A History Of Wrestling
Chapter Two: Dawn of a New Era
#PWHS #Article #AHistoryOfWrestling #AHOW #DawnOfANewEra
The whole structure of humanity took a dramatic change somewhere between 20,000-9,000 B.C.E. By the end of that period the majority of mankind had stopped gathering and hunting. Instead they had turned to fixed abodes, small communities and farming. Permanent dwellings were being set up. Bartering systems were firmly in place. While other early settlements have always been wondered about, they are rapidly becoming a reality with new technology at the disposal of scientists and archaeologists alike. Evidence of the advancements which took place in Egypt has certainly not been so elusive though. The footprints they left will likely never be forgotten. Especially by the countless generations of children forced to learn about the blasted pyramids and pharaohs.
Maybe if one of my teachers had told me about the Beni Hasan tomb in Egypt I might have paid more attention in history class. Because it contains pictures of people seemingly grappling with each other utilizing holds still recognizable in today's world. The tomb has been dated as being from between 3,000 and 2,000 B.C.E. By the time the former year had rolled around pottery was all the rage. Early written languages had been formed including the famous picture based hieroglyphics of the Egyptians. Tools, decorative items and etc. had gone from being made of purely wood or stone to metal being metal based. Copper had become easier to manipulate and then the skills needed to make bronze were acquired.
The Mesopotamia tablets could possibly pre-date even the Beni Hasan tomb. They were made of clay. While the slabs were still wet words could be scored into the clay which was then allowed to dry. Circa 2,100 B.C.E. a story was captured using this method called The Epic of Gilgamesh. Here is a passage from it:
"The bride waited for the bridegroom, but in the night Gilgamesh got up and came to the house. Then Enkidu stepped out, he stood in the street and blocked the way. Mighty Gilgamesh came on and Enkidu met him at the gate. He put out his foot and prevented Gilgamesh from entering the house, so they grappled, holding each other like bulls. They broke the doorposts and the walls shook, they snorted like bulls locked together. They shattered the doorposts and the walls shook. Gilgamesh bent his knee with his foot planted on the ground and with a turn Enkidu was thrown. Then immediately his fury died. When Enkidu was thrown he said to Gilgamesh, ‘There is not another like you in the world. Ninsun, who is as strong as a wild ox in the byre, she was the mother who bore you, and now you are raised above all men, and Enlil has given you the kingship, for your strength surpasses the strength of men.’ So Enkidu and Gilgamesh embraced and their friendship was sealed."
Approximately a thousand years later and a new way to create useful items out of metal had been discovered through the process of iron smelting. Around the same time what is thought to be the original version of the Old Testament was recorded in the language of ancient Hebrew. Here is an excerpt from Genesis as printed in the New International Bible:
"That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.
Then the man said, 'Let me go, for it is daybreak.' But, Jacob replied, 'I will not let you go unless you bless me.'
The man asked him, 'What is your name?'
'Jacob,' he answered.
Then the man said, 'Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.'
Jacob said, 'Please tell me your name.'
But he replied, 'Why do you ask my name?' Then he blessed him there.
So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, 'It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.'
The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon."
Wrestling history was by no means solely confined to books as the Current Era drew ever nearer. During the early part of the eighth century B.C.E. the ancient Greeks started to hold the Olympic Games. There was no grappling to be contested for the first games. Only a foot race took place. Here I should probably note how an argument could be made for the foot-race making just as much if not more sense as being the first "competitive sport" to have ever existed. After all to run would have been just as natural as to wrestle to our ancestors 200,000 years ago. That could very well be true, but, this is a history of wrestling so I am biased on the matter. To me it seems wrestling would be the more likely to raise a competitive nature due to it being literally mano-a-mano - hand-to-hand - rather than taking part in the physically disconnected-act of running.
Just before the calendar rolled into the seventh century in addition to running other games were added including wrestling. A man named Eurybatos was recorded as winning the inaugural wrestling event. At the same games the pentathlon was participated in for the first time too. The entrants had to run, jump, do a discus then a javelin throw, and finally the remaining competitors met in a battle in the wrestling arena. The first winner of that event was recorded as Lampis.
One of the most famous Greeks both in his day and still in the year 2015 is Homer. Not too long prior to wrestling being featured at the Games, the first of the legendary pair of books scribed by him was created. Below is a part of The Iliad which was followed by The Odyssey at the tail end of the eighth century B.C.E.
"The third bold game Achilles next demands
And calls the wrestlers to the level sands;
A massy tripod for the victor lies,
Of twice six oxen it's reputred price;
And next, the loser's spirits to restore,
A female captive, valued but at four.
Scarce did the chief the vigourous strife propose,
When tower-like Ajax and Ulysses rose.
Amid the ring each nervous rival stands,
Embracing rigid with implicit hands;
Close lock'd above, their heads and arms are mixt;
Below, their planted feet, at distance fixt;
Like two strong rafter which the builder forms
Proof to the wintry winds and howling storms,
Their tops connected, but at wider space
Fixt on the centre stands their solid base.
Now to grasp each manly body bends;
The humid sweat from every pore descends;
Their bones resound with blows; sides, shoulders, thights,
Swell to each grip, and bloody tumours rise.
Nor could Ulysses, for his art renown'd
O'erturn the strength of Ajax on the ground;
Nor could the strength of Ajax overthrow
The watchful caution of his artful foe.
While the long strife e'en tir'd the lookers'on,
Thus to Ulysses spoke great Telamon;
Or let me lift thee, chief, or lift though me;
Prove we our force, and Jove the rest decree.
He said; and, straining, heav'd him off the ground
With matchless strengthl that time Ulyssess found
The strength t'evade, and where the nerves combine
His ankle struck: the giant fell supine;
Ulysses following, on his bosom lies;
Shouts of applause run rattling through the skies.
Ajax to lift, Ulysses next essays;
He barely sirr'd him, but he could not raise:
His knee lock'd fast, the foes attempt deny'd;
And grappling close, they tumble side by side."
Shortly after the turn of the seventh century pankration was added to the Olympics. In recent years it has been attempted to revive this form of wrestling which has been labelled as "very dangerous." There are a lot of similarities between catch-as-catch-can wrestling and pankration. Both originally allowed strangle-holds; holds to dislocate, rip and pull joints; toe-holds and finger-holds. Pankration also encouraged kicking which was not so much utilized in catch-as-catch-can, however it would be featured in other forms of British wrestling such as the Cornish style. Fist strikes were also allowed though and arguably makes it closer to the popular prizefighting contests of eighteenth century England. Only biting and eye-gouging were barred. The only way to win as far as we know was for one opponent to make the other submit. There was at least one stoppage as both stand-up fighting and ground based fighting positions were to be used in a match as starting points.
Part of the lore of the ancient version of pankration is another way to win was to literally kill your adversary. I'm highly sceptical of that. Those who were highly skilled in the sport often were integral parts to the Greek military. The fighting style was taught to their troops as the way to deal with other soldiers when confronted in a hand-to-hand situation. To me it simply makes no sense to put some of your best soldiers in a position where they could potentially die. Strategy in warfare was by no means a foreign concept to people back then.
Interestingly, the ancient Greek God, Hermes, was rather suited to his role in hindsight. He was known as the "Trickster God." Not only did he play pranks on other Gods, he was cunning and used his intelligence for gain. He was the God of travel, dreams, sleep, athletes, sports, tradesmen and thieves. Basically, he had all the tools required for being a professional wrestler.
Between 400-500 B.C.E. the story of Ramayana was composed as part of the Holy scriptures of Hinduism. The mighty Hanuman was an important part of that tale. Hanuman was the monkey God of wrestling. He was said to be an expert in the field and trained many other wrestlers. Not only that, but his father Kesari before him was also considered one of the greatest wrestlers there ever was. Hanuman is still highly celebrated to this day and it's well known how big wrestling was and still is in India. Pulling back to an early thought, is it a mere coincidence a monkey was chosen to be the God of wrestling in Hinduism while those in the Nuba region of Africa had their own monkey warriors? Hanuman was a God so strong he could lift a whole mountain onto his back and fly it to Rama who needed the medicinal herbs found only on that mountain. Before there was Super-Cena, or even Superman, there was Hanuman.
As the Current Era arrived bronze had become almost purely decorative due to the increasingly more efficient process of getting pure iron from it's ore. There was time for one more set of sacred books to be recorded before the calendar said 1 C.E. It was part of the Buddhist scriptures called the Apandana. Unfortunately there is not a lot of space given to wrestling in the text. It is just mentioned how Buddha had once declared himself the best wrestler in the land with him being quoted as saying:
"Once while I was wrestling I badly injured another wrestler; through that deed and through its result I suffered a pain in my back."
The next part will be up in the next few days. It looks at the Arrival of the New Era.
Maybe if one of my teachers had told me about the Beni Hasan tomb in Egypt I might have paid more attention in history class. Because it contains pictures of people seemingly grappling with each other utilizing holds still recognizable in today's world. The tomb has been dated as being from between 3,000 and 2,000 B.C.E. By the time the former year had rolled around pottery was all the rage. Early written languages had been formed including the famous picture based hieroglyphics of the Egyptians. Tools, decorative items and etc. had gone from being made of purely wood or stone to metal being metal based. Copper had become easier to manipulate and then the skills needed to make bronze were acquired.
The Mesopotamia tablets could possibly pre-date even the Beni Hasan tomb. They were made of clay. While the slabs were still wet words could be scored into the clay which was then allowed to dry. Circa 2,100 B.C.E. a story was captured using this method called The Epic of Gilgamesh. Here is a passage from it:
"The bride waited for the bridegroom, but in the night Gilgamesh got up and came to the house. Then Enkidu stepped out, he stood in the street and blocked the way. Mighty Gilgamesh came on and Enkidu met him at the gate. He put out his foot and prevented Gilgamesh from entering the house, so they grappled, holding each other like bulls. They broke the doorposts and the walls shook, they snorted like bulls locked together. They shattered the doorposts and the walls shook. Gilgamesh bent his knee with his foot planted on the ground and with a turn Enkidu was thrown. Then immediately his fury died. When Enkidu was thrown he said to Gilgamesh, ‘There is not another like you in the world. Ninsun, who is as strong as a wild ox in the byre, she was the mother who bore you, and now you are raised above all men, and Enlil has given you the kingship, for your strength surpasses the strength of men.’ So Enkidu and Gilgamesh embraced and their friendship was sealed."
Approximately a thousand years later and a new way to create useful items out of metal had been discovered through the process of iron smelting. Around the same time what is thought to be the original version of the Old Testament was recorded in the language of ancient Hebrew. Here is an excerpt from Genesis as printed in the New International Bible:
"That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.
Then the man said, 'Let me go, for it is daybreak.' But, Jacob replied, 'I will not let you go unless you bless me.'
The man asked him, 'What is your name?'
'Jacob,' he answered.
Then the man said, 'Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.'
Jacob said, 'Please tell me your name.'
But he replied, 'Why do you ask my name?' Then he blessed him there.
So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, 'It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.'
The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon."
Wrestling history was by no means solely confined to books as the Current Era drew ever nearer. During the early part of the eighth century B.C.E. the ancient Greeks started to hold the Olympic Games. There was no grappling to be contested for the first games. Only a foot race took place. Here I should probably note how an argument could be made for the foot-race making just as much if not more sense as being the first "competitive sport" to have ever existed. After all to run would have been just as natural as to wrestle to our ancestors 200,000 years ago. That could very well be true, but, this is a history of wrestling so I am biased on the matter. To me it seems wrestling would be the more likely to raise a competitive nature due to it being literally mano-a-mano - hand-to-hand - rather than taking part in the physically disconnected-act of running.
Just before the calendar rolled into the seventh century in addition to running other games were added including wrestling. A man named Eurybatos was recorded as winning the inaugural wrestling event. At the same games the pentathlon was participated in for the first time too. The entrants had to run, jump, do a discus then a javelin throw, and finally the remaining competitors met in a battle in the wrestling arena. The first winner of that event was recorded as Lampis.
One of the most famous Greeks both in his day and still in the year 2015 is Homer. Not too long prior to wrestling being featured at the Games, the first of the legendary pair of books scribed by him was created. Below is a part of The Iliad which was followed by The Odyssey at the tail end of the eighth century B.C.E.
"The third bold game Achilles next demands
And calls the wrestlers to the level sands;
A massy tripod for the victor lies,
Of twice six oxen it's reputred price;
And next, the loser's spirits to restore,
A female captive, valued but at four.
Scarce did the chief the vigourous strife propose,
When tower-like Ajax and Ulysses rose.
Amid the ring each nervous rival stands,
Embracing rigid with implicit hands;
Close lock'd above, their heads and arms are mixt;
Below, their planted feet, at distance fixt;
Like two strong rafter which the builder forms
Proof to the wintry winds and howling storms,
Their tops connected, but at wider space
Fixt on the centre stands their solid base.
Now to grasp each manly body bends;
The humid sweat from every pore descends;
Their bones resound with blows; sides, shoulders, thights,
Swell to each grip, and bloody tumours rise.
Nor could Ulysses, for his art renown'd
O'erturn the strength of Ajax on the ground;
Nor could the strength of Ajax overthrow
The watchful caution of his artful foe.
While the long strife e'en tir'd the lookers'on,
Thus to Ulysses spoke great Telamon;
Or let me lift thee, chief, or lift though me;
Prove we our force, and Jove the rest decree.
He said; and, straining, heav'd him off the ground
With matchless strengthl that time Ulyssess found
The strength t'evade, and where the nerves combine
His ankle struck: the giant fell supine;
Ulysses following, on his bosom lies;
Shouts of applause run rattling through the skies.
Ajax to lift, Ulysses next essays;
He barely sirr'd him, but he could not raise:
His knee lock'd fast, the foes attempt deny'd;
And grappling close, they tumble side by side."
Shortly after the turn of the seventh century pankration was added to the Olympics. In recent years it has been attempted to revive this form of wrestling which has been labelled as "very dangerous." There are a lot of similarities between catch-as-catch-can wrestling and pankration. Both originally allowed strangle-holds; holds to dislocate, rip and pull joints; toe-holds and finger-holds. Pankration also encouraged kicking which was not so much utilized in catch-as-catch-can, however it would be featured in other forms of British wrestling such as the Cornish style. Fist strikes were also allowed though and arguably makes it closer to the popular prizefighting contests of eighteenth century England. Only biting and eye-gouging were barred. The only way to win as far as we know was for one opponent to make the other submit. There was at least one stoppage as both stand-up fighting and ground based fighting positions were to be used in a match as starting points.
Part of the lore of the ancient version of pankration is another way to win was to literally kill your adversary. I'm highly sceptical of that. Those who were highly skilled in the sport often were integral parts to the Greek military. The fighting style was taught to their troops as the way to deal with other soldiers when confronted in a hand-to-hand situation. To me it simply makes no sense to put some of your best soldiers in a position where they could potentially die. Strategy in warfare was by no means a foreign concept to people back then.
Interestingly, the ancient Greek God, Hermes, was rather suited to his role in hindsight. He was known as the "Trickster God." Not only did he play pranks on other Gods, he was cunning and used his intelligence for gain. He was the God of travel, dreams, sleep, athletes, sports, tradesmen and thieves. Basically, he had all the tools required for being a professional wrestler.
Between 400-500 B.C.E. the story of Ramayana was composed as part of the Holy scriptures of Hinduism. The mighty Hanuman was an important part of that tale. Hanuman was the monkey God of wrestling. He was said to be an expert in the field and trained many other wrestlers. Not only that, but his father Kesari before him was also considered one of the greatest wrestlers there ever was. Hanuman is still highly celebrated to this day and it's well known how big wrestling was and still is in India. Pulling back to an early thought, is it a mere coincidence a monkey was chosen to be the God of wrestling in Hinduism while those in the Nuba region of Africa had their own monkey warriors? Hanuman was a God so strong he could lift a whole mountain onto his back and fly it to Rama who needed the medicinal herbs found only on that mountain. Before there was Super-Cena, or even Superman, there was Hanuman.
As the Current Era arrived bronze had become almost purely decorative due to the increasingly more efficient process of getting pure iron from it's ore. There was time for one more set of sacred books to be recorded before the calendar said 1 C.E. It was part of the Buddhist scriptures called the Apandana. Unfortunately there is not a lot of space given to wrestling in the text. It is just mentioned how Buddha had once declared himself the best wrestler in the land with him being quoted as saying:
"Once while I was wrestling I badly injured another wrestler; through that deed and through its result I suffered a pain in my back."
The next part will be up in the next few days. It looks at the Arrival of the New Era.
Unique content strictly for the Professional Wrestling Historical Society.
A History Of Wrestling: Chapter Two.
Author: Jimmy Wheeler.
Published: October 1, 2017.
Article: #175.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
A History Of Wrestling: Chapter Two.
Author: Jimmy Wheeler.
Published: October 1, 2017.
Article: #175.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
Picture Information
From Greek Mythology Pantheon.
From Greek Mythology Pantheon.
A History Of Wrestling: Chapter Three - Read Here.
A History Of Wrestling: Chapter One - Read Here.
Other articles by Jimmy can be Read Here.