Pankration
Pankration
Pankration (; Ancient Greek: παγκράτιον [paŋkráti.on]) was an unarmed combat sport introduced into the Greek Olympic Games in 648 BC. The athletes used boxing and wrestling techniques but also others, such as kicking, holds, joint locks, and chokes on the ground, making it similar to modern mixed martial arts. The term comes from the Ancient Greek word παγκράτιον (pankrátion), meaning "all of power" (from παν- (pan-) 'all-' and κράτος (krátos) 'strength, might, power').
History
!A statue of Agias, son of Acnonius, and winner of the pankration in three [Panhellenic Games. This statue occupies Position III of the ex voto of Daochos. Height: 2 metres (6 feet 7 inches).](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/57/07DelphiAghias.jpg/250px-07DelphiAghias.jpg)
History
The mainstream academic view has been that pankration developed in the archaic Greek society of the 7th century BC, whereby, as the need for expression in violent sport increased, pankration filled a niche of "total contest" that neither boxing nor wrestling could. However, some evidence suggests that pankration, in both its sporting form and its combative form, may have been practiced in Greece already from the second millennium BC.
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