Wrestling is perhaps the oldest and most universal of all sports. The wall-paintings of Beni Hassan show that almost every hold or throw known to modern wrestlers was known to the Egyptians 2500 years before our era. The popularity of wrestling among the Greeks is proved by the constant metaphors from this sport, and by the frequency with which scenes from the wrestling ring appear not only in athletic literature and art but also in mythological subjects. Despite the changes in Greek athletics caused by professionalism, which affected wrestling and boxing more than any other sports, the popularity of wrestling remained unabated. On early black-figured vases Heracles is constantly represented employing the regular holds of the palaestra not only against the giant Antaeus but against monsters such as Achelous or the Triton, or even against the Nemean lion, and centuries later the language in which Ovid and Lucan describe these combats is in every detail borrowed from the same source. Still more is this the case with the wrestling match between Cercyon and Theseus which occurs so often on the red-figured vases of Athens. On coins wrestling types survive into imperial times. The fight with the Nemean lion is represented on the fourth-century gold coins of Syracuse, and that with Antaeus on imperial coins of Alexandria (Fig. 109).

These fights are one of the many forms under which Greek imagination loved to picture the triumph of civilization and science over barbarism and brute force. To the Greek wrestling was a science and an art. Theseus, the reputed discoverer of scientific wrestling, is said to have learnt its rules from Athena herself.^[633] The greatest importance was attached to grace and skill; it was not sufficient to throw an opponent, it had to be done correctly and in good style.^[634] Hence even when athletics had become corrupted by professionalism, wrestling remained for the most part free from that brutality which has so often brought discredit on one of the noblest of sports. Pausanias records the case of a certain Sicilian wrestler, Leontiscus, who defeated his opponents by trying to break their fingers.^[635] But such tactics did not commend themselves to the Greeks, although it does not seem that they were formally prohibited, and Pausanias expresses his disapproval by the comment that he did not understand how to throw his opponents.

The very name palaestra sufficiently indicates the early importance of wrestling in Greek education, an importance which it maintained even during the Empire. The method of instruction was strictly progressive.^[636] There were separate rules for men and boys; the different movements, grips, and throws were taught as separate figures, the simpler movements first, then the more complicated. In learning them the pupils were grouped in pairs, and more than one pair could be taught at the same time. In the early stages a beginner would be paired with a more advanced pupil, who would help him. Later on the movements were combined, and practice was allowed in free play. The paidotribes seems to have enforced his instruction with a free use of the rod. In Fig. 96 a vivid picture of a wrestling lesson is seen. A pair of paidotribai are engaged in instructing a pair of youthful wrestlers. One of the latter has seized his opponent round the waist and prepares to give him the heave; the other has allowed him to obtain his grip and stands with outstretched hands waiting for the paidotribes to give his next order.

There were doubtless numerous text-books of drill in wrestling and other sports for the use of paidotribai. A fragment of such a text-book has been found on a papyrus of the second century A.D.^[637] It contains orders for executing a number of different grips and throws, and each section ends with the order “complete the grip” (p?????) or “throw him” (?e????). The sections dealing with the throws are hopelessly mutilated, but considerable portions of four sections dealing with the grips remain. Unfortunately, the brevity of the commands, characteristic of all drill books, makes them extremely difficult to understand accurately, and the interpretation is too technical to deal with here.

Competitions in wrestling, boxing, and the pankration were conducted in the same way as a modern tournament. Lucian’s description of the manner of drawing lots has already been quoted. In case of an odd number of competitors one of them drew a bye. This of course gave him a considerable advantage in the next round over a less fortunate rival, who had perhaps been exhausted by his previous contest. Thus the crown may sometimes have depended on the luck of the lot. It is to such an accident that Pindar refers at the close of the sixth Nemean Ode when he says that Alcimidas and his brother were deprived of two Olympic crowns by the fall of the lot. So it is mentioned as an additional distinction for an athlete to have won a crown without drawing the bye, and Pausanias speaks with some contempt of such as have ere now won the olive by the unreasonableness of the lot and not by their own strength.^[638] There is, of course, no ground for the idea that one who had drawn a bye in the first round remained a bye till the final. To draw a bye in a single round is quite sufficient advantage, and archaeologists should really credit the Greeks with a certain amount of practical common-sense.

The number of competitors varied. Lucian, in the passage referred to, speaks of five or twelve competitors,^[639] and this statement agrees generally with our other evidence. Pindar’s heroes, the Aeginetan wrestlers Alcimedon and Aristomenes,^[640] were each victorious over four rivals, that is, in four rounds. The same number is mentioned in the Olympic inscriptions on the wrestler Xenocles and the boxer Philippus.^[641] Four rounds imply nine to sixteen competitors. A long epigram on Ariston,^[642] who won the pankration in Ol. 207, tells us that there were seven competitors, and that he took part in all three rounds and did not owe his crown to the luck of the lot.

Sometimes a famous athlete was allowed a walk over, in which case he was said to have won ?????te?, without dust, that is, without having even dusted his body with the fine sand which athletes used before exercise. Such a victory is recorded of Milo at some unknown festival when he was the only competitor in wrestling.^[643] The first victory of this sort recorded at Olympia is that of Dromeus in the pankration of Ol. 75.^[644] An inscription found at Olympia enumerating the victories of the Diagoridae at Rhodes records that Dorieus won a victory in boxing (?????te?) at the Pythia.^[645] These instances, which could be multiplied, are sufficient to prove that Philostratus is mistaken when he asserts that no crown was awarded at Olympia without competition (?????te?).^[646] The case of Dorieus disproves the similar statement made by Heliodorus with regard to the Pythia.^[647] There can hardly have been any necessity for such a rule in early times, but a rule requiring more than one competitor may well have been introduced at the time of the athletic revival under the Empire, if not at the Olympia or Pythia, at some of the many festivals which bore their names. A rule to this effect might be reasonably expected at festivals where valuable prizes were offered.

The Greeks distinguished two styles of wrestling, one which they called “upright wrestling” or wrestling proper (???? p???, or stad?a?a p???,^[648] or simply p???) in which the object was to throw an opponent to the ground (?ata??t???), the other “ground wrestling” (????s?? or ????d?s??) in which the struggle was continued on the ground till one or other of the combatants acknowledged defeat. The former was the only wrestling admitted in the pentathlon and in wrestling competitions proper; the latter did not exist as a separate competition, but only as part of the pankration, in which hitting and kicking were also allowed.^[649]

In the practice of the palaestra ground wrestling as well as wrestling proper was freely indulged in. We gather from Lucian that separate places were assigned to the two exercises. Ground wrestling took place in some place under cover, and the ground was watered till it became muddy.^[650] The mud rendered the body slippery and difficult to hold, and so rendered accidents less likely; while wallowing in the mud was supposed to have a most beneficial effect on the skin. Wrestling proper took place on the sandy ground in the centre of palaestra. This was called the skamma, the same word that is used for the jumping pit. It denotes a place dug up, levelled and sanded so as to form a smooth soft surface. For actual competitions a skamma must have been provided somewhere in the stadium, probably, where such existed, in the semicircular theatre at the end.

In heroic times boxers and wrestlers wore a loin-cloth (pe????a), such as is occasionally depicted on black-figured vases (Fig. 128), but this loin-cloth seems to have been usually discarded even in the sixth century. Wrestlers, especially boys, sometimes wore ear-caps (Fig. 17), but there is no evidence of their use in competitions. For obvious reasons they always wore their hair short.^[651] Professional athletes under the Empire wore the little hair that was left uncut, tied up in an unsightly little topknot called the “cirrus.”^[652]

In the present chapter we are concerned only with wrestling proper. Before discussing its rules let me utter an emphatic protest against the slanderous fallacy implied in the use of the term Graeco-Roman to describe a style of wrestling in vogue in some of the Music Halls at the present day. There is nothing in Greek wrestling proper, or in the pankration, which bears any resemblance to, or can offer any justification for, this most useless and absurd of all systems, which, as Mr. Walter Armstrong remarks, might have been invented for the express purpose of bringing a grand and useful exercise into disrepute.

We have no definite statement as to the rules of Greek wrestling, and are forced to infer them from the somewhat fragmentary evidence of literature and art. The two essential points which distinguish one style of wrestling from another are the definition of a fair throw and the nature of the holds allowed.

In most modern styles a man is considered thrown only when both shoulders, or one shoulder and one hip touch the ground at the same time; in the Cumberland and Westmorland style he is thrown if he touches the ground with any portion of his body, or even with his knee. A throw may be either a clean throw or the result of a struggle on the ground. With the Greeks it is practically undisputed that only clean throws counted; if one or both wrestlers fell to the ground the bout was finished. Further, it is certain that a fall on the back, on the shoulders, or the hip counted as a fair throw.^[653] An epigram on one Damostratus is conclusive evidence for the back, an epigram on Cleitomachus for the shoulders.^[654] Another epigram relates how Milo, advancing to receive his crown after a “dustless” victory, slipped and fell on his hip, whereupon the people cried out not to crown a man who had fallen without an adversary.^[655] The question of a fall on the knee is more difficult. The passages quoted from Aeschylus are doubtful, and capable of being interpreted either way. So is the epigram on Milo ascribed to Simonides, which states that he won seven victories at Pisa without ever falling on his knee.^[656] The evidence of the monuments is divided. We have a group of bronzes, apparently copies of some well-known Hellenistic original, which represent a wrestler who has fallen on one knee (Figs. 130, 131). His victorious opponent stands over him with one hand pressing down his neck, with the other forcing back his arm. There can be no doubt that he is in a position to throw him on his back if necessary, but he seems to make no effort to do so. On the other hand, we have a group of vases and wall-paintings representing the throw known as “the flying mare,” in which the wrestler as he throws his opponent over his head sinks on one knee (Figs. 114, 115). Various explanations are possible, the most plausible being that these scenes really belong to the pankration; but none of them is quite convincing. Where the evidence is so evenly balanced, certainty is impossible. On the whole I am inclined to abandon the view which I formerly held and to accept JÜthner’s view that a fall on the knee did not count.

What happened if both wrestlers fell together? The only evidence for this is the wrestling match in the Iliad, described in our second chapter. There it will be remembered that in the first bout Odysseus fell on the top of Ajax, in the second they both fell sideways, after which Achilles declared the contest drawn. From this we inferred that if both wrestlers fell together no fall was counted. The accounts of wrestling in later writers are merely literary imitations of Homer, and of little independent value.

One fall did not decide the victory; three falls were necessary. There are numerous allusions in literature to the three throws.^[657] The technical word for winning a victory in wrestling was t???sse??, “to treble,” and the victor was called t??a?t??. At first sight it seems uncertain whether the reference is to three bouts or three falls. But the latter interpretation is the only one which suits every passage, and is rendered certain by the categorical statement of Seneca that a wrestler thrice thrown lost the prize.^[658]

So much for the actual throw and the number of throws necessary for victory. We pass on to the question of the means employed by the Greek wrestler to throw his opponent. In particular, was tripping allowed, and were leg-holds allowed? In the artificial “Graeco-Roman” style of to-day tripping is forbidden and no holds are allowed below the waist. Tripping is seldom represented in art; but the frequent references to it in literature from the time of Homer to that of Lucian leave no doubt that it played an important part in Greek wrestling, as it has in every rational system in every age.^[659] The evidence for leg-holds is less definite, but it seems certain that in practice at least the Greeks made little use of them. This is the natural inference from a passage in the Laws,^[660] where Plato contrasts the methods of the pankration in which leg-holds and kicking played a conspicuous part with the methods of upright wrestling. The latter is the only form of wrestling which he will admit as useful in his ideal states, and he defines it as consisting in “the disentangling of neck and hands and sides,” a masterly definition showing a true understanding of wrestling, for the wrestler’s art is shown more perhaps in his ability to escape from or break a grip than in his skill in fixing one. The vases show that the omission of leg-holds in Plato’s definition is no accident. In the pankration one competitor is frequently represented in the act of seizing another’s foot in order to throw him; Antaeus and Cercyon, whose methods Plato in the above passage strongly condemns, are commonly depicted as grabbing at the feet of Heracles and Theseus. But in wrestling proper, though arm, neck, and body-holds occur constantly, we never see a leg-hold. It is probable that this is the result not so much of a direct prohibition as of the practical riskiness of such a hold under the conditions of upright wrestling. A wrestler who stoops low enough to catch an opponent’s foot is certain to be thrown himself if he misses his grip. On the other hand, there is no practical objection when once the wrestlers are engaged to catching hold of an opponent’s thigh whether for offence or defence. Indeed, one of the commands of the papyrus implies that it was lawful to take a grip between an opponent’s legs, or round the thigh.^[661] In wrestling groups which represent the heave we sometimes see a wrestler trying to save himself by seizing the other’s legs. Perhaps we may recognize as a wrestling scene a group which occurs on an Etruscan tomb.^[662] One man has lifted another on to his shoulder, with his right arm clasped round his right thigh, and his left hand holding his right hand. He may intend to throw him, or he may merely be carrying him. Further, we must remember that upright wrestling formed part of the pankration, and such groups may therefore belong to the pankration.

The conditions of Greek wrestling may be summed up as follows:—

1. If a wrestler fell on any part of the body, hip, back or shoulder, it was a fair fall.

2. If both wrestlers fell together, nothing was counted.

3. Three falls were necessary to secure victory.

4. Tripping was allowed.

5. Leg-holds, if not actually prohibited, were rarely used.

The positions of the Greek wrestler, the grips and the throws which he employed, are known to us from numerous monuments. In view of the number of the monuments and the complexity of the subject it is impossible within the limits of this work to treat them exhaustively, and I must confine myself to the most important and most interesting of the types represented.

The attitude adopted by the Greek wrestler before taking hold was very similar to that of the modern wrestler. Taking a firm stand with his feet somewhat apart and knees slightly bent, rounding (????sa?) his back and shoulders, his neck advanced but pressed down into the shoulder blades, his waist drawn in (sf???sa?), he tried to avoid giving any opening (?a?) himself, while his outstretched hands were ready to seize any opportunity offered by his opponent.^[663] This position is frequently represented in art; but no better illustration of it can be found than the Naples wrestling-boys, generally miscalled Diskoboloi (Fig. 110).

Generally the wrestlers stand square to one another, and prepare to take hold somewhat in the style of Westmorland and Cumberland wrestlers, “leaning against one another like gable rafters of a house,” or “butting against each other like rams,” or “resting their heads on each other’s shoulders.”^[664] This position, known apparently as s?stas??, is frequently depicted on the vases (Fig. 111). Needless to say, this type does not represent a preliminary “butting-match,” as a certain foreign archaeologist seems to imagine, it is the natural position of two wrestlers engaging. Sometimes their heads do crash together as they meet. I read recently an account of a wrestling match in which the heads of the two wrestlers met with a noise which could be heard through the whole house.

Sometimes instead of taking hold from the front the wrestlers try to obtain a hold from the side as in preparing for “the heave,” and in such a case the bodies are turned sideways to one another, a position described as pa???es??.^[665] A not very satisfactory illustration of such a position is shown on a British Museum kylix representing Theseus and Cercyon^[666] (Fig. 112), with which we may compare the group of Heracles and Antaeus on the frieze of the theatre at Delphi,^[667] where the sideways position is more clearly marked. Theseus and Heracles seem in both cases to have avoided the ponderous rush of their foes by stepping sideways.

In endeavouring to obtain a hold wrestlers frequently seize one another by the wrist. This action which is probably denoted by d??sse?? is often a purely defensive movement to prevent an opponent from obtaining a hold on the neck or body. Sometimes, as on a Munich amphora (Fig. 123), each wrestler holds the other by the wrist. Sometimes one wrestler holds both his opponent’s wrists. Such holds are merely momentary and of little importance. A more effective hold was obtained by seizing an opponent’s arm with both hands, one hand seizing the wrist, the other gripping him at the elbow or under the armpit (Fig. 113). This seems to have been a very favourite hold and led to one very effective fall of which we have many illustrations.

It is the throw known in modern wrestling as the flying mare and is probably what Lucian describes as e?? ???? ??aast?sa?.^[668] Having seized his opponent’s arm in the manner described the wrestler rapidly turns his back on him,^[669] draws his arm over his own shoulder, using it as a lever by which to throw him clean over his head, at the same time he stoops forward, sometimes sinking on one knee or both. The beginning of the throw is seen on an Etruscan wall painting.^[670] One wrestler has swung his opponent off his feet and hoisted him over his shoulder. His right hand still grasps his left wrist, and his left hand has been transferred to his neck, and he leans forward in order to complete the throw. A somewhat later moment occurs on a British Museum kylix (Fig. 114). The drawing is rough and careless, and the stoop of the legs is probably exaggerated because otherwise the group would be too high for the vase space. Two wonderfully life-like pictures of this throw occur on a kylix in the BibliothÈque Nationale of Paris (Figs. 54, 115). On the interior we see the victor kneeling on one knee; he has let go with his right hand, and his opponent, left unsupported, is about to fall on his back. The exterior, which is unfortunately much mutilated, shows the same fall a moment later, the falling wrestler tries to save himself by placing his right hand on the ground. This throw was undoubtedly common to wrestling proper and to the pankration. A black-figured amphora in the British Museum, B. 193, represents Heracles employing it against the Nemean lion.

Returning to the arm-hold which leads to this throw, we find several methods of meeting it represented. On the Amphiaraus vase (Fig. 3) Peleus has seized with both hands the left arm of Hippaleimus. The latter with his free right hand grips Peleus under the right arm-pit, and thus weakens his grip and prevents him from turning round. A similar defence is shown on the black-figured amphora in the British Museum, B. 295, where the attack is made on the right arm. A Berlin amphora by Andocides (Fig. 116) shows another style of counter. The wrestler to the left grasps his opponent’s left wrist, but the latter, by a quick move forward, has rendered useless the right hand which should have grasped his upper arm, and passing his own right hand behind his back grasps his right arm just above the elbow. In all these cases the object is to prevent the opponent turning round or to loosen his grip. The latter object is noticeable on the coins of Aspendus (Fig. 109), where the left-hand wrestler grasps with both hands his opponent’s left, while the latter with his right hand grasps his right wrist or left upper arm. We may remark how on some of the coins the right-hand wrestler’s hand hangs down helplessly as if rendered powerless by the grip.

Greek wrestling was governed, it would seem, more by a tradition of good form than by actual rules. Thus, though it was not regarded as good form to seize an opponent’s fingers and break them, as Leontiscus did, such practices do not appear to have been actually prohibited. They were well enough in the pankration, where the object was to force an opponent, by any means to acknowledge defeat, but they could hardly be regarded as legitimate means for throwing an opponent, which was the object of true wrestling.

The neck is an obvious and effective place by which to obtain a hold, and strength of neck is essential to a wrestler.^[671] Pindar, in the seventh Nemean ode, speaks of the wrestler’s “strength and neck invincible,” and Xenophon, describing the training of the Spartans, says that they exercised alike legs and arms and neck. In the Knights of Aristophanes Demos advises the sausage-seller to grease his neck in order to escape from Cleon’s grip. The technical word for obtaining a neck-hold is t?a?????e??. Neck-holds were freely used in the pankration, but rather for the purpose of choking an opponent than of throwing him.

Several varieties of neck-hold are exhibited on the vases. On a red-figured krater in the Ashmolean (Fig. 117) one wrestler seizes the other’s wrist with his left hand, his neck with his right. The wrestler so attacked defends himself by seizing the other under the left arm-pit with his left hand. An interesting feature of this vase is the figure of winged Victory seated upon a pillar watching the contest. A different defence is shown on the black-figured amphora in the British Museum, B. 295 (Fig. 118). Here the left-hand wrestler grasps with his left hand his opponent’s right which is seizing his neck. We may notice that he grasps it at one of the weakest points just below the elbow. Yet another means of defence is to seize the opponent’s neck.

Perhaps the best illustration of a neck-hold occurs on a black-figured amphora in Munich, representing the wrestling match between Peleus and Atalanta, which took place at the funeral games of Pelias (Fig. 119). Peleus has apparently tried to seize Atalanta’s right arm with both hands, but Atalanta, moving forward, seizes him by the back of the neck, very much in the style of a modern wrestler. The picture reminds us how in the gymnasia of Chios young men and maidens might be seen wrestling with one another.^[672]

The neck-hold is commonly employed by Heracles in his fight with the Nemean lion. Sometimes his left arm is round the animal’s neck, while his right hand grasps its left paw, sometimes both hands are clasped round its neck. The interlocking of the hands is the same as that employed by Westmorland and Cumberland wrestlers to-day, the hands being turned so that the palms face one another and the fingers hooked together. On an amphora in Munich Heracles employs this same grip against Antaeus, who, sinking on one knee, grabs characteristically but vainly at the hero’s foot.^[673]

Of the actual throws to which a neck-hold led we have little evidence in the monuments. On a psykter of Euthymides Theseus has secured a powerful hold on Cercyon with one arm passed over his left shoulder, the other under his right arm-pit and swings him off his feet.^[674] Tripping was doubtless freely employed with these holds, but the only illustration of this combination occurs in a group of bronzes discussed below. Similarly the movement described as ?d?a? st??fe??, to turn one’s buttocks towards an opponent was certainly combined with neck-holds. A good illustration of this occurs on a Panathenaic vase in Boulogne (Fig. 120).

Passing on to body-holds we find a preliminary position represented on a Panathenaic vase in the British Museum (Fig. 111). The wrestlers have each one hand round the other’s back, and one of them with his other hand grasps the other’s wrist.

A very effective body-hold is obtained by seizing the opponent round the waist with both hands: he can then be lifted off his feet and swung to the ground. The hold may be obtained from the front, from behind, or from the side, and all three forms are constantly represented. There are various technical terms for such grips,^[675] and the effectiveness of the grip is shown by the proverbial use of the expression ?s?? ??e??, to hold by the waist.

The body-hold from the front is difficult to obtain, but when obtained is extremely effective. It is the hold by which Hackenschmidt, a few years ago, gained his sensational victory over Madrali. But clumsiness and slowness are fatal, for, as the wrestler stoops to obtain the under grip, his opponent can either, by a sideways movement, obtain a hold for the heave, or falling on him may force him to the ground. This is the fate which continually befalls Cercyon and Antaeus as they rush in blindly, head down, in hope of obtaining this hold.^[676] The danger of it is well illustrated by a pair of groups from a black-figured amphora in Munich (Fig. 121). In both cases a bearded athlete rushes in to seize his opponent by the waist: the upper group is merely preliminary; in the lower group his opponent, unable to secure a hold for the heave owing to the grip on his right hand, seems to be pressing on him with all his weight to bear him to the ground. Perhaps a further stage is represented on a red-figured kylix in the Museum at Philadelphia (Fig. 122). One wrestler has already lost his balance, and is supporting himself with both hands on the ground. The other with his left hand holds his right arm down, and with the other prepares to take a body-hold and roll him over. Usually then the body-hold from the front is unsuccessful. On the Berlin amphora (Fig. 116) we see a youth who has successfully obtained this hold on a bearded athlete, and lifts him off his feet in order to throw him.

More commonly the hold is secured from behind in the manner represented on a black-figured amphora in Munich (Fig. 123). We may notice that the wrestler in mid air has, in defence, hooked his right foot round his opponent’s leg. The hands are interlocked in the manner already described. But despite of these realistic touches the drawing as a whole is stiff and lifeless, and contrasts strangely with the much more vigorous portrayal of the same type on gems and coins. The type is particularly connected with Heracles and Antaeus. The lifting of Antaeus is first represented on the fourth century coins of Tarentum. From this time it is constantly repeated in bronzes and statues, and especially on coins and gems.^[677] Roman poets said that Antaeus being the son of earth derived fresh force from his mother each time he touched earth, and that Heracles therefore lifted him from earth and squeezed him to death in mid air. This version of the story is, however, unknown to the literature and art of Greece; and though it may have originated in a mistaken interpretation of the type which we are considering, cannot possibly be regarded as its motive. With a few doubtful exceptions Heracles is always represented as lifting Antaeus, not to crush him, but to swing him to the ground, and nowhere is this motive clearer than on some of the imperial coins, such as the coin of Antoninus Pius shown in Fig. 109.

For no throw have we such abundant evidence as for “the heave,” the hold for which is obtained from the side by passing one hand across and round the opponent’s back, and the other underneath him. This is the hold which is being practised in the wrestling lesson shown in Fig. 96. It is a hold sometimes employed by Heracles against Antaeus, but is particularly characteristic of Theseus. Two kylikes in the British Museum (Figs. 124, 125) will sufficiently illustrate it. On the one Cercyon has endeavoured vainly to save himself by applying a similar hold to Theseus, but too late; on the other vase he has already been swung off the ground, one arm still clasps Theseus’ back, the other hand reaches for the ground or grabs at the foot of his adversary. The popularity of “the heave” among the Greeks is shown by a far more important monument. A metope from the Theseum shows Theseus in the very act of turning Cercyon over to throw him (Fig. 126). A yet later moment is represented in a well-known bronze statuette now in Paris (Fig. 127). The victor here has turned his opponent completely over, and standing upright prepares to drop him on the ground. On an Attic stele already mentioned, representing Athenian sports, a wrestler is in the act of falling headlong to the ground, and as he slips through his opponent’s hands clasps his leg to save himself (Fig. 36). The heave and the holds necessary for it are clearly described in the late epics of Quintus Smyrnaeus and Nonnus.^[678]

Some of the holds described must have been combined with various turns of the body. Thus to obtain a hold from behind a wrestler must either force his opponent to shift his position (eta???e??), or shift his own position so as to get behind him (etaa??e??), while the wrestler so attacked will naturally turn round himself (etaa??s?a?). The last two terms occur in two consecutive lines of the Oxyrhynchus papyrus. One pupil is told to get behind his fellow and grip him, the other is ordered at once to turn round himself.^[679] The use of the preposition et? in these compounds suggests the “afterplay” of Cornish wrestling.

A sudden turn of the body is often used when a hold has been already obtained, in order to twist an opponent off his feet. The modern throws known as the “buttock” and “cross-buttock” find their Greek equivalent in the phrase ?d?a? st??fe??, to turn the buttock. The cross-buttock differs chiefly from the buttock in that the legs come more into play, and we may therefore infer that this is the special throw whereof Theocritus speaks when he relates how Heracles learnt from Harpalacus “all the tricks wherewith the nimble Argive cross-buttockers (?p? s?e???? ?d??st??f??) give each other the fall.”^[680] It was evidently a favourite throw. Theophrastus, in his character of the late learner who wishes to be thought thoroughly accomplished and up-to-date, remarks that “in the bath he is continually giving the cross-buttock as if wrestling.”^[681] Cannot we picture this athletic fraud strutting about the bath cross-buttocking imaginary opponents, just as his modern counterpart bowls imaginary balls, or with his walking-stick wings imaginary birds?

Fig. 128. B.-f. amphora. Vatican.