References
Balent, Matthew. 1993. The Compendium of Weapons, Armour and
Castles.Taylor, MI: Palladium Books.
Corcoran, John, and Emil Farkas. 1983.Martial Arts: Traditions, History,
People.New York: Gallery Books.
Draeger, Donn F. 1976. “Classical Hawaiian Martial Culture.” Unpublished
manuscript. Honolulu: East-West Center and the Bishop Museum.
Judd, Henry. The Hawaiian Language and Hawaiian-English Dictionary.
Australia: Hawaiian Service.
Stewart, C. S. 1970. Journal of a Residence in the Sandwich Islands during
the Years 1823, 1824, and 1825.Reproduced by the University of
Hawai’i Press for the Friends of the Library of Hawaii. Honolulu:
University of Hawai’i Press.Pankration
Pankration(Greek; all powers), a Greek martial art utilizing both striking
and grappling, was created almost 3,000 years ago. It was practiced pri-
marily as a sport, but found applications in combat, both on the battlefield
and for self-defense. Pankration was designed to be the ultimate test of a
person’s physical, intellectual, and spiritual capabilities. Pankration is one
of the oldest confirmed martial arts practiced by human beings. The art
had an extensive influence on Western martial arts, and possibly on Asian
arts as well.
Pankration was an all-out form of fighting. The competitors were al-
lowed to do anything except biting and eye-gouging. The Spartans, how-
ever, allowed even these techniques in their local athletic festivals. Punches
and open-hand strikes with the hands, kicks, all types of throws and take-
downs, joint locks and choke holds—all of these techniques were legal in a
pankration bout. The goal of the pankration match was to get the oppo-
nent to signal defeat. Failing this, it was expected that one opponent would
be knocked out or choked to unconsciousness.
The origin of pankration is the subject of speculation. The Egyptians
developed high-level fighting arts, as evidenced by pictures of these fight-
ing techniques displayed in the tombs of Beni-Hassan (Middle Kingdom pe-
riod). One theory suggests that Egyptian traders brought these techniques
to the Greeks, who eventually adopted them for their own use. Another
theory speculates that pankration developed out of primitive, instinctual
fighting for survival and eventually was systematized as a martial art. The
Greeks themselves believed that the hero Theseus, who used pankration to
defeat the Minotaur in the labyrinth, had created the art. The historical
record, however, begins after approximately 1000 B.C. when the Greek city-
states established athletic festivals whose events included pankration.
In 648 B.C., at the Thirty-third Olympic Games, pankration was ac-410 Pankration