Spartan Follow-Up: Pankration

"Pankration" is a term that modern martial artists sometimes run across in passing without much explanation or context. I honestly don't know That I will add much more explanation or context here, but I'm willing to give it a try.

Pankration (which should be pronounced "pan-cray-tee-on," not "pan-crash-un") was an ancient Greek unarmed fighting system. It received little notice from Classicist historian because it has effectively "died out" unlike the other major Greek unarmed combat systems that are familiar to us as boxing and wrestling. Further, the Classicists, where they understood what they were dealing with, tended to dismiss Pankration as a hybrid of recognizable boxing and wrestling moves.

Evidence suggests that Pankration, which means "all powers," was actually an integrated all-in combat system that included punches, kicks, pressure point strikes, takedowns and throws, submission holds, and other nasty tricks. The only techniques barred were biting and gouging. It was included in the Olympic Games and the bouts were apparently well-attended. We do not know much of the actual techniques, however there are tantalizing tid-bits in verse and pictorial art indicating that open hand strikes similar to modern, extant Asian martial arts strikes were used with fatal results.
Pankration was apparently a highly systemized art too. The art appeared in the Olympic Games in 648 BC, and probably existed in some form as a military only system long before that. The art continued to exist in some form or another up into the period of the Roman Empire, where it was part of their gladiatoral games. A history that long provides every reason to believe the skills were systemized and passed from master to student with every generation. Some styles may have lineages as impressive as any modern art that extends back to feudal age Asia.
The art was brought to a very high -- or at least lethally practical -- standard by the Spartans. The Sparatans refused to allow their pankratists to compete in the Olympic Games. Partly this was because they did not see pankration as an athletic endeavor -- there was only training and war; and even then the distinction might be blurred. They also considered their style of pankration to be a state secret, and while they might attended pankration contests to see what their rivals were developing, they were not about to let the other Greek City-States in on the Spartan tricks.
The controversial aspect of pankration history enters the story with Alexander the Great, who himself was well-trained in the Greek combat sports and saw to it that his army was also familiar with pankration. One theory holds that Alexander's army brought pankration to Asia and India and that veterans who stayed in the East passed their skills onto their new neighbors. In this theory, the martial arts skills were then transfered to China and the rest of the Far East through Boddhidarma, the legendary monk who suppossedly brought both Buddhism and embryonic Kung Fu out of India into China.

While this is not beyond the realm of possibility -- Greek warriors had plenty of opportunity to pass thier skills (sometimes through "hard lessons") onto their Asian neighbors (and enemies) -- I think it is simplistic. There are only so many ways to manipulate the human body, and the principles of combat are timeless.

Ancient pankration probably resembled a modern NHB fight. Then, as now, there were some who got by on their bruising ability, and others who won through finesse. There is a modern system calling itself Pankration which is championed by Greek-American Jim Arvantis. It does capture some of the spirit of ancient pankration, but is not a continuation of the original art.