11-12-2007, 09:26 AM
Marius would join in the wrestling and boxing practiced by the soldiers on the Campus Martius, so it wasn't restricted to the upper classes or officers by any means. Didn't pankration become a part of gladiator training and sport after Greece was conquered, but a much bloodier and brutal version using spiked gloves or some such?
I'm really not sure about the reliability of this page: http://www.aibudo.com/history/pankratn/pankratn.html
"Exhibitions of superhuman strength were frequently witnessed by the awe-struck Greek people. Practitioners displayed the power of pneuma (Gr. inner energy) by breaking stones and planks with their bare fists and driving their hardened feet through forged war shields."
Which sounds very much like modern perceptions of a martial art to me, if it was the case.
I'm really not sure about the reliability of this page: http://www.aibudo.com/history/pankratn/pankratn.html
"Exhibitions of superhuman strength were frequently witnessed by the awe-struck Greek people. Practitioners displayed the power of pneuma (Gr. inner energy) by breaking stones and planks with their bare fists and driving their hardened feet through forged war shields."
Which sounds very much like modern perceptions of a martial art to me, if it was the case.
TARBICvS/Jim Bowers
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