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Wrestling. II

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

E. Norman Gardiner
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Extract

The attitude adopted by the Greek wrestler before taking hold, as described by Heliodorus, and frequently represented in art, was very similar to that in use at the present day. Taking a firm stand with his feet somewhat apart and knees slightly bent, rounding (γυρώσας) his back and shoulders, his neck advanced but pressed down into his shoulder blades, and his waist drawn in (σφηκώσας), he tried to avoid giving any opening (λαβή) himself, while his outstretched hands were ready to seize any opportunity offered by his opponent.

Various methods of attack are enumerated by Plutarch. Symp. ii. 4. μόνους δὲ τοὺς παλαιστὰς ὁρῶμεν ἀλλήλους ἀγκαλιζομένους καὶ περιλαμβάνοντας καὶ τὰ ολεῖστα τῶν ἀγωνισμάτων ἐμβολαὶ παρεμβολαίσυστάσεις παραθέσεις συνάγουσιν αὐτοὺς καὶ ἀναμίγνυνται ἀλλήλοις These terms, arranged in contrasted pairs, denote the various positions and movements of wrestlers before they take hold.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 25 , November 1905 , pp. 263 - 293
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1905

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References

1 Aethiop. x. 31; cp. Ovid, Met. ix. 33Google Scholar, Lucan, Phars. iv. 617Google Scholar, Stat., Theb. vi. 850Google Scholar. The position is shown in an Attic grave relief of Agacles, Schreiber, Atlas xxi. 1Google Scholar; in vase-paintings, Panofka, Bilder und Leben i. 7Google Scholar, Arch. Zeit. 1878. 11; and above all in the two well known bronzes at Naples, formerly described as diskoboloi, but really representing wrestling boys ready for the contest.

2 Homer, Il. xxiii. 712Google Scholar.

3 Lucian, Anacharsis 1Google Scholar. M. de Ridder, Dar.-Sagl. s.v. lucta, takes Lucian's words seriously and draws a thrilling picture of a ‘butting-match’! ‘l'une des manœuvres favorites’ he says ‘était le heurt des fronts l'un contre l'autre, et les deux têtes une fois en contacte la pesée graduelle de la première sur la seconde.’ Hence he concludes ‘l'adversaire le moins résistant se trouvait rapidement renversé sur le dos.’ What would Lucian have said to such a comment on his words!

4 Philostrat., Vit. Soph. p. 225Google Scholarὁ Πολέμων προσῆλθε τῷ Διονυσίῳ καὶ ἀντερείσας τὸν ὦμον ὥσπερ οἱ τῆς σταδιαίας πάλης ἐμβιβάζοντες κ.τ.λ. σταδιαῖος here is evidently used in the sense of, perhaps in mistake for, σταδαῖος and means not, as Martin Faber says, ‘belonging to the stadium’ but ‘upright.’ For the position v. Noel des Vergers, l'Étrurie xxxvii.

5 Ox. Pap. iii. 466.

6 P. 15 of this vol. Anth. Pal. xii. 206.

7 C. 10 ὡς ἅμμα σφίγγε· εἶτ᾿ ἀνακλάσας ἐμβάλλε καὶ σύνεχε.

8 Mr.Armstrong, Walter, Wrestling (All England Series), p. 48Google Scholar.

9 Hesiod ἀσπίς 302, οἱ δ᾿ ἐμάχοντο πύξ τε καὶ ἑλκηδόν; cp. Pind., Nem. iv. 154Google Scholar.

10 P. 28 of this volume.

11 v. infra p. 287.

12 Leg. 796A.

13 Pollux cites it as a wrestling term. Cp. Theocrit. xxv. 145.

14 A good illustration of this may be seen in an amphora of Nicosthenes, at Vienna published in the Vorlegeblätter 1890–1891, iv. 3Google Scholar where the left-hand wrestler seizes with his right hand the left wrist of his opponent who is stooping down as if to seize him round the waist.

15 Mon. d. I. ii. 24; Mus. Greg. II. xvi. 2. a; Munich 495 (Pl. XII. c).

16 Mon. d. I. xi. 25, an Etruscan wall-painting from the Tomba degli Auguri; Gerh. A. V. 271, r.-f. kylix in Brussels.

17 Mon. d. I. x. 4, Amphiaraus vase; Micali Mon. xli.; B.M. Vases B 48, 191, 295; coins of Aspendus. Cp. Armstrong, Wrestling, p. 56Google Scholar.

18 P. 23 of this volume.

19 Dar.-Sagl. 4624=Dennis, Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria ii. 333Google Scholar.

20 Dennis op. cit. ii. 343 = Krause xii.b, 39b.

21 Cp. Dennis op. cit. 323 ( = Krause xii.b, 39b), 327.

22 Mr.Norton, in the American Journal of Archaeology, 1896, p. 10Google Scholar suggests that the artist borrowed this idea from the representation of Heracles and the Erymanthian boar, on the cup of Eurystheus. It would perhaps be more correct to say that the type in both cases is suggested by the palaestra scheme.

23 Similarly the scene on the Baltimore kylix may be compared with a relief on a votive tablet from the Acropolis, published in the Ath. Mitth. 1887Google Scholar, Pl. III. representing the lion lying huddled up on its back with Heracles bending over it. The motives are identical.

24 Mon.d.I. x. 4. 5.

25 Micali, Mon. xli.

26 Musée Blacas ii. = Krause xii. 34.

27 Berl. Vas. 2159; Gerhard, Trinkschale I. xx.; American Journal of Archaeology, 1896, p. 11Google Scholar.

28 Cp. Bull. Nap. Nouv. Sér. V. x.; Berl. Vas. 3985.

29 B.M.C. Lycia pp. 95–101, 248, cxix.; cp. Head, , H.N. p. 582Google Scholar, where the inscription which occurs on one of these coins is discussed. The interpretation of these wolds as ἐλύψας (the wriggler), μενετός (the stayer) is attractive, but Mr. G. F. Hill to whom I am indebted for the illustrations from the coins in the B.M. tells me that the names are probably those of a magistrate or magistrates.

30 Paus. vi. 4. 2 καὶ γὰρ τὸν Λεοντίσκον καταβαλεῖν οὐκ ἐπίστασθαι τοὺς παλαίοντας, νικᾶν δὲ αὐτὸν κλῶντα τοὺς δακτύλους.

31 Galen describes the art of wrestling as καββαλική.

32 Philostrat., Gym. 35Google Scholar.

33 Lac. Rep. v. 9.

34 l. 491 διαβολή and διαβάλλϵιν in this passage and in lines 262, 496 must clearly denote some sort of neckhold.

35 Cleostratus of Rhodes according to Africanus won his victories in this way: τραχηλίζων ἀπελάμβανε. For a more general use of the word, cp. Plato, Amat. 132Google Scholarc, d, Plut., Anton. 33Google Scholar.

36 Cp. Philo, πϵρὶ ὀνϵίρων 163Google Scholar, παλαίσμασι πολυτρόποις κοὶ πολυμηχάνοις αὐχϵνίζοντϵς ἐκτραχηλίζϵιν καὶ καταῤῥάττϵιν πρὸς τὸ ἔδαφος

37 Apophthegm. Lac. 234 D, 44. In his life of Alcibiades c. 2 he tells the same story of him. ἐν γὰρ τῷ παλαίειν πιεζούμενος ὑπὲρ τοῦ μὴ πεσεῖν ἀναγαγὼν πρὸς τὸ στόμα τὰ ἅμματα τοῦ πιεζοῦντος οἷός τε ἦν διαφαγεῖν τὰς χεῖρας. Biting was forbidden both in wrestling and in the pankration, but was allowed by the Spartans in the latter.

38 E.g. B.M. Vases B 232, 233, 621; Gerh., A. V. 74, 93, 256Google Scholar.

39 Reisch, Emil well describes such a type as ‘ein Ringkampfmotiv der Palästra eingeführt,’ or as a ‘Kunstgriff der ὀρθὴ πάλη,’ Ath. Mitth. xii. 1887, p. 119Google Scholarsq.

40 The vase is unsigned, but Mr. H. B. Walters tells me that it is undoubtedly the work of Nicosthenes.

41 Gerh., Etrusk. Spiegel 224Google Scholar, Dar.-Sagl. 592.

42 Krause xii. 43.

43 Jahn 584. Gerh., A. V. 177Google Scholar.

44 E.g. B.M. Vases B 234; Gerh., A. V. 192Google Scholar.

45 Mon. d. I. vi. vii. 69, 2a.

46 Gerh., A. V. 238Google Scholar, cp. B.M. Vases B 232, 233, 621.

47 Jahn 3; Gerh., A. V. 114Google Scholar.

48 R. -f. krater of Euphronius, , Klein, Euphronius p. 118Google Scholar A, r.-f. kylix J.H.S. x. Pl I.

49 Ann. d. I. 1870, O, Klein op. cit. p. 205; Schreiber, Atlas xxiv. 10Google Scholar.

50 Klein op. cit. p. 194.

51 Laborde i. 93.

52 Répertoire de la Statuaire 249; Coll. Farges 170. a.

53 E.g. a relief in Campana, Antiche Opere in Plastica xxii.

54 Pp. 290, 291, Figs. 25, 26.

55 Philostratus, Gym. 35Google Scholar speaks of the wrestler's neck καμπτόμενον καὶ στρεβλούμενον ὑπὸ τῆς πάλης.

56 B.M. Bronzes 748; cp. ib. 639, 744, 746; Babelon, Bronzes du Cabinet des Médailles 935Google Scholar; Catalogue Forman Collection 141, an interesting variety, the two wrestlers with crossed arms grasping each other by the forearm.

57 l' Étrurie xxxvii.

58 Homolle, Fouilles de Delphes iv. 76Google Scholar.

59 Vienna, 232 Vorlegeblätter, 1890–1891, iv. 3Google Scholar.

60 Aristoph., Eq. 387Google Scholar, Acharn. 571.

61 Hesychius, Photius.

62 Cp. Plut., Anton. 33Google Scholar.

63 P. 265.

64 Berl. Vas. 1716. The παράθεσις is most marked in this group. A second group on the same vase is of the ordinary armhold type.

65 P. 277.

66 Harrison, and MacColl, , Greek Vase Painting, Pl. X. Klein p. 194dGoogle Scholar. To these may perhaps be added a fragment of a vase in the Louvre very similar in style to the Euphronius vase which Wernicke considers to represent Theseus and Apollo. The former has his right arm round his opponent's neck while Apollo with his left strives to break the grip. Jahrb. 1892, p. 209.

67 Jahn 1336.

68 Naples 2519, Millingen, Pl. XXXI, Klein loc. cit.

69 Jahn 495.

70 Bull. Nap. Nouv. Sér. v. 10.

71 xiib, 40b, Berl. Vas. 1853.

72 Roscher s.v. Herakles.

73 Leg. 796 A.

74 Lucan, Pharsalia iv. 612Google Scholarsq.

75 Im. ii. 21, yet even here the wrestling tradition survives in the concluding words where Philostratus describes Hermes coming to crown Heracles ὅτι αὐτῷ καλῶς ὑποκρίνεται τὴν πάλην.

76 B.M.C. Coins of Tarentum 376, Alexandria Troas 1054, 1479, Nicaea 113, Tarsus 184; Furtwängler, Ant. Gem. xxvii. 15Google Scholar, xliii. 67, 68; Reinach, Répertoire de la Statuaire i. 472Google Scholar. 6, 477. 6, ii. 233. 6, 539. 3, iii. 155. 6.

77 B. M. Vases B 222, 596; Gerh., A. V. 113Google Scholar.

78 Gerh., A. V. 70Google Scholar; Jahn 1107.

79 P. 43.

80 Leg. 796 A, cp. supra p. 27.

81 Mus. Ital. iii. 260; Klein l.c. e.g. h.

82 Clarac 802, 2014; Schreiber Atlas xxiv. iv.

83 Clarac 187, 455.

84 Catalogue iii. 64.

85 xvii. 1a.

86 Fouilles de Delphes iv. 46, 47.

87 On case C in the bronze-room. Height 5⅛ in. provenance unknown, date uncertain, but Mr. Walters informs me it is certainly not earlier than the first century A.D.

88 Collection P. Philip Paris, 1905, No. 484.

89 London, 1899, No. 95.

90 We may add to them the much mutilated group in the Louvre, No. 361.

91 P. 25 of this volume.

92 Stephani, , C.R. 1869, Pl. I. 29, p. 144Google Scholar.

93 There are 340 wrestling groups in the tombs of Beni Hassan (Archaeolog. Survey of Egypt, Beni Hassan ii. Pls. V. XV.). Separated as they are by nearly 2000 years from the monuments which we are considering, it is obvious that they have no connexion with Greek wrestling in historical times, though they are often used in text-books to illustrate it. Should Cretan exploration bring to light a series of Minoan wrestling groups, the comparison would be of very different value.

94 Stephani, , C.R. 1867, i. 1. 5Google Scholar.

95 Jahrb. 1898, Pl. XI. Other examples of the group are at Florence (Reinach, Répertoire de la Statuaire ii. 538. 5)Google Scholar, in the British Museum 853 (of somewhat doubtful antiquity), in the Louvre, 361 (Jahrb. 1901, p. 51)Google Scholar, at Lyons, in the Dimitriou Collection at Athens. Schreiber, Arch. Anz. 1899, 133Google Scholar notices another from Egypt in the Sieglin Collection. The Florence and B. M. specimens agree with that in Constantinople. The Louvre group is too much mutilated for certainty.

96 Cp. p. 23 of this volume. So Förster, Jahrb. 1898, p. 181Google Scholar ‘Die συμπλοκή ist vorüber,’ but when he goes on to say ‘es ist zum ἀκροχϵιρισμός gekommen,’ I cannot understand what he supposes to be the meaning of ἀκροχϵιρισμός. It is a term used of the preliminary stages of boxing, and the pankration.

97 Cp. Bekker's, An. 81. 4, 327Google Scholar. 10 κάμψας τὸν πόδα, σχῆμα δὲ ἐστὶ παλαιστρικόν.

98 De Corona 138, cp. Plato, Euthydemus 278Google Scholar B.

99 C. 8. Bekker in his Charicles quotes the examples of Euergus and Meidias in Demosthenes, of Simon and Eratosthenes in Lysias, and of Demarchus in Aeschines.

100 ὁάσσϵιν=to dash down, cp. LXX. Isaiah ix. 11, Eupolis Ταξ. 6 ἀγκυρίσας ἔῤῥαξϵν For λὰξ ἐνάλλϵσθαι v. Pollux iii. 150.

101 So in the passage quoted from Demosthenes, Conon and his sons after throwing Ariston in the mud proceed to jump upon him.

102 Förster, Jahrb. 1898, p. 178, 1901, pp. 49–51Google Scholar; Perdrizet, Rev. Arch. 1903, pp. 396–7Google Scholar.