the type which we are considering, cannot
possibly be regarded as its motive. With a few doubtful exceptions
Heracles is always represented as lifting Antaeus, not to crush him, but
to swing him to the ground, and nowhere is this motive clearer than on
some of the imperial coins, such as the coin of Antoninus Pius shown in
Fig. 109.
For no throw have we such abundant evidence as for “the heave,” the hold
for which is obtained from the side by passing one hand across and round
the opponent’s back, and the other underneath him. This is the hold
which is being practised in the wrestling lesson shown in Fig. 96. It is
a hold sometimes employed by Heracles against Antaeus, but is
particularly characteristic of Theseus. Two kylikes in the British
Museum (Figs. 124, 125) will sufficiently illustrate it. On the one
Cercyon has endeavoured vainly to save himself by applying a similar
hold to Theseus, but too late; on the other vase he has already been
swung off the ground, one arm still clasps Theseus’ back, the other hand
reaches for the ground or grabs at the foot of his adversary. The
popularity of “the heave” among the Greeks is shown by a far more
important monument. A metope from the Theseum shows Theseus in the very
act of turning Cercyon over to throw him (Fig. 126). A yet later moment
is represented in a well-known bronze statuette now in Paris (Fig. 127).
The victor here has turned his opponent completely over, and standing
upright prepares to drop him on the ground. On an Attic stele already
mentioned, representing Athenian sports, a wrestler is in the act of
falling headlong to the ground, and as he slips through his opponent’s
hands clasps his leg to save himself (Fig. 36). The heave and the holds
necessary for it are clearly described in the late epics of Quintus
Smyrnaeus and Nonnus.[678]
[Illustration: Fig. 124. R.-f. kylix. British Museum, E. 48.]
[Illustration: Fig. 125. B.-f. kylix, in British Museum, E. 36.]
[Illustration: Fig. 126. Metope of Theseum. Theseus and Cercyon. (_Greek
Sculpture_, Fig. 66.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 127. Bronze wrestling group. Paris.]
Some of the holds described must have been combined with various turns
of the body. Thus to obtain a hold from behind a wrestler must either
force his opponent to shift his position (μεταβιβάζειν), or shift his
own position so as to get behind him (μεταβαίνειν), while the wrestler
so attacked will naturally turn round himself (μεταβαλέσθαι). The last
two terms occur in two consecutive lines of the Oxyrhynchus papyrus. One
pupil is told to get behind his fellow and grip him, the other is
ordered at once to turn round himself.[679] The use of the preposition
μετά in these compounds suggests the “afterplay” of Cornish wrestling.
A sudden turn of the body is often used when a hold has been already
obtained, in order to twist an opponent off his feet. The modern throws
known as the “buttock” and “cross-buttock” find their Greek equivalent
in the phrase ἕδραν στρέφειν, to turn the buttock. The cross-buttock
differs chiefly from the buttock in that the legs come more into play,
and we may therefore infer that this is the special throw whereof
Theocritus speaks when he relates how Heracles learnt from Harpalacus
“all the tricks wherewith the nimble Argive cross-buttockers (ἀπὸ
σκελέων ἑδροστρόφοι) give each other the fall.”[680] It was evidently a
favourite throw. Theophrastus, in his character of the late learner who
wishes to be thought thoroughly accomplished and up-to-date, remarks
that “in the bath he is continually giving the cross-buttock as if
wrestling.”[681] Cannot we picture this athletic fraud strutting about
the bath cross-buttocking imaginary opponents, just as his modern
counterpart bowls imaginary balls, or with his walking-stick wings
imaginary birds?
[Illustration: Fig. 128. B.-f. amphora. Vatican.]
These movements may be illustrated by a group on a black-figured vase in
the Museo Gregoriano (Fig. 128). The wrestler to the left has obtained a
hold round his opponent’s waist, either from in front or from behind. In
the former case his opponent must have immediately turned round. Anyhow,
by throwing his weight well forward, he frustrates the attempt to lift
him, and puts himself in an advantageous position for swinging the other
off his feet. Somewhat similar must have been the motive of a much
mutilated group on a metope of the treasury of the Athenians at Delphi,
representing the exploits of Theseus, except that the figures are more
upright.[682]
[Illustration: Fig. 129. Bronze group, in the British Museum.]
A throw somewhat resembling the cross-buttock is represented in a
recently acquired bronze of the British Museum (Fig. 129). As two other
replicas[683] exist it seems probable that it is a copy of some
well-known Hellenistic group in bronze or marble. A thick-set bearded
man is wrestling with a powerful youth, and with his back turned to him
twists him off his feet by a most curious arm-lock. With his right hand
he forces his opponent’s right arm back across his own thigh, while he
has slipped his left arm under his left armpit and gripped his neck,
thus rendering the imprisoned arm quite useless, and obtaining a
leverage similar to that of our half Nelson. Perhaps the grip was
obtained in the following way. The man seizes the youth’s right arm, and
by a quick movement pulls him towards him and turns him round,
μεταβιβάζει, at the same time stepping himself to the left so as to be
behind him. He then slips his left hand under his left armpit so as to
grasp his neck and force it down. The grip obtained he turns round to
the right and twists him over.
We have seen that tripping (ὑποσκελίζειν) was at all times an essential
part of Greek wrestling. There are various technical terms for the
different chips, but their interpretation is very uncertain and the
monuments give little help. The words βάλλω, βολή, and their compounds,
are used to denote both arm and leg movements. Perhaps we may recognise
in ἑμβοληή the modern “hank” and in παρεμβολή the “back heel,” the foot
being hooked round the opponent’s leg from the inside and the outside
respectively. The latter term occurs in an amusing passage of Lucian’s
_Ocypus_.[684] Ocypus, who is suffering from gout but will not
acknowledge it, alleges, among various excuses for his lameness, that he
hurt his foot in trying a back heel. By analogy the term διαβολή, if
used of a leg movement, may mean the “outside stroke.” The chip by which
Odysseus threw Ajax is described by Eustathius as μεταπλασμός or
παρακαταγωγή. From the Homeric account these terms ought to correspond
to the “inside click” or “hank.” Some such click is perhaps intended on
the vases in Figs. 116, 123, where one wrestler, lifted from the ground,
clicks his foot round his opponent’s leg.
The best illustration of tripping is furnished by a group of bronzes
representing a wrestler fallen on one knee and supporting himself on his
left arm, while his opponent stands over him with his left leg still
hooked round his, and his right foot behind. So far all the bronzes
agree, but in the position of the arms there are two varieties. In the
St. Petersburg bronze (Fig. 130) the victor forces the other’s head down
with his left hand, and with his right presses his right arm back in the
same way as in the bronze in the British Museum (Fig. 129). In the
Constantinople bronze (Fig. 131) he holds his opponent’s neck with his
right hand, while with his left he has twisted backwards his arm and
shoulder. In both cases he makes the attack from behind. In the first
case he seizes his opponent’s right hand with his own right, places his
arm across his neck, and at the same time hooks his left leg round the
other’s left leg; then pressing his neck forward he forces his right arm
backwards, using it as a lever to twist him off his feet. The other as
he falls puts out his left hand to save himself and falls with his left
hand and right knee on the ground. In the other type he seizes the
other’s left hand with his own left and pulls it across his back, at the
same time forcing his head forwards and downwards with his right hand,
and hooking his left leg. The fall is still more inevitable. All the
bronzes seem to represent the fall as completed, and the victor has no
appearance of continuing his attack. If a fall on the knee was a fair
fall no further explanation is wanted. In any case the fallen man’s
position is hopeless, and he can at any moment be rolled over on the
ground.
[Illustration: Fig. 130. Bronze. St. Petersburg.]
[Illustration: Fig. 131. Bronze. Constantinople.]
These bronzes are probably copies of some well-known Hellenistic group.
The number of replicas which exist of it attest the importance of the
original statue and the popularity of the throw represented. It is the
sort of attack that must naturally have commended itself to boys playing
tricks on one another, or street roughs attacking innocent passers-by
from behind. And it is, I believe, the very trick by which Aristophanes,
in the _Knights_, describes the way in which Cleon cheated simple old
country gentlemen. “Whenever you find such a one,” say the chorus, “you
fetch him home from the Chersonese, and as the old gentleman is walking
along unsuspectingly star-gazing you suddenly throw your arm across his
neck (διαβαλών), hook his leg (ἀγκυρίσας), and, pulling his shoulder
back, kick him in the stomach (ἐνεκολήβασας).”[685] Horse-play of this
character was not unknown among the fashionable youth of Athens.
Demosthenes relates how Conon and his sons set upon Ariston, tripped him
up, threw him in the mud, and jumped upon him; and several of the terms
which the orator uses are, like those of Aristophanes, terms familiar in
the wrestling school.
In no sport is there greater variety of styles and rules than in
wrestling. Almost every country has a style of its own. In Greece the
Panhellenic festivals helped to preserve uniformity of rule, but there
was still room for much diversity of style.[686] The Sicilians in
particular had a style of their own, the rules for which had been drawn
up by one Oricadmus.[687] There was also a “Thessalian chip,”[688] but
in what the Sicilians or Thessalians excelled we do not know. The
Argives, who were specially famed for their skill in wrestling, are
described by Theocritus as “cross-buttockers.” On the other hand, the
Spartans disdained the science of wrestling and the teaching of
trainers, and relied on mere strength and endurance.[689] Plutarch
ascribes the victory of the Thebans at Leuctra to their superiority over
the Spartans in wrestling.[690] Individuals, too, had their favourite
chips. It is recorded of Cleitostratus of Rhodes who won the wrestling
at Olympia in Ol. 147 that he owed his victories to the use of the
neck-hold.
Footnote 633:
Schol. Pindar, _Nem._ v. 49.
Footnote 634:
Aelian, _Var. Hist._ ii. 4. Cp. _J.H.S._ xxv. p. 19, n. 27.
Footnote 635:
vi. 4, 2.
Footnote 636:
_J.H.S._ _l.c._ p. 15. Freeman, _Schools of Hellas_, p. 130.
Footnote 637:
_Ox. Pap._ iii. 466. For a full discussion of it _vide_ Jüthner,
_Philostratus_, p. 26. With the papyrus may be compared a curious
passage in Lucian’s _Asinus_, c. 9, and an epigram in _Anth. Pal._
xii. 206. The latter, like the passage in Lucian, is probably erotic.
Such a metaphorical use of wrestling terms is common. Cp. Aristoph.
_Pax_ 895, _Av._ 442, and the expressions ἀνακλινοπάλη, κλινοπάλη.
Footnote 638:
_Ol. Ins._ 225, 226, 54; Paus. vi. 1, 2.
Footnote 639:
_Hermotim._ 40.
Footnote 640:
_Ol._ viii. 68; _Pyth._ viii. 81.
Footnote 641:
_Ol. Ins._ 164, 174.
Footnote 642:
_Ib._ 225, 226.
Footnote 643:
_Anth. Pal._ xi. 316.
Footnote 644:
Paus. vi. 11, 4.
Footnote 645:
_Ol. Ins._ 153.
Footnote 646:
_Gym._ 11; _vide_ Jüthner’s note, p. 206.
Footnote 647:
_Aethiop._ iv. 2.
Footnote 648:
Philostrat. _Vit. Soph._ 225, perhaps a mistake for σταδαία.
Footnote 649:
_Vide_ Jüthner, _Philostratus_, p. 212.
Footnote 650:
_Ib._ pp. 206, 297. This place was called ἁλινδήθρα, Aristoph. _Ran._
904. Cp. Lucian, _Anacharsis_, 2, 28, 29.
Footnote 651:
Euripides, _Bacchae_, 455.
Footnote 652:
Krause, _Gym._ p. 541, n. 6.
Footnote 653:
_J.H.S._ xxv. 21. Cp. Jüthner, _Philostratus_, p. 212.
Footnote 654:
_Anth. Plan._ iii. 25; _Anth. Pal._ ix. 588. Cp. Aristoph. _Eq._ 571;
Aeschylus, _Suppl._ 90.
Footnote 655:
_Anth. Pal._ xi. 316.
Footnote 656:
_Agamemnon_ 63; _Persae_ 914; _Anth. Plan._ iii. 24.
Footnote 657:
Collected in my article on the Pentathlon, _J.H.S._ xxiii. p. 63; cp.
xxv. p. 26. Jüthner, _Philostratus_, 207.
Footnote 658:
“Luctator ter abjectus perdidit palmam.” Cp. Sophocles, _Fr._ 678.
Footnote 659:
_J.H.S._ xxv. 29. where I have somewhat understated the evidence for
tripping.
Footnote 660:
796 A, B, discussed more fully _op. cit._ p. 27.
Footnote 661:
l. 26, σύ κατὰ τῶν δύο πλέον, for the interpretation of which see
Jüthner, p. 28.
Footnote 662:
_Mus. Greg._ i. 103.
Footnote 663:
Heliodorus, _Aethiop._ x. 31.
Footnote 664:
Homer, _Il._ xxiii. 712; Lucian, _Anacharsis_, 1; Philostrat. _Vit.
Soph._ 225.
Footnote 665:
Plutarch, _Symp._ ii. 4, enumerates as wrestling terms συστάσεις,
παραθέσεις, ἐμβολαί, παρεμβολαί. Jüthner in his interesting account of
the Oxyrhynchus Papyrus appears to deny this interpretation, but
suggests no satisfactory alternative.
Footnote 666:
On the interior of this kylix the same group is repeated, but the
moment is not quite the same. Cercyon appears to be trying to draw
back.
Footnote 667:
Homolle, _Fouilles de Delphes_, iv. 76.
Footnote 668:
_Anacharsis_, 24.
Footnote 669:
A small ivory statuette of two boys wrestling, recently acquired by
the British Museum, perhaps represents the moment of the turn.
Footnote 670:
Dar.-Sagl. 4624.
Footnote 671:
Phil. _Gym._ 35; Xen. _Lac. Rep._ 5, 9; Aristoph. _Eq._ 491.
Footnote 672:
Athenaeus xiii. p. 566.
Footnote 673:
Munich, 3; Gerh. _A. V._ 114. In _J.H.S._ xxv. I have dealt more fully
with the fights of Heracles.
Footnote 674:
Schreiber, _Atlas_, xxiv. 10.
Footnote 675:
_J.H.S._ xxv. p. 280, διαλαμβάνειν, μεσοφέρδειν, μεσοφέρδην, μέσον
ἔχειν; διαλαμβάνειν means to clasp both hands round an opponent’s
waist; περιτιθέναι means rather to put one arm round an opponent as in
taking a grip for the heave, but does not necessarily imply that the
hands are clasped. _Vide_ Jüthner, _Philostratus_, p. 28.
Footnote 676:
_Vide_ _J. H. S._ xxv. pp. 281 ff., and Figs. 18, 19, 20.
Footnote 677:
For references see _J.H.S._ p. 283, n. 76.
Footnote 678:
Quintus iv. 215; Nonnus xxxvii. 553-601. For a brief account of these
_vide_ _J.H.S._ xxv. p. 25.
Footnote 679:
l. 25 σὺ αὐτον μεταβὰς πλέξον· σὺ μεταβαλοῦ.
Footnote 680:
xxiv. 111.
Footnote 681:
_Char._ xxvii.
Footnote 682:
_Fouilles de Delphes_, iv. 46, 47.
Footnote 683:
_Collection Philip_, Paris, 1905, No. 484; de Ridder, _Collection de
Clercy_, Paris, 1905, iii. 253, Pl. xli. 3.
Footnote 684:
_Ocypus_, 60.
Footnote 685:
_Equites_, 261-3; Demosthenes _in Cononem_, 8. For a full discussion
of this passage and of the bronzes _vide_ _J.H.S._ xxv. pp. 289-293.
Footnote 686:
Krause, _Gym._ 428.
Footnote 687:
Aelian, _Var. Hist._ xi.
Footnote 688:
Eustathius, _Il._ ii. p. 331, 18, 39.
Footnote 689:
Epigram on a Spartan by Damagetus, _Anth. Plan._ i. 1.
Footnote 690:
_Quaest. Symp._ ii. 5, 2.