Kantharos with wrestlers

Wrestlers were the wildly popular heroes of the Ancient Olympic Games. With an unrivalled prominence, the sport basked in its glory days.

Part of the pentathlon, as well as an event in its own right, wrestling was innately connected to warfare. Naked and covered in oil, combatants would contest one of two disciplines. ‘Upright wrestling’, conducted in a sandy pit, required one wrestler to throw the other to the ground three times. In contrast, ‘rolling’ or ‘ground’ wrestling was only over when one man was so exhausted further resistance was impossible. Defeat in this case was signalled by the raising of a hand with one or two fingers extended.

H.17 cm