Dear friends of
ancient coins!
The following coin has caused me to deal a little with boxing in ancient times.
The Coin:Ionia,
Smyrna, 75-50 B.C.
AE 15, 3.24g, 14.99mm, 0°
Obv.: Laureate
head of
Apollo r.
rev: left IATPOΔΩPOΣ, right ΣMYPNAIΩN, both from top to bottom
Hand in
Caestus, r.
palm branch
Ref::
Milne 405;
SNG Copenhagen 1216;
BMC 52
almost SS, black-green
patinaNote:(1) The name of the issuing magistrate is somewhat uncertain. An alternative would be Metrodoros. Most likely, however, is Iatrodoros.
(2)
Caestus (spoken as plural with long u) were the fighting belts of the fist fighters. Probably they were identical with the Greek μυρμεκιδες (plural to μυρμεξ). The
palm branch on the
rev. is an indication of a competition.
History of Caestus:Caestus were in the first time leather straps, which were wound several times around the knuckles, and bandages around the wrist and the forearm of the fist fighter. In
Roman times it was a semicircular, lined leather glove that left the finger ends and thumb free. In the imperial period the boxing glove was weighted down with metal (
Pauly). The purpose of the
Caestus was not so much to protect the fighter's hand as to make
his punches more effective. The dried, untanned leather straps cut the skin like knives.
The ancient fistfight:Pygme (
lat. pugilatus, therefore pugilist as today unusual term for boxer) was the Greek name for the boxing match. It
comes from πυγμη = fist, and was also the name for a length of 18 finger width, measured from the elbow to the knuckles of the clenched fist, something like a cubit. From here also the pygmies got their name, which should have been just one cubit tall. Descriptions of the fistfight can be found in the Argonautika of Apollonios
Rhodos (II, 1-98), in Vergils Aeneis (V, 425-467) and by Theokrit, who was himself an eyewitness. These were ancient Greek or Hellenistic fights.
In these fights more was allowed than today. Above all, sensitive body parts were beaten, e.g. teeth, ears and nose. The fighters were allowed to jump up and strike from above. The footwork was also important. For example, there were kicks against the shinbone. There was no division into
weight classes and often the fight led to serious injuries. There were no rounds with breaks in between, but the fight went on uninterrupted until the
victory of one boxer. This could take several hours, especially if the fighters were equally strong. That's why punches against the neck were very popular.
The fight was over when the underdog raised
his hand and extended
his index finger. Then the
victor had to stop, otherwise an arbitrator beat him with a stick. If a fight ended deadly, the perpetrator was punished.
Sokrates criticized the disproportionately strong shoulders on the thin legs of the boxers, which contradicted the Greek beauty ideal of the Harmonia. (Xen. symp. 2, 14). We also have to think of the quote of Juvenal: "A healthy spirit in a healthy body (
mens sana in corpore sano)", which actually reads "One should pray that a healthy spirit is in a healthy body".
The boxing match at Homer:In the 23rd song of the Iliad, i.e. quite at the end of the
Trojan War,
Homer describes a boxing match between Epeios, who later builds the
Trojan Horse, and Euryalos, an Argonaut. This boxing match took place during the funeral games in honour of the fallen Patroklos. The prize for the winner was the
mule of Patroklos, the loser received a
cup. Here the boxing match plays a symbolic role, it is a ritual
act. By subjecting violence to certain rules, it is to be shown that social violence must also be channelled. This should prevent the spread of violence.
How old the fistfight really is cannot be determined exactly. Already 3000 B.C. there were fistfights in
Egypt for the entertainment of spectators. But similar fights were also fought in
Mesopotamia or
Crete. In the following two millennia boxing spread throughout the Aegean region. In 688 B.C. the fistfight was introduced at the 23rd Olympic Games of
Antiquity (Pausanias).
The
Romans took over boxing from
Etruria. It corresponded to Hellenistic boxing. It was mainly demonstrated during gladiator fights. The leather straps were also covered with metal thorns. In the gladiator schools, e.g. in Capua, boxing was trained. By the advancement of the fighting techniques now also defensive and counter tactics were used.
In Greek
antiquity this sport was particularly highly regarded because of its dangerous nature. However, the Spartans (as well as the
Romans) rejected the participation in boxing fights and justified it only for the training of the warriors (
Tacitus, Annalen, 14, 20). In addition it fits well that from the Dioskuroi Polydeikes (
lat.
Pollux) as boxer was less highly regarded as Kastor the horseman.
The most famous fighter of
antiquity with credible 1200-1400 victories was Theogenes of
Thasos, son of Timoxenos, who won against Euthymos of Lokroi at the Olympic Games 480 BC. Pausanias tells that Theogenes only participated in the competition to injure Euthymos and was therefore sentenced to a
fine. Theogenes did not compete in the fistfight in the following Olympic Games. Other famous pugilists were Pythagoras of
Magnesia and Diagoras of Rhodes.
Some notes on modern boxing:Modern boxing
comes from
England. Prize fights took place there regularly already in the 17th and 18th centuries, on which the spectators bet. In 1867, about 100 years after the introduction of the first rules, they were changed by a friend of the Marquess of Queensberry in such a way that the first boxing rules for boxing with gloves, the so-called Queensbury rules, emerged, which in principle
still apply today. The first official boxing world champion according to the new rules was John L. Sullivan on September 7, 1882. But he also fought partly bare-knuckle, for the last time 1889 against Jack Kilraine (
Wikipedia). In 1904, boxing was taken up again as an Olympic sport at the 3rd Modern Olympic Games in St. Louis over 1500 years after the end of the ancient Olympic Games in 393 AD.
History of Art:I have added 2 pictures:
(1) The Boxer of the Quirinal, also called Terme boxer, from the time of the
Hellenism, 3.-2. century B.C., found 1885 on the Quirinal in
Rome and today
at the Palazzo Massimo. It shows the boxer after a fight sitting on a rock. The
face, framed by perfectly styled hair, is shredded flesh: a disfigured
face with
swollen shut eye and gaping lacerations. Today it is being discussed whether he
is the Bebryk
king Amykos, who
had been defeated and killed by Polyneikes
during the Argonauts' voyage. Except for the rock, this impressive
sculpture is one of the
rare Greek Bronze originals. Altogether only 7(!) are preserved. The
Roman copies were always made of marble, which the
Romans loved above all
else.
The pic is from Livioandronico, 2013.
(2) Attic black figure neck
amphora, 510-500 BC, from Vulci (
Etruria),
attributed to the so-called Group of Copenhagen (an emergency name, since the
artist is unknown), today in the Staatliche Antikensammlung,
Berlin. Shown is
side A:
The right boxer goes to the ground and gives with outstretched hand and finger the
character for the task.
His opponent nevertheless penetrates further into him and
becomes therefore beaten by the referee with a long whip.
Sources:(1)
Homer, Ilias 23
(2)
Homer, Odyssey 8, 120-130
(3) Theokrit
(4) Xenophone, Symposium
(5) Apollonius Rhodes, Argonautika
(6) Vergil, Aeneid
(7)
Valerius Flaccus
(8) Pausanias, Voyages in
Greece V 8, 7
(9) Juvenal, Satires
(10)
Tacitus, Annals
Literature:(1) Rudolf Münsterberg, The official names on the
Greek coins,
1911-1927 (also online)
(2) The little Stowasser, Latin-German school dictionary, 1960
(3) Gemoll, Greek-German School and Hand Dictionary, 1959
(3) The Little
Pauly, encyclopedia of
antiquity, 1979
(4) Duden, Wortfriedhof, 2012
Online Sources:(1)
Wikipedia(2) Luigi Moretti, List of Winners of the Olympic Games of
Antiquity(3) About the importance of the boxing match in the Iliad of
Homer, at the
"Betker.wordpress.com"
Best regards