The Martial Arts of Ancient Greece
Page 7
HORIZONTAL HOOKING PUNCH
Figure 3.21. Pammachon. Parthenon Marbles, 447 BCE, British Museum, London.
ANALYSIS
We examine this sculpture of the Greek fighter and the centaur once more in order to have a close-up view of the execution of the horizontal hooked punch on an anatomically vital point, used as a defensive measure in pammachon. This is an important representation of the many details of this technique. The man on the right uses a hooking punch to the side of the head with extended knuckles, with the intention of injuring his enemy-opponent, as he is at a disadvantage, his opponent having a hold on his neck. It is also a characteristic feature that he has placed his arm horizontally in order to further add power to his blow.
FORWARD HOOKING PUNCH
Figure 3.22. Boxing or Pammachon. Amphora, 530 BCE, Museum Villa Giulia, Mingazzini. (Drawing based on photograph by M. Poliakoff from his book Combat Sports in the Ancient World, page 86.)
ANALYSIS
This is a blow to the groin. However, no judge is present. It is a hooking punch blow; the elbow is bent at an angle in order to derive maximum power. Observe also how the aggressor has captured his opponent’s wrist. The position of the attacker’s body is worth noting. The athlete lowers his body in order to enhance his blow to the abdominal region. This type of body mechanics is used in modern boxing’s “uppercut,” whose target is the stomach rather than the groin. (In an actual fight, though, it is more effectively used when attacking the groin!)
CONTEMPORARY APPLICATION
The contemporary application of a side hook punch shown above (A) could end up in a hooked punch blow to the body (B).
HOOKED PUNCHES
Figure 3.23. Pammachon. Vase from Agia Triada, 1550 BCE, Archaeological Museum, Herakleion, Crete.
ANALYSIS
This important presentation offers a plethora of information. The piece consists of four horizontal zones.
First Zone
In the topmost zone there are two pairs of fighters. On the left the two fighters are shown face-to-face, exchanging hooking punches. The fighter on the right strikes his opponent with a “hooking body punch,” while his opponent responds with a hooked punch to the side of his head. The pair of fighters on the right are practicing upward hooked punches. The metallic armor shown on the forearms of the fighters indicates this is pammachon, a simulation of armed combat, in which the metallic bars simulate a blade; it is not an athletic contest, but rather a ritual duel, the emulation of combat. Furthermore, it is obvious that the duel follows the same ritual as the stick fights depicted at the tombs in Beni Hasan and Thebes, Egypt, dating from 2000 BCE (c.f. figure 1.4), more than likely to the first blood.
Second Zone
This is a scene from “bull fighting” (or, more accurately, “bull dodging”). This famous image, a somersault over a charging bull, holding its horns as a support base, has become world renowned and is indeed an exciting show of bravery.
Third Zone
This representation has various interpretations. It is certainly not the classic punch blow of karate (gyaku tsuki), but more likely a downward punch made with the left hand of the fighter. This means that the hand was armed high and behind the head, exactly as in the direct power punch. The other hand is cocked at waist level, ready to attack. Thus it depicts a combination of blows, or, more likely, concerns a kind of defensive block with the left hand and stabbing attack to the abdominal area with the other hand, a natural outcome in the combat with a knife that is replicated in this ritual duel.
A Roman lamp of the first century CE shows a similar position in a duel between two armed men (figure 3.24). It suggests that the karate punch popular today is the natural evolution of the same move: a direct stab with a knife.
Figure 3.24. Gladiators. Roman lamp, first century CE, Römisch Germanisches Museum, Köln.
Fourth Zone
The fourth zone of the Agia Triada piece shows the same technique as the third zone, as well as a possible throw and a backward breakfall, known in judo as ushiro ukemi.
EXTERNAL BLOCK
Figure 3.25. Boxing. “Wine cup,” 550 BCE, Cleveland Art Museum. (Sketch based on a museum photo.)
ANALYSIS
The athlete on the right attempts a hooked punch to the side of his opponent’s head. The athlete on the left responds by applying a “middle external block,” a defensive blocking of the opponent’s blow from the inside outward. He is preparing a counterattack with a direct power punch. This is a defensive block not frequently seen in contemporary boxing but found in the Eastern martial arts. It is called seiken chudan uchi uke in karate.
EDGE OF HAND (“AX”) STRIKE
Figure 3.26. Pankration. Panathenean amphora, sixth century BCE, Hermitage Museum. (Sketch based on a museum photo.)
ANALYSIS
This is more likely pankration than boxing, because the athletes do not have their hands bandaged. We see a blow coming from the athlete on the left with the side of his palm. The arm is ideally bent at the elbow joint at the time of impact. He is preparing to pursue the attack with a direct power punch using the other hand. The athlete on the right seems to be taken by surprise and fails to block his opponent’s blow, but he is preparing to counter with an upward hooked punch with his right. The correct position is characteristic for both athletes, as they turn their shoulders in opposite directions, enhancing their blows or their blocks. The edge of hand strike is characteristic in karate and is called shuto uchi.
CONTEMPORARY APPLICATION
Vertical Block and ”Ax” Strike (Pammachon)
The athlete on the right, using the defending arm, counterattacks with an outside ”cut” with the edge of his palm to the neck (A–C).
This is a dangerous technique, banned in all contemporary combat sports. Pammachon!
DEFENSIVE BLOCK WITH SIMULTANEOUS COUNTERATTACK AND HAMMER PUNCH
Figure 3.27. Boxing. Roman lamp, second century CE, Römisch Germanisches Museum, Köln.
ANALYSIS
This is an important representation of a boxing game, with technical characteristics resembling Eastern martial arts. Specifically, the athlete on the left executes a rear punch, turning his body and leg characteristically. The athlete on the right reacts by deflecting his opponent’s punch inward with his front hand. This is the same defensive block with the inside of the forearm that is used by Thai boxing athletes, as well as other boxers. The athlete stands on his toes, and he turns in order to block his opponent with the full power of his body, as well as to arm his other hand for a counter punch.
The punch blow that will follow from the athlete on the right is a downward hammer punch, a blow made with the soft base of the closed fist. The hand that executes the blow has been armed high above the head, in order to penetrate through the defensive guard of his opponent, in front of his head. This is a characteristic demonstration of the aim of the athletes of pankration—at least before the fourth century BCE—to “finish off” their opponents before having to go to the ground. This mentality shows the warlike, rather than sporting, orientation of ancient athletes. This exhibit comes from the Roman empire in any case, during a time when athletics in general and combat sports in particular had become completely specialized, because of the professional status of the athletes.
The same technique can be seen in karate, in various forms (kata), though it is thought to be a double block and not a front hand block with concurrent arming of the other hand for counterattack. This blow is also often seen in no-holds-barred fights today, especially when the athletes are on the ground, because it has been established that it does not incur injury to the attacking athlete’s hand.
CONTEMPORARY APPLICATION
Forearm Block and Hammer Punch
The opponent on the right attacks with a rear punch (A–B).
The defender reacts with a forearm block with his front arm, and at the same time arms his other hand to counterattack (B).
He completes his counterattack with a
downward hammer blow to the head of his opponent (C).
LUNGE AND MIDDLE HORIZONTAL DEFLECTION
Figure 3.28. Pankration or Pammachon. Bronze Hellenistic statue, first century CE, British Museum, London. (Photo copyright Kostas Dervenis, 1995. The use of this photograph in any other publication, except the magazine Inside Kung Fu, which first published it, constitutes unauthorized reproduction without the permission of the photographer.)
ANALYSIS
This punch is used to penetrate an opponent’s defense. This is why it is delivered with a fist in a straight line with the forearm. In this representation, the athlete enhances the blow with a lunge covering the distance between himself and his opponent. We can observe that a “middle horizontal deflection” takes place concurrently with the lunge, presumably because of a low shot by his opponent, which he deflects to complete his own blow. The middle horizontal deviation in karate is called chudan soto uke.
CONTEMPORARY APPLICATION
(Pammachon)
The attacker closes the distance step by step (A–B). Next, after deflecting his opponent’s front punch, he proceeds with a right shot to the face, penetrating his opponent’s defenses (C).
Analysis of Movement in the Boxing Range
The different kinesiology demonstrated by the Hellenistic statue in figure 3.28 and the boxer on the Roman lamp in figure 3.29 offer some helpful distinctions regarding moves in the Boxing Range. They illustrate a difference in style between Greeks and Romans. In the oil lamp, from the Roman-German museum in Köln, the Roman boxer executes a punch blow, which very clearly resembles the oi tsuki of contemporary Japanese karate, a move that can be seen around the world today.
Figure 3.29. Roman lamp, first century CE, Römisch Germanisches Museum, Köln.
The statue in figure 3.28, on the other hand, shows the technique of delivering a powerful blow from a distance. As noted earlier, this reflects the ancient Greeks’ adoption of the spear as their main weapon (see figure 3.12). Hence, their method of attack in combat resembled a “dance,” as the fighter moved in and out of range of contact with his opponent, aiming at delivering a quick stab (or multiple stabs) with his spear. This suggests that the style of the pammachon and pankration of the Greeks was flowing and mobile—dancelike—as seen in the depiction of a Pyrrhic dance in figure 3.30, rather than static and powerful.
The Roman pankration athletes—seen in figures 3.1, 3.27, and 3.29— on the other hand, used a move that could be characterized as more static and powerful, resembling the classical karate of Okinawa and Japan. This kinesiology was developed by armored swordsmen who counted on a swift and dynamic defensive guard with a stable stance, in order to penetrate an opponent’s guard and deal a severe blow with a short sword. The arm position at waist level in figure 3.29 is the same as that used by a warrior attempting to deliver a knife or sword blow to the opponent’s abdomen.
In other words, in both the Greek and Roman methods, the requirements of armed combat were reflected in unarmed combat. Eastern karate was developed under similar conditions and needs. For example, many moves from Okinawan karate can be explained based on the use of the weapons tonfa (side-handle baton) and sai (pronged truncheon).
In figures 3.31 and 3.32 we see some more representations that clearly show the contribution of the stabbing move with a spear to the power punch blow in ancient boxing. When a power punch blow is dealt with the back hand (the more distant hand) the entire muscle system of the body participates. It seems logical that this type of punch blow was developed by fighters who used the spear as their main weapon.
Figure 3.30. Pyrrhic dance. From a goblet, fifth century BCE. (Drawing based on photograph by Leonard Von Matt.)
The origins and development of the game of boxing are also demonstrated by other ancient presentations. The famous fresco from archaic Santorini that shows two children boxing, shown in figure 3.33, is worth mentioning for many reasons. First, it is obvious that the boxer on the left is simultaneously executing a block and a blow with the same hand, a very advanced technique. Second, each boxer has only one of his hands bandaged. This could imply some kind of a ritual, possibly symbolizing the use of a weapon, in which case the gloves would have been reinforced, like the later-era Roman iron fist known as a cestus.
Figure 3.31. Boxing. Black-figure amphora, British Museum, London.
Figure 3.32. Boxing. Red-figure amphora, British Museum, London.
The use of the symbolic weaponry (helmets and forearm armor) seen in the depiction from the Agia Triada vase (figure 3.23) is paralleled in a similar ritual, which may also be very old, that is preserved today in India in the practice of vajramushti.3 There, fighters wrestle and box while on one hand they wear a “thunderbolt,” an iron fist with pointed ends on it. In Egypt, the same ritual duel to first blood appeared in 2000 BCE, with sticks. Most likely, all of the above had derived from religious rites during the Neolithic Era, as we shall see in chapter 4.
Figure 3.33. “Boxers.” Wall drawing from the Thera cape, approximately 1500 BCE, National Archaeological Museum, Athens.
In figure 3.34, we see a boxing contest or pankration where the attacker on the left delivers a blow with his left hand, with the base of his palm, while he is preparing to hit his opponent’s neck with the side of his right hand. His opponent blocks with his forearm, preparing to react to the oncoming attack with an upward hooked punch.
Figure 3.34. Boxing or Pankration. Black-figure amphora, Olympia Museum.
Of course the evolution of boxing was not restricted to close punches or blows with the side of the palm. In figure 3.35, we see a boxing contest where both fighters have extended their thumbs, a very dangerous technique, which is aimed at injuring the eyes and the soft parts at the throat of the opponent. In the actual combat shown in figure 3.36, a Lapith villager is defending himself against a centaur, hitting him with an extended thumb on the ribs and spleen.
Figure 3.35. Boxing. Euboic amphora, sixth century BCE, Vatican Museum. (Drawing based on a museum photo.)
Figure 3.36. Pammachon. Parthenon Marbles, 447 BCE, British Museum, London.
Figure 3.37. Pammachon. Bas-relief from the Temple of Epicurean Apollo in Bassai, fifth century BCE, British Museum, London.
The use of punches with one or all the fingers extended was widely applied in ancient pammachon, less so in pankration, due to its dangerous potential. In figure 3.37, a depiction of an Amazon fight from the temple of Apollo in Bassai, the Amazon is defending herself by pushing her fingers into the armpit of her opponent, damaging his nervous and lymphatic systems. This move denotes deep knowledge of anatomy and martial arts. We can see a contemporary application in (A), where the attacker is on his toes from the pain, and the defender is preparing to throw him forward.
Above left: Figure 3.38. Statue of Damoxenos. Damoxenos has lifted his arm in order to meet his opponent’s punch, a fatal error. Neoclassic work by Canova, 1802, Vatican Museum.
Above right: Figure 3.39. Statue of Kreugas. Neoclassic work by Canova, 1802, Vatican Museum.
A famous use of an extended finger strike is recorded in the story of how Kreugas killed Damoxenos in pankration by breaking his ribs and penetrating his thorax with his fingers. It seems as if the use of fingers was a forbidden practice in pankration because Kreugas was expelled from Olympia for his action, that is, for using a pammachon battle technique in the athletic contest of pankration.
Wrestling
It is not clear whether the game of wrestling in ancient Greece had the same rules as the modern game of submission wrestling because there is no clear information concerning ground wrestling. We do know that the main goal of the game of wrestling was to throw one’s opponent to the ground, and not necessarily to achieve the submission of one’s opponent. In Egypt, on the other hand, the aim was clearly the surrender of the opponent, as attested to by the frescoes at Beni Hasan, the “Bible of submission wrestling.” They include a plethora of depictions of techniques such as submission holds and locks on
the ground. We can safely state that all of the fundamental techniques of contemporary submission wrestling are depicted in these presentations from ancient Egypt.
It is interesting to note that in submission wrestling there is an absence of holds in the hand and elbow areas. This is logical and demonstrates that it is a combat sport and not a martial art. Entrapments—holds of the hand and elbow of the opponent—are characteristic of armed combat or unarmed combat with the possible presence of a concealed weapon. These holds are executed in order to control and disarm an opponent, especially in case he carries a close-quarter weapon (such as a knife or a club). However, in the battle for submission—in pankration for example—athletes do not attempt disarming techniques; this is why such images are distinctly pammachon.
THE ENTRAPMENT RANGE AND THE WRESTLING RANGE
Principles and Aims
In the combat sport of submission wrestling, which is divided into erect wrestling and wrestling on the ground, the fight naturally flows from the Entrapment Range to the Wrestling Range. In effect, the Entrapment Range is the beginning of the transfer of the fight to the ground. A variety of techniques are used in the Entrapment Range, blows as well as wrestling. It is perhaps the most unclear battle range, as well as the most difficult for the athletes since, among other difficulties, there is the threat of clinching and being thrown to the ground. In any case, the main characteristic of this zone is the pulling and pushing of limbs, as well as some kind of control.
Technical Intricacies
The techniques of the Wrestling Range coincide with those of the Entrapment Range. The main characteristics of both ranges are limb entrapments, throws, and immobilizing the opponent with controls and finishing locks.