Pankration

Pankration

Two athletes competing in the pankration. Panathenaic amphora, made in Athens in 332–331 BC, during the archonship of Niketes. From Capua
Focus	Boxing and Wrestling
Country of origin	Ancient Greece
Olympic sport	Introduced 648 B.C. to the 33rd Olympiad.

Pankration (/pæn.ˈkreɪti.ɒn/ or /pæŋˈkreɪʃən/) (Greek: παγκράτιον) was a sporting event introduced into the Greek Olympic Games in 648 BC and was an empty-hand submission sport with scarcely any rules. The athletes used techniques from boxing and wrestling but also other types, such as kicking and holds, locks and chokes on the ground. The only things not acceptable were biting and gouging out the opponent's eyes. The term comes from the Greek παγκράτιον [paŋkrátion], literally meaning "all of power" from πᾶν (pan-) "all" and κράτος (kratos) "strength, might, power".

In Greek mythology, it was said that the heroes Heracles and Theseus invented pankration as a result of using both wrestling and boxing in their confrontations with opponents. Theseus was said to have utilized his extraordinary pankration skills to defeat the dreaded Minotaur in the Labyrinth. Heracles was said to have subdued the Nemean lion using pankration, and was often depicted in ancient artwork doing that. In this context, pankration was also referred to as pammachon or pammachion (πάμμαχον or παμμάχιον), meaning "total combat", from πᾶν-, pān-, "all-" or "total", and μάχη, machē, "matter". The term pammachon was older, and would later become used less than the term pankration.