Combat Sports in the Ancient World:
Competition, Violence, and Culture
(Sports and History Series) by
Michael B. Poliakoff
"...Victory...Gained In Blood..."
A leading authority on classical games here provides a comprehensive
study of the practice of combat sports in the ancient civilizations of Greece,
Rome, and the Near East. Describing and analyzing the sports of boxing,
wrestling, stick-fighting, and pankration, Michael B. Poliakoff discusses
such topics as the function of competition and violent games in ancient
society; on the social background of the participants, showing the broad
spectrum of Greek athletic personnel; on the significance of the
appearance of combat sport in myth and literature; and on the alleged
cultic functions of the ancient combat sports. The book is copiously
illustrated with photographs of numerous objects rarely or never before
published.

Personal Review: Combat Sports in the Ancient World:
Competition, Violence, and Culture (Sports and History Series)
by Michael B. Poliakoff
This book effectively shows that ancient sports were
also about the rough and tumble and agony, as well
as the skill, courage, and cleverness. The book
is a complete survey including information about
ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, but primarily focuses
on Greek and Roman sports and venues.
As the author, Michael Poliakoff, says in Chapter
I, "General Aspects of the Ancient Combat Sports,"
"Boxing, wrestling, and pankration, a sport that
allowed a variety of unarmed fighting tactics, were
the three important forms of combat sport in the
ancient world. *** The element of fighting makes
combat sports easy to mark off as a group; more
difficult is settling on a definition of sport in
general. I define sport and athletics in this book
as activity in which a person physically competes
against another in a contest with established
regulations and procedures, with the immediate
object of succeeding in that contest under criteria
for determining victory that are different from those
that mark success in everyday life."
The chapters of the book are: General Aspects of
the Ancient Combat Sports/ Wrestling/ Pankration/

Stick Fighting/ Boxing/ The Nature and Purpose of
Combat Sport/ The Participants in Greek Combat
Sport/ Metaphor, Myth, and Reality/ as well as
an Appendix titled "Combat Sport, Funeral Cult,
and Human Sacrifice."
The book is very well illustrated throughout
the text with photographs from vases, drinking
cups, statues, Egyptian wall paintings and
sculptures, a photo of a Greek wrestling
manuscript, and a modern photo of Nuba wrestlers
in the Sudan.
Each of the chapters is also divided into
interesting sub-sections. In Chapter VI, for
instance, the sub-sections are: The Problem of
Athletic Violence/ The Nature of Ancient Criticism/
Military Consideratons/ Military Critics/ An
Agonistic Society/ Sport in Other Cultures: The
Contrast with Greece/ and, Greek Agon and Social
Need.
Each chapter starts with a highly interesting
and engrossing introductory paragraph. From the
"Wrestling" chapter comes this: "Wrestling appealed
deeply to the ancients. Though far from being a
gentle sport, it is substantially less violent and

injurious than the other two combat sports: it pits
one man against another in a close struggle that
maximizes the role of skill and science. In a
manner that encourges wide participation, it tests
an array of martial virtues: cunning, boldness,
courage, self-reliance, and perseverance."
-- Robert Kilgore.
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