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Special thanks to Claude Vandewoestyne of Wervik (West Flanders, Belgium), a local history expert.

“We owe the beautiful international Sport of Wrestling to Ancient Greeks and Romans!” This statement does sound a bit pretentious, yet it is a fact that Greco-Roman civilization was the biggest influencer for many centuries aheadç and not only when it comes to the sport of wrestling in particular,  but in general related to almost any known sport that originates from Antiquity, it has contributed the most to the concept of organized sports that are governed by the unified and commonly accepted rules for each an every sport, and also to an idea of regularly held official competitions and etc., in this sense, considering all of the aboveç it is fair to say that Greco-Roman culture truly was foundational for the international sporting movement.

The championship wrestling, from time immemorial, was one of the official competitions contested at the sporting gatherings or Games of Ancient Greek during the classical Antiquity. Such games were very popular everywhere around the Greco-Roman Ecumene. Various 18c Western European Encyclopedias even define ‘wrestling’ as a sport or a game popular among the Ancient Greeks. Though, it is not to say that wrestling as a pastime existed only in that particular Mediterranian culture. The game of wrestling always has been around and was an essential part of humans lives since the very dawn of civilization, it existed in various forms, and belonged to all cultures that there were, or still are. Some say that early humans imitated the fighting games of certain animals, such as wild cats, bears and others, including primates, and that is how the pastime of wrestling,  which essentially is a friendly combat between the two, first came into existence. Maybe this theory is accurate, maybe it isn’t we never will know that for sure. But it is a beautiful theory which deifintely has some strong logic behind it.

When it comes to the actual wrestling traditions of Ancient Greeks probably the best source of information is of course Homer’s Iliade, which in Chapter 23 gives an account of an organized sport of wrestling, a competition which was part of the local Sporting Games, the Funeral Games for Patroclus, a contest between two legends of Old, Ajax and Ulysses. There still is no agreement on which exactly rules governed that memorable contest either. Different researchers throughout the history interpreted this “event” differently, and hence various Western European wrestling schools claimed that it was their very own style of wrestling that was “precisely the same as the wrestling game practiced by such greats as Ajax and Ulysses”. The only thing about that famous combat, that  is undisputably accepted by everyone is that it was an ORTHOPALE form of wrestling, the upright, or standing wrestling. And as a matter of fact throughout the history, for the most part, wrestling was seen as a game or an art of felling opponent from his feet without  resorting to blows.

According to Homer, the wrestling competitors of that era, as well as the pugilists (fist-fighters), appeared in ring wearing special leather belts similar to those worn by strongmen and weightlifters and for the same exact purpose. So to say those weren’t actual “wrestling belts” to take holds by. In my personal opinion, and I read that Homer’s account in various translations available in Europe during the Renaissance and the Modern Era (among others being English, French, Dutch, German and Russian translations), it appears that the goal of the original wrestling game was to cause your opponent lose contact of his feet with the ground either by felling him, without following him to the ground, or by lifting him. Interstingly, this perfectly corresponds to how in Greek mythology, the titan called Antaeus lost all his magical strength and power the same moment when he lost  the direct contact of his feet with his Mother Earth, being lifted by Hercules. Notably even now there are still some styles of wrestling in which a clear and controlled lift of opponent from his feet signifies the victory.

It does look like the contestants were allowed to take holds only above the waist, and maybe even in a more restricted way, in which the holds are taken anywhere from hips to shoulders (trunk, arms and hands only), and I do think that it was allowed to contend only with one’s hands (flat hands), and use the strength of arms and the body; to the best of my understanding of that famous passage from Iliade, using the feet and legs for throwing (tripping) very likely was considered kind of an unfair action, application of which would have confused the crowds of spectators, and that is confirmed by the actual Iliade’s text, as well as by Plautus (254-184BC) the famous Roman comic dramatist who said: “This is the great fault of wine; it first trips up the feet: it is a cunning wrestler.” In this text cunning means deceitful, or marked by skill in deception, so to say not a fair wrestle.

During the Middle Ages, in Western Europe there was a style of wrestling which was quite popular, and was very similar to this Homer’s wrestling style that I just described, in historical Low Countries it was known as Lyf Vatten and is mentioned in The Travels of Leo Rozmital, 1465-1467. Interestingly, when in the first half of 19c the German Gymnastic Society or Turners first introduced their official unified style of wrestling it also was basically that the same old style described in Iliade: “Gegenstand des Angriffes sind nur der Rumpf, vom Nacken bis zu den Hüften, und die Arme; schmerzhafte Griffe Beinstellen und Fassen der Kleider sind nicht erlaubt;”Fair wrestling allows attacking only trunk and arms, no tripping.

The III century Roman author Claudius Aelian (175-235) in his Various History (Book 11, Chapter 1) tells us that: “ORICADMUS gave rules for Wrastling, and invented that manner of Wrastling which is called Sicilian.”  There is no any further details in that text on this, and we simply don’t know anything about the rules Oricadmus introduced, and there is no agreement on what kind of wrestling he actually has invented, but we know for a fact that it became a common form of wrestling and was popular during the author’s times, since it got mentioned in his history book. Some researchers claim that “Sicilian” wrestling was not a competitive form of wrestling, not a sport, but rather wrestling match as an entertainment, an athletic play performed on a stage, a theatrical showcase wrestling, pro-wrestling. But even that is nothing but a theory.

During the Ancient Roman times wrestling was part of various Games held at the Campus Martius in Rome in the honor of Mars, the god of War.  Iulius Capitolinus in Historia Augusta in Chapter called Two Maximinus speaks of the future emperor Maximinus Thrax (173-238) being a profficient wrestler in his early years, as a matter of fact the latter was kind of a giant of man (over 2,4 meters tall) so it was not that difficult for him to fell all his opponents with ease and at any time.

---“6 Severus, struck with his bodily size, pitted him first against sutlers — all very valorous men, none the less — in order to avoid a rupture of military discipline. 7 Whereupon  Maximinus overcame sixteen sutlers at one sweat, and received his sixteen prizes, all rather small and not military ones, and was commanded to serve in the army.”---

---“3 And then Severus, wishing to try how good he was at running, gave his horse free rein and circled about many times, and when at last the aged Emperor had become weary and Maximinus after many turns had not stopped running, he said to him, "What say you, my little Thracian? Would you like to wrestle now after your running?" And Maximinus answered, "As you please, Emperor." 4 On this Severus dismounted and ordered the most vigorous and the bravest soldiers to match themselves with him; 5 whereupon he, in his usual fashion, vanquished seven at one sweat, and alone of all, after he had gotten his silver prizes, was presented by Severus with a collar of gold; he was ordered, moreover, to take a permanent post in the palace with the body-guard.”---

Trebellius Pollio in the same Historia Augusta in the Chapter called The Life of Claudius Gothicus (214-270) highly speaks of the wrestling prowess of the latter.

---5 “Now Claudius himself was noted for the gravity of his character, and noted, too, for his matchless life and a singular purity; he was sparing in his use of wine, but was not averse to food; he was tall of stature, with flashing eyes and a broad, full face, and so strong were his fingers that often by a blow of his fist he would dash out the teeth of a horse or a mule. 6 He even performed a feat of this kind as a youth in military service, while taking part in a wrestling-match between some of the strongest champions at a spectacle in the Campus Martius held in honour of Mars. 7 For, becoming angry at one fellow who grasped at his private parts instead of his belt, he dashed out all the man's teeth with one blow of his fist. This action won him favour for thus protecting decency; 8 for the Emperor Decius, who was present when this was done, publicly praised his courage and modesty and presented him with arm-rings and collars,​ but bade him withdraw from the soldiers' contests for fear he might do some more violent deed than the wrestling required.”---

From this passage it is clear that in Ancient Rome they practiced a certain belt-wrestling style in which holds of the belt, as well as all kinds of holds above the belt were allowed, it looks logical to assume that tripping was one of the accepted techniques in that sport as well. The champions were rewarded with arm-rings and collars made of silver and gold.

Interestingly, Pietro Monti of Milan the famous master of arms, in his writings (late 15c) does mention a certian belt-wrestling style which was popular during his times in the Duchy of Lombardy of which the city of Milan was a capital, and in that style tripping apparently wasn’t allowed because only wrestling with hands/arms was considered fair, and sheer strength prevailed over any skill in those contests, and that was quite disappointing to the author.

The Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, France on their website (Gallica, BNF) uploaded an interesting 17c document called “Mélanges concernant l'art militaire, les duels, les tournois, l'office de héraut d'armes et l'art héraldique” (MS., Français 16988) which on Pages 221– 224 gives a detailed description of the belt-wrestling style which was one of the offical competitions at the local jousting games and tournaments in the City of Rome and in neighboring areas during that time period. This is a literal translation of that important historical document prepared by my dear friend Claude Vandewoestyne:

“Jousting Games and tournaments.

Wrestling still happens in Rome and in all of Romania, up to more than 20 miles around Rome. The wrestling matches for various prizes are organized in the surrounding villages. The location of the competition is announced in advance. When participants have registered for the match, a list of names is drawn up and each player receives a number next to his name. The numbers are drawn under the supervision of everyone present. Number 1 fights number 2, and 3 against 4, and so on. If the square where the battle takes place is paved, sand is first sprinkled on it. A few men who we call archers (these are archers) ensure order during battle.

The fighters come forward naked, wearing only shoes and shorts to cover their nakedness.
To avoid dishonest acts, the combatants put a ‘cloth’ around each others hips as a belt. If one were to put the belt on themselves they would have intentionally done it incorrectly, thus doing harm to their opponent. As soon as the ‘cloths’ or belts are tightened, the men step back to get ready and challenge each other. They stare at each other, shake their heads and pretend to attack each other. The ladies watch from the windows and so does a surrounding crowd.

The combatants give each other a few joking taps on the nose and also some light kicks and blows with hands and feet as a prelude to battle.Then the real battle begins. They try to surprise each other with foot-sweeps and by pulling the belts. The one who falls to the ground loses and retreats. The winner stays on the spot and is allowed to rest for a while. Then the next two fighters start their fight. The victor of this fight then contends with the winner of the first bout and this continues until there are no combatants left.

The last combatant is the winner. He kisses the loser as proof that he had no malicious intent against him during the battle. If a combatant is injured or killed in the combat, the winner will not be prosecuted by the courts. This kind of fight is usually done to please and impress the men and the ladies around. The men who want to show their strength resort to taking holds only by the belts, to cause each other fall. And pulling the hair is also prohibited.”

The 17c Flemish painters who visited  and worked in Rome and the places around the Eternal City, such as Pieter van Lint of Antwerp and Michael Sweerts of Brussels depicted this particular style of belt-wrestling in their paintings, such as “Wrestling of VIRTUE and VICE” and “Men wrestling before a crowd” respectively. Another beautiful visualization of an ancient Roman sport appears on painting “Wrestling on a village square” by the French artist Adrien Manglard (1695-1760), who spent most of his professional career in Rome.

From the above text and based on the contemporary images, it does look like in this style of wrestling holds of the belt, and above the belt, as well as tripping were allowed in traditional Roman style of wrestling, which was continuosly practiced by the native residents of Rome throughout all Antiquity and during the Middle Ages.

It appears that a wrestling style, somewhat similar to this Roman belt-wrestling, around the same time was also practiced in Cornwall, of what Richard Carew (1555-1620) thus reports in his famous Survey of Cornwall (1602):

---"This pastime (wrestling) also hath his laws, for instance; of taking hold above the girdle-wearing a girdle to take hold by-playing three pulls for trial of the mastery, the fall-giver to be exempted from playing again with the taker, but bound to answer his successor."---

It would be fair to guess that Roman belt-wrestling, being the only wrestling style that survived and was perfectly preserved from the times of Classical Antiquity, influenced many other wrestling styles all around the Western Europe.

Ruslan C Pashayev is an expert-member of the Traditional Sports Team of the Instytut Rozwoju Sportu i Edukacji (the Institute of Sport Development and Education), Warsaw, Poland.

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