The Ancient History of the Egyptians, Carthaginians, Assyrians Part 6

The wrestlers, before they began the combat, were rubbed all over in a rough manner, and afterwards anointed with oils, which added to the strength and flexibility of their limbs. But as this unction, by making the skin too slippery, rendered it difficult for them to take good hold of each other, they remedied that inconvenience, sometimes by rolling themselves in the dust of the Palaestra, sometimes by throwing a fine sand upon each other, kept for that purpose in the Xystae, or porticoes of the Gymnasia.

Thus prepared, the wrestlers began their combat. They were matched two against two, and sometimes several couples contended at the same time. In this combat, the whole aim and design of the wrestlers was to throw their adversary upon the ground. Both strength and art were employed for this purpose: they seized each other by the arms, drew forwards, pushed backwards, used many distortions and twistings of the body; locking their limbs into each other's, seizing by the neck, throttling, pressing in their arms, struggling, plying on all sides, lifting from the ground, das.h.i.+ng their heads together like rams, and twisting one another's necks.

The most considerable advantage in the wrestler's art, was to make himself master of his adversary's legs, of which a fall was the immediate consequence. From whence Plautus says in his _Pseudolus_, speaking of wine, "He is a dangerous wrestler, he presently trips up the heels."(127) The Greek terms ?p?s?e???e?? and pte????e??, and the Latin word _supplantare_, seem to imply, that one of these arts consisted in stooping down to seize the antagonist under the soles of his feet, and in raising them up to give him a fall.

In this manner the Athletae wrestled standing, the combat ending with the fall of one of the compet.i.tors. But when it happened that the wrestler who was down, drew his adversary along with him, either by art or accident, the combat continued upon the sand, the antagonists tumbling and twining with each other in a thousand different ways, till one of them got uppermost, and compelled the other to ask quarter, and confess himself vanquished. There was a third sort of wrestling, called ?????e???s??, from the Athletae's using only their hands in it, without taking hold of the body, as in the other kinds; and this exercise served as a prelude to the greater combat. It consisted in intermingling their fingers, and in squeezing them with all their force; in pus.h.i.+ng one another, by joining the palms of their hands together; in twisting their fingers, wrists, and other joints of the arm, without the a.s.sistance of any other member; and the victory was his, who obliged his opponent to ask quarter.

The combatants were to fight three times successively, and to throw their antagonists at least twice, before the prize could be adjudged to them.

Homer describes the wrestling of Ajax and Ulysses; Ovid, that of Hercules and Achelous; Lucan, of Hercules and Antaeus; and Statius, in his _Thebaid_, that of Tydeus and Agylleus.(128)

The wrestlers of greatest reputation amongst the Greeks, were Milo of Crotona, whose history I have related elsewhere at large, and Polydamas.

The latter, alone and without arms, killed a furious lion upon mount Olympus, in imitation of Hercules, whom he proposed to himself as a model in this action. Another time having seized a bull by one of his hinder legs, the beast could not get loose without leaving his hoof in his hands.

He could hold a chariot behind, while the coachman whipt his horses in vain to make them go forward. Darius Nothus, king of Persia, hearing of his prodigious strength, was desirous of seeing him, and invited him to Susa. Three soldiers of that Prince's guard, and of that band which the Persians called "immortal," esteemed the most warlike of their troops, were ordered to fall upon him. Our champion fought and killed them all three.

Of Boxing, or the Cestus.

Boxing is a combat at blows with the fist, from whence it derives its name. The combatants covered their fists with a kind of offensive arms, called _Cestus_, and their heads with a sort of leather cap, to defend their temples and ears, which were most exposed to blows, and to deaden their violence. The Cestus was a kind of gauntlet, or glove, made of straps of leather, and plated with bra.s.s, lead or iron. Their use was to strengthen the hands of the combatants, and to add violence to their blows.

Sometimes the Athletae came immediately to the most violent blows, and began their onset in the most furious manner. Sometimes whole hours pa.s.sed in hara.s.sing and fatiguing each other, by a continual extension of their arms, rendering each other's blows ineffectual, and endeavouring by that sparring to keep off their adversary. But when they fought with the utmost fury, they aimed chiefly at the head and face, which parts they were most careful to defend, by either avoiding or parrying the blows made at them.

When a combatant came on to throw himself with all his force and vigour upon another, they had a surprising address in avoiding the attack, by a nimble turn of the body, which threw the imprudent adversary down, and deprived him of the victory.

However fierce the combatants were against each other, their being exhausted by the length of the combat, would frequently reduce them to the necessity of making a truce; upon which the battle was suspended by mutual consent for some minutes, that were employed in recovering their fatigue, and rubbing off the sweat in which they were bathed: after which they renewed the fight, till one of them, by letting fall his arms through weakness and faintness, explained that he could no longer support the pain or fatigue, and desired quarter; which was confessing himself vanquished.

Boxing was one of the roughest and most dangerous of the gymnastic combats; because, besides the danger of being crippled, the combatants ran the hazard of their lives. They sometimes fell down dead, or dying upon the sand; though that seldom happened, except the vanquished person persisted too long in not acknowledging his defeat: yet it was common for them to quit the fight with a countenance so disfigured, that it was not easy to know them afterwards; carrying away with them the sad marks of their vigorous resistance, such as bruises and contusions in the face, the loss of an eye, their teeth knocked out, their jaws broken, or some more considerable fracture.

We find in the poets, both Latin and Greek, several descriptions of this kind of combat. In Homer, that of Epeus and Euryalus; in Theocritus, of Pollux and Amycus; in Apollonius Rhodius, the same battle of Pollux and Amycus; in Virgil, that of Dares and Entellus; and in Statius, and Valerius Flaccus, of several other combatants.(129)

Of the Pancratium.

The Pancratium was so called from two Greek words,(130) which signify that the whole force of the body was necessary for succeeding in it. It united boxing and wrestling in the same fight, borrowing from one its manner of struggling and flinging, and from the other, the art of dealing blows and of avoiding them with success. In wrestling it was not permitted to strike with the hand, nor in boxing to seize each other in the manner of the wrestlers; but in the Pancratium, it was not only allowed to make use of all the gripes and artifices of wrestling, but the hands and feet, and even the teeth and nails, might be employed to conquer an antagonist.

This combat was the most rough and dangerous. A Pancratiast in the Olympic games (called Arrichion, or Arrachion,) perceiving himself almost suffocated by his adversary, who had got fast hold of him by the throat, at the same time that he held him by the foot, broke one of his enemy's toes, the extreme anguish of which obliged him to ask quarter at the very instant that Arrichion himself expired. The Agonothetae crowned Arrichion, though dead, and proclaimed him victor. Philostratus has left us a very lively description of a painting, which represented this combat.

Of the Discus, or Quoit.

The Discus was a kind of quoit of a round form, made sometimes of wood, but more frequently of stone, lead, or other metal; as iron or bra.s.s.

Those who used this exercise were called Discoboli, that is, flingers of the Discus. The epithet ?at??d???, which signifies "borne upon the shoulders," given to this instrument by Homer, sufficiently shows, that it was of too great a weight to be carried from place to place in the hands only, and that the shoulders were necessary for the support of such a burden for any length of time.

The intent of this exercise, as of almost all the others, was to invigorate the body, and to make men more capable of supporting the weight and use of arms. In war they were often obliged to carry such loads, as appear excessive in these days, either of provisions, fascines, palisades; or in scaling of walls, when, to equal the height of them, several of the besiegers mounted upon the shoulders of each other.

The Athletae, in hurling the Discus, put themselves into the posture best adapted to add force to their cast; that is, they advanced one foot, upon which they leaned the whole weight of their bodies. They then poised the Discus in their hands, and whirling it round several times almost horizontally, to add force to its motion, they threw it off with the joint strength of hands, arms, and body, which had all a share in the vigour of the discharge. He that flung the Discus farthest was the victor.

The most famous painters and sculptors of antiquity, in their endeavours to represent naturally the att.i.tudes of the Discoboli, have left to posterity many masterpieces in their several arts. Quintilian exceedingly extols a statue of that kind, which had been finished with infinite care and application by the celebrated Myron: "What can be more finished," says he, "or express more happily the muscular distortions of the body in the exercise of the Discus, than the Discobolus of Myron?"(131)

Of the Pentathlum.

The Greeks gave this name to an exercise composed of five others. It is the common opinion, that those five exercises were wrestling, running, leaping, throwing the dart, and the Discus. It is believed that this sort of combat was decided in one day, and sometimes the same morning: and that to obtain the prize, which was single, it was required that a combatant should be the victor in all those exercises.

The exercise of leaping, and throwing the javelin, of which the first consisted in leaping a certain length, and the other in hitting a mark with a javelin at a certain distance, contributed to the forming of a soldier, by making him nimble and active in battle, and expert in flinging the spear and dart.

Of Races.

Of all the exercises which the Athletae cultivated with so much pains and industry to enable them to appear in the public games, running held the foremost rank. The Olympic games generally opened with races, and were solemnized at first with no other exercise.

The place where the Athletae exercised themselves in running was generally called the _Stadium_ by the Greeks; as was that wherein they disputed in earnest for the prize. As the lists or course for these games was at first but one Stadium(132) in length, it took its name from its measure, and was called the Stadium, whether precisely of that extent, or of a much greater. Under that denomination was included not only the s.p.a.ce in which the Athletae ran, but also that which contained the spectators of the gymnastic games. The place where the Athletae contended was called Scamma, from its lying lower than the rest of the Stadium, on each side of which, and at the extremity ran an ascent or kind of terrace, covered with seats and benches, upon which the spectators were seated. The most remarkable parts of the Stadium were its entrance, middle, and extremity.

The entrance of the course, from whence the compet.i.tors started, was marked at first only by a line drawn on the sand from side to side of the Stadium. To that at length was subst.i.tuted a kind of barrier, which was only a cord strained tight in the front of the horses or men that were to run. It was sometimes a rail of wood. The opening of this barrier was the signal for the racers to start.

The middle of the Stadium was remarkable only by the circ.u.mstance of having the prizes allotted to the victors set up there. St.

Chrysostom(133) draws a fine comparison from this custom. "As the judges,"

says he, "in the races and other games, expose in the midst of the Stadium, to the view of the champions, the crowns which they are to receive; in like manner the Lord, by the mouth of his prophets, has placed in the midst of the course, the prizes which he designs for those who have the courage to contend for them."

At the extremity of the Stadium was a goal, where the footraces ended, but in those of chariots and horses they were to run several times round it without stopping, and afterwards conclude the race by regaining the other extremity of the lists, from whence they started.

There were three kinds of races, the chariot, the horse, and the footrace.

I shall begin with the last, as the most simple, natural, and ancient.

1. Of the Foot-race.

The runners, of whatever number they were, ranged themselves in a line, after having drawn lots for their places. Whilst they waited the signal to start, they practised, by way of prelude, various motions to awaken their activity, and to keep their limbs pliable and in a right temper.(134) They kept themselves in wind by small leaps, and making little excursions, that were a kind of trial of their speed and agility. Upon the signal being given they flew towards the goal, with a rapidity scarce to be followed by the eye, which was solely to decide the victory. For the Agonistic laws prohibited, under the penalty of infamy, the attaining it by any foul method.

In the simple race the extent of the Stadium was run but once, at the end of which the prize attended the victor, that is, he who came in first. In the race called ??a????, the compet.i.tors ran twice that length; that is, after having arrived at the goal, they returned to the barrier. To these may be added a third sort, called ???????, which was the longest of all, as its name implies, and was composed of several Diauli. Sometimes it consisted of twenty-four Stadia backwards and forwards, turning twelve times round the goal.

There were some runners in ancient times, as well among the Greeks as Romans, who have been much celebrated for their swiftness. Pliny tells us,(135) that it was thought prodigious in Phidippides to run eleven hundred and forty Stadia(136) between Athens and Lacedaemon in the s.p.a.ce of two days, till Anystis of the latter place, and Philonides, the runner of Alexander the Great, went twelve hundred Stadia(137) in one day, from Sicyon to Elis. These runners were denominated ?e??d????? as we find in that pa.s.sage of Herodotus, which mentions Phidippides.(138) In the consulate of Fonteius and Vipsa.n.u.s, in the reign of Nero, a boy of nine years old ran seventy-five thousand paces(139) between noon and night.

Pliny adds, that in his time there were runners, who ran one hundred and sixty thousand paces(140) in the circus. Our wonder at such a prodigious speed will increase, (continues he,)(141) if we reflect, that when Tiberius went to Germany to his brother Drusius, then at the point of death, he could not arrive there in less than four-and-twenty hours, though the distance was but two hundred thousand paces,(142) and he changed his carriage three times,(143) and went with the utmost diligence.

2. Of the Horse-races.

The race of a single horse with a rider was less celebrated among the ancients, yet it had its favourers amongst the most considerable persons, and even kings themselves, and was attended with uncommon glory to the victor. Pindar, in his first ode, celebrates a victory of this kind, obtained by Hiero, king of Syracuse, to whom he gives the t.i.tle of ?????, that is, "Victor in the horse-race;" which name was given to the horses carrying only a single rider, ????te?. Sometimes the rider led another horse by the bridle, and then the horses were called _Desultorii_, and their riders _Desultores_; because, after a number of turns in the Stadium, they changed horses, by dexterously vaulting from one to the other. A surprising address was necessary upon this occasion, especially in an age unacquainted with the use of stirrups, and when the horses had no saddles, which made the leap still more difficult. Among the African troops there were also cavalry,(144) called _Desultores_, who vaulted from one horse to another, as occasion required; and these were generally Numidians.

3. Of the Chariot-races.