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Pankration is a Greek combat sport that originated in antiquity. During the ancient Olympic Games, nearly all strikes, including lethal ones, were allowed. Great Olympic champions of the time, such as Dorieus of Rhodes and Milo of Croton, left a lasting mark on history.
Recently, Pankration has been codified by the Greek government in hopes of it returning as an Olympic discipline. It is a very comprehensive sport, alternating between standing combat techniques, comparable to French boxing, and ground wrestling techniques. The fights are therefore highly varied, depending on the fighters’ tactics and strengths.
Today, Pankration still carries Hellenic traditions. For example, the salutations exchanged between the pankratiast and the instructor are still performed in Ancient Greek—a prime example of how modern Greek Pankration is linked to its ancient roots.
Recently, Pankration has been codified by the Greek government in hopes of it returning as an Olympic discipline. It is a very comprehensive sport, alternating between standing combat techniques, comparable to French boxing, and ground wrestling techniques. The fights are therefore highly varied, depending on the fighters’ tactics and strengths.
Today, Pankration still carries Hellenic traditions. For example, the salutations exchanged between the pankratiast and the instructor are still performed in Ancient Greek—a prime example of how modern Greek Pankration is linked to its ancient roots.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Thank you for listening.
03:01Great Olympic champions of the time made history, like Polydamas of Scotusa, who was an Olympic champion in 408 BC, or Milo of Croton.
03:23Bancrasian is a very complete discipline, as it allows both exchanges, standing with boxing, and on the ground for wrestling.
03:48The museum of the modern Olympic Games was built on the site of Olympia in 1961.
04:06Its founder is the Cretan Georgios Papastephanou Provatechis, art lover, philatelist, and sponsor of the Games.
04:16As a collector, Georgios brought together remarkable objects on the Olympics and sports in general.
04:26In 1964, this private museum became the property of the Greek Olympic Academy and has been modernized.
04:32It also has a fine collection of stamps and posters.
04:36The memory of the Olympic Games is written on the stones,
05:00where we can read the names of places where we can read the names of places where the games have been hosted as well as the names of different presidents of the Olympic Committee.
05:08The final 40th century, this private museum's books required to be created on the Internet,
05:13and the documents required to define the images of the World Series,
05:15and it is a big part of the University of Central Georgia.
05:16The American Museum of the University of South Africa
05:17at Northern California Institute of Northern California Institute of Technology
05:19will try to retain the publicoiary and their history of the European Union.
05:23The American Museum of the University, in the New England,
05:24and the Latin American Museum of the University of South Africa,
05:26are one of the people of its international schools for the 19th century,
05:28and a wonderful Dr. St. George Washington University of North Africa for the 19th century,
05:30which is part of the American Museum of the University of the United Kingdom in North Carolina State Hall
05:31I don't know.
06:01It's about 3,957 square kilometers for less than 10 million inhabitants.
06:10One-fifth of the country has more than 9,000 islands and isolates, on which about 200 are inhabited.
06:1980% of its territory is mountainous.
06:21Mount Olympus is the highest, at 2,917 meters above sea level.
06:31The Agora of Athens was, in ancient times, the main square of the city, a place of life where trade, politics, culture, and economy thrived.
06:50This is definitely why Agora means assembly.
06:54It was also a sacred place.
06:58The construction of public buildings in the Agora lasted over 1,000 years.
07:03Until the 5th century, the Agora underwent several expansions.
07:27However, from the 6th century, its influence began to wane.
07:33Today, it is an important archaeological site located at the foot of the Acropolis.
07:38The 4th century, it is an important part of the Acropolis.
08:08The Acropolis is a rocky plateau about 150 meters high, with a flat top of 300 meters from east to west, and 85 meters north to south.
08:26It is only accessible by a steep slope on the west side.
08:36In ancient times, it was used as a vast sanctuary for the worship of the goddess Athena, and many other gods of Greek mythology.
08:45Dominating the skyline of the Acropolis, the Parthenon is a famous temple of ancient treasures, and certainly why the Acropolis is currently one of the world's most visited tourist sites.
09:09The Acropolis was subjected to several wars that damaged buildings, including one in 1687 by the Venetians, in which an explosion destroyed much of the Parthenon.
09:24Parthenon is the first word, Kratos is the second one.
09:46Parthenon means the whole, everything. Kratos means the one that governs almost everything, the one that rules everything.
09:54That's why the ancient Greeks named the god of Zeus and humans as Pankratis, the one who controls everything.
10:03So, actually, Pankratian means the sport that can hold everything, and the one who's active with the sport, Pankratias is the one that can control every athletic event by his own.
10:18Metaphorically, means the strongest of all, but this is in metaphorical translation. It's not the exact etymology of the word.
10:25For example, Thea Genis from the island of Thassos in the Cavalla territory in Macedonia. He was a winner that he won 1400 crowns.
10:37That means that almost every day he was competing. You cannot imagine an athlete like this living today in any kind.
10:45Okay? I can tell you about the Polydamas from Scotusa on Thessaly. He was almost the same famous just like Thea Genis.
10:55And the Persians heard about him, actually Darius heard about him, and he invited him to his court to present him to his people,
11:06but actually he has other things in the back of his mind. So, when Polydamas went to his court, Darius challenged him to stand against three of his immortal guards.
11:19And as you know, the immortal guards, as you know from Thermopyles and other stories, which were actually famous at that time,
11:26they were carrying a complete armor. Okay? They have a spear, they have a shield, they have a sword and everything.
11:32So, Polydamas found himself against three people totally armed, and he has to find a way not only to defend himself,
11:41but to prove to Darius that he actually was one of the best of his times. So, what we know from Philostartos,
11:49an ancient writer from the 2nd AD period, is that he killed all of them, the three of the immortal guards of Darius.
12:01Now, this is very easy to say it as a simple story, but you know, it's another story behind of it.
12:07Polydamas actually was naked. So, he went there to defend against three totally armed men.
12:14He was covered with olive oil, and he probably knew a way to defend against arms, the spear, the shield and the sword and everything.
12:24That means that in ancient, by that time, the Pankratias used Pankration as they fight against the Persians,
12:32against one city to another, but it means also that they learn the ways to defend themselves against armed enemies.
12:42And this is most important. That's why, actually, we have an event named Polydamas for his name and for his glory.
12:50Of course, there are many, many good examples to take it and teach to the people.
12:55I can remember another one, for example, Arrhion or Arrhion, we have two actually words with the same name.
13:03He was two times Olympic winner. Now, it was his time to compete once again for the third time.
13:12But, third time, participation in Asian Olympic Games, it is a very exhausting thing.
13:19So, he didn't actually have the strength to stand against his opponent.
13:24And, unfortunately, his opponent went on his back and was trying to choke him.
13:28With a strike, what you call it, Klimakizin. That means that he was having his legs around his waist and he was choking.
13:37So, this is the Klimakizin wrestling move. Now, as he was losing his conscience, he was fell on the ground.
13:43He took one of his legs of his opponent and twisted. So, the opponent felt very painful and he forbids. He declared apagorevsis.
13:53But, at the same time, Arrhion was dead already because he choked. So, the Alonadikis is coming. They are seeing the couple.
14:01He has seen the opponent of Arrhion that he forbids, but Arrhion is dead. Now, who is the winner?
14:07The winner is the dead one. Unfortunately for him, he didn't have the chance to see himself for the third time as Olympic winner.
14:15This is happening only in ancient Greece. I think these are main stories that young people today have to know about the courage, the strength and the stamina that you have to present when you are involved with Pancration.
14:29But, actually, this is what I told you before, this is the cultural level. And the cultural, yes, behind all these things and separates Pancration from all other styles that are existing.
14:49Athens is the capital of Greece and its main city. It is considered the cradle of democracy of the Western civilization.
14:58In Athens, democracy and philosophy were born. Thus, the Athenian civilization is one of the foundations of European culture.
15:08and it is because of this the historian Thucydides is cited in the draft of the European Constitution preamble.
15:17It was also the cultural center of classical Greece and in all areas.
15:27Its taste for beautiful design and goodness influenced the rest of the Greek world, Roman, and the West.
15:40And the West.
15:41And the West.
15:47And the West.
15:53And the West.
15:56Hydra is a Greek island in the Sarconic Gulf, south of Athens, and it is a car-free island.
16:23It was one of the great naval powers of the Mediterranean Sea in the modern era.
16:32Its owners and ships played an important role during the Greek War of Independence.
16:53Hydra has long been on the edges of the great movements of history, from antiquity to the Middle Ages.
17:02Despite being the name Water of the Aeolian Islands, Hydra or Hydrea meaning the drunken, Water always seems to have been missing.
17:12The name would have been quite ironic.
17:18In the 19th century, at the height of its power, the Hydriot navy had 125 ships and more than 10,000 sailors.
17:33Several churches and chapels are scattered over the island and contribute to the beauty of Hydra.
17:40Sumptuous and imposing monasteries with hanging rocks are accessible after a donkey ride.
17:46The first school of the Merchant Marine Hydra was founded around 1645 and was truly the first Hydriot ship launched in 1657.
18:05Hydra is a mountain range of 20 kilometers long and 2 to 3.5 kilometers wide.
18:30Its highest point, Mount Eros or Vigla, rises to 593 meters.
18:37Apart from three coves, the coast of the island is rocky and inhospitable.
18:43Retrocs, the river of the plainframes.
18:48Here are the 시 образ Zurich Germans goes above the north.
18:51From the plain kong temple under the tide innovative, the southern Friedris tech folk.
18:58FIRE INSTENCY
19:01illegal Allies
19:02Thank you so much for joining us.
19:32The sport is different from other sports
19:57because we can combine the two types of ground fighting and standing.
20:02Keep children are excited because they can just use your hands and feet throughout the body.
20:32The two group of tishers
20:42One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
21:02The two competitions are composed of three parts.
21:05The first part is a technical demonstration.
21:08Athletes are grouped by school,
21:10showing and highlighting the skills they have mastered.
21:17For the second part,
21:18there is fighting between athletes from different schools,
21:21and they must score points or win by submitting to their opponent
21:25or committing a fault.
21:28And finally, the third part is a group exercise
21:32called polydamas, in memory of the wrestler,
21:36whom the antiquitous soldiers called Darius the Persian.
21:40Pancrasion is a national sport
21:46which speaks directly to children
21:48because it is a Greek sport.
21:50Parents also insist their children practice this sport
21:55because it represents their country.
21:57Why they do not make a Greek overcharged sport
22:01to practice another martial art.
22:17Who, Gia!
22:19Who, Gia!
22:20Oh
22:50C-A-B-O-N-G.
22:52And C-A-B-O-N-G.
22:54Oh, wait.
22:585-6.
23:00And we keep going.
23:14Okay, I'm going to flip.
23:16Keep going!
23:181, 2, 3, 2, 1
23:33In this area, the region was also very isolated
23:37and we were very afraid.
23:41My father advised me to learn a combat sport
23:44so I would not be afraid and move freely.
23:48The schools were very far and that's how we decided to install a club here.
24:03Our city loves our sports and our federation
24:06and myself and parents support us enormously.
24:09We are very good parents, parents, for cooperation.
24:16So we are all in this sport.
24:19We are all in this sport.
24:21So we are trying to get one of those sports.
24:22We are all in this sport.
24:23We are all in this sport.
24:24We are all in this sport.
24:27We are all in this sport.
24:29Come and see our country
24:56our country and the most dynamic Greek martial art, the one who can give you a strong body
25:02with a beautiful career in a holy spirit.
25:06You will learn at this occasion, our hospital, but mostly you feel the pride to practice
25:13a Greek sport.
25:26Yeah!
25:27Yeah!
25:28Yeah!
25:29Yeah!
25:30Yeah!
25:56Yeah!
26:21Yeah!
26:22Yeah, yeah.
26:52Accessories that include the holding of Pancrasian are blue or white gloves with open fingers
27:03for free fighting, mouth guards, shell, shin guards and feet.
27:10There is also the endema, formal attire of WGPC, World Grappling and Pancrasian Committee
27:19composed of Shetonian, Periskelis, the jacket and the pants.
27:25It is possible to see an outfit of G-type as a judo kimono or shorts and a sash guard,
27:33always the dominant colors of blue or white.
27:49The Greek mentality, the Greeks do not bow but only salute.
27:56When greeting, the people are not a man, they are not a man.
28:01They are not a man.
28:03They are not a man.
28:05They are not a man.
28:07They are not a man.
28:09Unlike other martial arts, in the Greek mentality, the Greeks do not bow but only salute.
28:16When greeting, the Pancranteist is standing saluting with the right arm to the right temple.
28:24The greeting is from one person then to the others.
28:29The coach welcomes his students and this reciprocity in social relationships between coach and student
28:36marks a fundamental difference with other combat sports and martial arts,
28:41where subordination is the rule of the relationship in the sport.
29:08The Greek Orthodox Church is formed by several autocephalous churches as part of the larger
29:35whole of the Orthodox Church.
29:43What they have in common is the use of the Greek Gospels as a liturgical language, mainly
29:49composed of national Greek clergy and a set of traditions, as opposed to the Russian Orthodox
29:56Church, Serbian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Georgian, and many others which may have slightly different
30:04liturgical traditions.
30:34Here we go.
36:42Well, in kinesiology, there are no differences.
36:46The human body is actually is showing two moves, only expanding and stacking the muscles.
36:54Normally, there are no differences.
36:55Normally, there are no differences.
36:56What we see as a difference today is that, for example, our athletes are wearing an endyma,
37:01a uniform, which is actually common to the society today.
37:06You can understand, you know, you can understand we can't have a new tournaments or new championships.
37:11Not because they are not good, but because our society is not accepting something like that.
37:16So, the difference is that.
37:17So, the difference is that.
37:18So, the difference is that hitting or wrestling to one another is not so hard as it was in ancient Greece.
37:27Of course, in ancient Greece it was a hard sport because they have a reason for it.
37:32The winners, next time, probably, we will fight the Persians.
37:36So, they had the reasons to be tough.
37:38The sport should be hard.
37:40And, actually, they have to be good Pankratias to stand against the opponent.
37:46Today, there is no need to do something like that.
37:48We have to check it from the athletic, the agonistic point of view.
37:52So, from my point of view, these are the main differences we see from what we have as a new sport and from the ancient origins.
37:59Well, I cannot speak for all the Greek generation, but I can speak for the athletes that I have in my gym.
38:07Of course, they like it.
38:09And they like it because it is coming from their ancestors.
38:12As you may probably have seen, the terminology of the sport is in ancient Greek.
38:17It is in our native language.
38:19As the Japanese are learning karate and they have to know the Japanese language.
38:24As in Taekwondo, you have to know the Korean language, etc.
38:27So, in Pankratia, you have to know the Greek language and especially the ancient Greek language.
38:32And this is the good part for Greeks.
38:35But, I believe that this is good also for the foreigners.
38:39There are many countries and many foreign athletes that actually like that point.
38:46That, how can I say, that thing that presents a new idea about the ancient connection we have with the Greek Olympic spirit and the modern society.
38:58A lot of countries accept that and it is probably very strange to a lot of people.
39:05As strange as I would say, learn more easily ancient Greeks than the modern Greeks do.
39:10I don't want to be heard just like a racist or nationalist or anything.
39:17This is the historical research that speaks through my mouth.
39:22Okay?
39:23This is the documentation that speaks.
39:25I strongly believe after 20 years of research that all the martial arts are derived or coming from ancient Greek and Pankration as a sport.
39:34So, everybody who is involved with that, especially with the ancient martial arts that have a long history back, I don't mean the modern ones.
39:41Okay?
39:42They actually practice in a part of ancient Pankration.
39:46So, I would like to give them a wish to study, try to search and find all the elements.
39:53So, when they go back to the roots or the origins of the martial arts in Greece, they will find actually their own origins, the origins of themselves.
40:02And, probably, if I have the chance to invite somebody or to anybody who wants to be here as a guest, I will be very happy to present the same documents and give them the same elements of training that I gave to you.
40:19Activities in that sport.
40:21For example, in all the Asian martial arts, you have to bow, you have to be on the ground, you have to bend your knees and salute and all these things,
40:31which actually have the Buddhist, you know, religious things included.
40:35We don't have that in Pankration.
40:37And, actually, if you take a good look, this is coming from ancient Greece.
40:42And, actually, ancient Greeks and ancient Greece didn't keep nothing for itself.
40:48It gave anything to the humanity.
40:51That's why we see today we've reached the Moon and probably go to Mars.
40:55Because all this is coming from thousands of years ago and originated from Greece.
41:00The differences, if you exclude the way we dress and if you exclude the language, what it remains is the cultural situation I'm talking to you before.
41:14This is the main acceptance, I believe, inside Pankration and what I'm trying to give to the modern athletic society.
41:24After all, what I have seen in the last 20 years is that the war is not about who is better than the one one,
41:30which sport is better than the one, but it's in a cultural level.
41:33Okay? And, for me, this is the most important thing.
41:36Probably we would not succeed 100% on that.
41:39But we have a long way in front of us and I think we can make it.
41:43You're right.
41:45What is it?
41:46I want to play in the background.
41:49What a long way in front of us.
41:51Hopefully they'll be great.
41:53I don't want to play in front of us.
41:55Let their players be great.
41:57No, they don't want to play in front of us.
41:59You want to play in front of us.
42:01Yeah.
42:02I want him to play.
42:06I want him to play.
42:32Hey!
42:34Hey!
42:36Hey!
42:38Hey!
42:40Hey!
42:42Hey!
42:46Asht!
42:54Malece!
42:56Ta-hier-gi adramame, ta-hier-gi adramame!
43:00Pooo kie-eh-eh!
43:04Pooo kie-eh-eh!
43:06Poo kie-eh, takedun.
43:08Pa-hierik?
43:10Tu-ne-baris, et, dv-gyr-ru, dv-gyr-ru, ta-ten!
43:12Bravo!
43:16Kie-eh!
43:22Poo kie-eh, no pa-omme- 각í-du?
43:24Poo kie-eh-eh!
43:26Gopi kie-ud!
48:28It was a pity to see that tourists benefited far more than even the Greeks themselves for the beauty of their country.
48:36The pancrasian is a sport that comes from the past and tends its arm to the future.
48:44At the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the 21st century, pancrasian looks like the future combat discipline.
48:50Brought up to the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of the dawn of
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