Wrestling
in Antiquity
by Miguel Piernavieja del Pozo
The
Olympic Review is proud to publish an article by one of
the most well-known sports writers, historians and pedagogues
in Spain, Mr. Piernavieja del Pozo.
Born on 21st May 1916 at Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Canaries),
Mr. Piernavieja del Pozo devoted his abilities very early
on to art and literature after his university studies in
law, philosophy and humanities. Using six living languages
(Spanish, English, French, German, Portuguese and Italian,
not forgetting Latin and Greek), he gained repute in the
journalistic world; he edited the monthly paper "Deporte
2000" and has now been editor of the review "Citius-Altius-Fortius"
since 1959. In his numerous works¹ and articles, his
qualities as a historian and researcher combine with those
of a pedagogue.
At
present he teaches the history of sport at the Madrid National
Institute of Physical Education and Sport (INEF), which
we presented on page 220 onwards in No. 66/67 of the Olympic
Review, where he is also responsible for the documentation
and information centre and the publication service.
Let us leave him to tell us about the history of wrestling
in antiquity.
I.
A journey into pre-history
_________________________________
When,
according to the anthropologists, paleontologists and experts
on pre-history, the first man appeared on the earth, approximately
five hundred thousand years ago, they already brought with
them a precious inheritance from the primates and hominoids
who had preceded them-play.
Long
before he thought of organising his life and striving to
raise himself steadily higher, man engaged in play, since
play precedes culture. It has been argued convincingly that
play is the origin of all culture and that man has developed
precisely because of this activity.
This is not the place to discuss whether this primitive
play led to what is nowadays known as sport. If any differences
existed, they must have been very minor.
Our
purpose here is to present a historical and cultural survey
of the physical exercise known as "wrestling",
to ascertain whether it was a cultural factor and to define
its function in primitive society. To make this possible,
the reader will have to make an effort: he must lay aside,
for the time being, all his ideas on what we understand
by sport-including wrestling -and allow himself to be transported
by his imagination to a remote world, a world of primitive
beings living in a hostile environment which they are slowly
beginning to understand and master.
This imaginary journey into the past reveals to us a man
struggling for survival, who sees, in the natural phenomena
around him, nothing but impenetrable mystery: water, fire,
wind, drought, the rivers, the sun, the moon, the stars...
His intelligence barely enables him to understand his surroundings.
But he has not yet started to ask himself about his own
existence. Everything he needs is at hand: the animals always
pass at the same seasons and at the same places, following
the same paths. Whether in the form of hunting victories
or manhood initiation rites, there is no lack of festivals.
Through
his observation of the plants, rains and winds, man comes
into a closer relationship with the divinity. He is dominated
by it, receives food and fertility from it, and this awareness
of his limitations gives rise to religion.
The divinity rules the world, pronounces on good and evil,
grants joy and sorrow. Man basks in the warmth of the sun
and shivers in the chill of the nights. The joy of birth
is immediately overshadowed by the mystery of death ...
and he suffers accordingly. And so, this primate, while
continuing to play, creates a rite, an act enabling him
to communicate with the divinities in order to ask for their
protection or appease their wrath. It is in this setting
that the dance first makes its appearance: man appeals to
the hidden powers for good hunting or for victory over theenemy;
the dance is a series of leaps, gesticulations and cries
which gradually acquire rhythm and harmony. He may dance
alone or in a group, holding or not holding hands. The ritual
dance is the oldest way of expressing mankind's feelings;
in prehistoric art, it haspride of place along with hunting
scenes and drawings of animals-for example, the rock paintings
in the caves of the French and Spanish 
Pyrenees
and in Eastern and South-eastern Spain, all of which are
many thousands of years old. This art should be regarded
not as an artistic technique but rather as the symbolical
expression of an animistic attitude; it represents the magic
use of exorcism to promote hunting and the reproduction
of the species. Art, together with religion and language,
is the first conquest of the human spirit. "Homo sapiens",
who succeeded Neanderthal man some forty thousand years
ago in Europe, had to protect himself in his caves against
the rigours of a climate which at that time, closely resembled
that of certain parts of Siberia today.
II.
From brawling to wrestling
_________________________________
Of
the variety of theories on the origin of sport, there are
three that deserve to be singled out. The first, advanced
by Carl Diem, is that sport developed out of funeral rites.
The author takes as his starting point the thesis of Ortega
y Gasset that at began when any two shaggy men began to
covet the same woman, the same animal or the same object.There,
on the rock walls of their dwelling, the men of forty centuries
ago immortalised their scenes of the hunt and the dance.
It was at this time, that along with play, love, hunting
and war, man learned to wrestle. There can be no doubt that
wrestling (with bare arms) and boxing (with fists) preceded
armed combat. Before the club, the assegai or the javelin
lengthened his arm, prehistoric man used his own limbs-arms
and legs-to overcome rival bands. Later, bows, arrows and
slings made their appearance. Let us assume, therefore,
that wrestling and boxing a particular time in its evolution,
mankind passed through three main stages: in the first,
whenever death occurred, a guilty person was sought out,
either direct or by magic, and put to death. In the second
stage, the victim was given a chance to save his life, by
ordeal or a fight to the death in hand-to-hand combat. Lastly,
in the third stage, the fight to the finish was replaced
by an athletic contest.
According to the second theory, sport is the outcome of
an instinctive impulse, which is also apparent in play.
And lastly, according to marxist theory, the origin of competition
in sport is one aspect of the process of labour and is therefore
a purely economic question-the raising of production by
means of magic devices.
Without wishing to make a value judgment, we can set aside
the last two theories -instinct is surely animal in character,
while the economic aspect is pure materialism-and adopt
the thesis of Ortega, which is entirely compatible with
the exercise of free will, whilemaking allowance for the
influence of cults and magic.
Let
us take a look, therefore, at the third stage in human evolution
referred to by Ortega: bloodless competition. A tribe buries
its chief; his body is lowered into the grave. At his side,
are placed chosen objects of bone and flint, his arms and
other prized possessions. As he is pale, he is painted with
ochre. Food is placed nearby to start him on his long journey
into the unknown. Before long, a group of dancers forms
around the grave. They wear animal masks, as is characteristic
of a hunting people. This is totemism, a form of religion
based on consciousness of primitive unity between man and
animal. The witch-doctor or magician carries out the appropriate
exorcisms: he drives away the evil spirits and calls on
the gods to protect the dead man throughout his journey.
Then comes the group of dancers. Their gestures are not
mere physical movements, but a projection of the spirits
from the beyond. The animals personified by the masks will
transmit to the dead man their qualities of strength, agility
and courage, which are also communicated to the dancers
themselves.
The rite concludes with a symbolic act: two young men, among
the strongest of the tribe, step forward to decide by combat
who is guilty of the chief's death. Their faces are brightly
painted, their bodies girdled with bear's or stag's teeth,
and seashells are strung around their necks. Their fight
will last until the victory of one and the defeat of the
other. The purpose is not so much to demonstrate which is
the stronger but rather to show the dead man who is guilty.
They fight to avoid defeat, because defeat is shaming. But
at the end of the fight, the dead man can begin his journey
westwards-where the kingdom of the dead lies-and will leave
pleased with his subjects because the guilty man has been
found. This escatological and religious meaning is found
in the funeral ceremony of Patrocles, sung in imperishable
verse by Homer. It reappears in the Olympic Games of
antiquity dedicated to the cult of Zeus. This same meaning
is also encountered in the cults of many primitive societies,
and in our times among what are wrongly called "modern
savages".
In our age, after a very long evolution, the old ritual
significance has been lost, and the fight has become a mere
physical exercise, completely stripped of any sacred significance.
But, hard though it may be to accept and incomprehensible
though it may seem, wrestling was originally a cultural
phenomenon closely linked with the cult of the dead, forming
part of the rites and projected spiritually into the life
beyond the grave.
III.
The evidence from literary sources
_________________________________
The
oldest writings that have come down to us are a collection
of baked earthen tablets inscribed with cuneiform characters.
They
take the form of an epic poem concerning Gilgam, King of
Uruk, of the first dynasty after the flood. Gilgam was a
great hunter of monsters and a tireless traveller, and has
been likened to the Greek heroes Hercules and Ulysses. The
oldest fragments of these tablets were written some three
thousand years B.C., but the events they describe date back
to four thousand years B.C.
The narration is fascinating, but we need merely quote here
the sporting episode of interest to us: "Preparations
are being made to celebrate a marriage, with the festivities
that are proper to such an occasion. Gilgam is 
determined
to carry off the bride before her groom can take her to
his home. At this point, Enkidon appears, a half-wild man,
who has always lived among the animals as their friend.
Enkidon is opposed to the King's design; he awaits him at
the market square and confronts him. Although smaller, he
is as strong as Gilgam. A terrible struggle takes place,
the columns of the doors collapse and the walls crumble
under their furious blows. The story goes that when each
had forced his adversary to kneel, their anger passed and
they fought
no more".
The episode is related in detail, and the struggle described
corresponds quite closely to the kind of wrestling we know
today. The fact of "kneeling" is undoubtedly one
of the distinctive features of the sport of wrestling. Incidentally,
this episode is also the first drawn match in the history
of wrestling.
From Sumerian literature, let us turn to Greek literature:
the Iliad of Homer, an inexhaustible source of 
tales
composed around the ninth century B.C., which lived as long
as Hellenic culture itself. It is therefore worth quoting
the struggle between Ulysses and his rival Ajax Son of Telamon
as described in the poem: "Now tall Ajax Son of Telamon
and crafty Ulysses, full of ardour, stand forth. They gird
on their belts and go down to meet each other in the arena.
Their strong arms grip each other like the beams of a great
palace, artfully designed to protect it against the fury
of the winds. Their shoulders strain, forced gack by each
other's arms; sweat bathes their bodies, blood appears on
their backs and thighs. Both strive for victory and the
coveted tripod".
But Ulysses failed to overthrow Ajax who in turn did not
succeed in forcing Ulysses off his balance "because
he withstood him so well...". This is the second drawn
match in the history of wrestling.
IV.
When the gods fought among themselves
_________________________________
The
old poems about the gods are full of wrestling scenes, even
involving in some cases gods of different sex. In fact,
these scenes are encountered in every mythology worthy of
the name. Whether under the heading of war or sport, wrestling
forms part of the world of these divinities. The gods wrestle
with other gods, with goddesses and with wild beasts. The
symbolism is often obvious: they are abstract representations
of the forces of the spirit, of the eternal struggle of
good against evil.
The Greeks attributed the invention of wrestling to their
gods. Apollo was one of the first to distinguish himself
in the art; Hermes, the great god of the gymnasium, presided
personally over wrestling exercises, and his protégé
Autolycus taught the art to Hercules. Palestra, the daughter
of Hermes, personified wrestling and Athena, according to
Pindar, gave lessons to Theseus. Thus, Hercules conquered
Antaeus by squeezing him in his arms and lifting him on
to his shoulders. His skill resulted in his being worshipped
as the undisputed master of wrestling. His rival Theseus,
another mythological hero, fought with Cercion, a giant
who forced all passers-by to fight him to the death. Theseus
succeeded in overcoming the monster.
It would be wrong to end our journey back into fable without
mentioning the famous wrestling match between the goddess
Atalanta and Peleus, the hero, father of Aquileus. Peleus
was not merely one hero among many: he had taken part in
the expedition of the Argonauts and, in the thirteenth century
B.C., was the victor in the first pentathlon. The five events
won by Peleus included a wrestling match, which made Atalanta's
victory all the more meritorious. In addition to a number
of paintings depicting her fight with Peleus, we have a
miniature of the goddess herself dated 460 B.C.
V.
The evidence from art
_________________________________
Without
the works of art that have been bequeathed to us by every
people,the account we are endeavouring to give here would
be far fr
om
complete. Art is of vital importance in the history of sport,
since although literary evidence must not belittled, nothing
is as vivid as a picture.
In the case of wrestling, for example, there is acenturies-old
artistic tradition which has preserved its original spiritual
meaning, and therefore its cultural content.
Before going on to some examples of ancient art, it is worth
recalling the point that was made earlier about totemism.
Of the many mythological adventures depicted, some have
an indirect link with the existence of wrestling in antiquity.
For example, some of the bas-reliefs show gods or heroes
wrestling with wild beasts. But the striking fact about
them is that the latter are fighting upright, like human
beings. Their stance is the same as that of a wrestler;
hand-grips, leg-trips and other tricks are common. It can
be concluded that the artists were familiar with wrestling
and its techniques and chose to depict the animals as if
they were men. Of this extensive artistic production which
has come down to us, we propose to select a few examples
for the reader. These works of art, now in a number of museums,
cover a period of approximately thirty centuries, ranging
from about 3,000 B.C. to the last years of the pre- Christian
era.
In geographical terms, all these works come from the countries
of the eastern Mediterranean, Asia or America.
Summary
_________________________________
Ever
since the paleolithic age, man has engaged in unarmed combat
for ritual reasons. Although it is impossible to produce
any direct evidence for this, comparative ethnology makes
it possible to assert with complete confidence that this
form of wrestling existed. To this day, it is practised
by the primitive peoples of America, Africa and Oceania,
some of whom still have a way of life virtually identical
to that of the Stone Age.
The
un-numbered photograph at the beginning of this article
represents two wrestlers of the Nubaring tribe in the Sudan;
they have belts hung with bells, are decorated with feathers
and kind of long tail, and wear necklaces, bracelets and
a number of other objects hardly suited to wrestling as
we know it. It is in fact a ritual combat, held in connection
with a local festival, probably celebrating the harvest
or the New Year. The wearing of bells is a departure from
prehistoric practice, unlike the feathers and necklaces,
which are totemic symbols. Sufficient works of art and literature
have come down to us from pre-history and history for it
to be clear that wrestling is a cultural phenomenon closely
linked with religious beliefs and their associated rites
and ceremonies. Painting (on rocks, pottery and walls),
sculpture (bas-reliefs, stone, marble or bronze statues),
and decorated domestic articles (knife handles and furniture)
all depict wrestling scenes faithfully reflecting their
cultural setting.
To conclude, the decline of wrestling as a cultural phenomenon
can briefly be explained as follows. With the appearance
of professionalism in Greece towards the middle of the Vth
century B.C., the urge to win at all costs divided sport
in general from the cult of Zeus. Gradually, wrestling,
like the other sports, became "independent" and
shed its cultural associations for good. Henceforth, wrestling
was a physical exercise pure and simple. Nowadays, this
aspect is even more marked, but even so, a few traces of
the former culture remain, such as the salute and the handshake
at the end, which still give a faint suggestion of spiritual
values.
