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Combat Sports in the Ancient World: Competition, Violence, and Culture
A leading authority on classical games here provides a comprehensive study of the practice of combat sports in the ancient civilizations of Greece, Rome, and the Near East. Describing and analyzing the sports of boxing, wrestling, stick-fighting, and pankration, Michael B. Poliakoff discusses such topics as the function of competition and violent games in ancient society; on the social background of the participants, showing the broad spectrum of Greek athletic personnel; on the significance of the appearance of combat sport in myth and literature; and on the alleged cultic functions of the ancient combat sports. The book is copiously illustrated with photographs of numerous objects rarely or never before published.
220 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 12, 2026
I originally picked up Michael B. Poliakoff’s Combat Sports in the Ancient World not just out of general interest in ancient combat sports, but because I was looking for broader historical context—context that might help frame how combat sports were understood before and around the seventh century in Arabia, particularly with the emergence of Islam. I am always striving to flesh out and understand context for the Sunnah, including martial traditions. Islamic tradition preserves material on grappling and physical contest—in English, most notably in works such as Nisar Sheikh’s Prophetic Grappling, drawing on Imam al-Suyuti’s compilations of hadith and narrations concerning wrestling. We know, for example, the well-attested accounts of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ defeating Rukāna, the most renowned wrestler in Arabia at the time, after which Rukāna embraced Islam. At the same time, Islamic law contains clear textual prohibitions against striking the face, which creates an immediate tension when we look at boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, or contemporary MMA through a religious lens. It can be a problem for pious Muslims because of this--not just in competition, but also in training. I was hoping to trace, for example what forms of boxing and striking may have reached Hijaz in the 7th century CE. That question wasn't answered by this book, but it did help give more context.
This book did help me to further develop a deeper historical picture: How were combat sports conceived in earlier civilizations? What distinctions existed between sport, ritual, training, and violence? And how might that broader landscape help clarify what Islam inherited, rejected, or reoriented?
Poliakoff’s book does not answer those questions directly—but it does provide a wide and often fascinating backdrop against which they can be asked more intelligently.
The book is primarily centered on the Greek world, with wrestling, boxing, and pankration forming the core of the analysis. Roman material appears, but largely as an extension or contrast rather than as a focus in its own right. That emphasis is consistent throughout, and readers should approach the book with that expectation. Where the work succeeds is in its careful use of visual evidence—vase paintings, reliefs, sculpture, inscriptions—to reconstruct how these sports were practiced, regulated, and imagined.
One of Poliakoff’s more valuable contributions is his insistence on defining “sport” narrowly and deliberately. He distinguishes regulated athletic contests from warfare, gladiatorial combat, and armed dueling, arguing that sport presupposes agreed-upon rules, an opponent, and criteria for victory. Whether one agrees with every boundary he draws, the methodological clarity is useful, especially when discussing cultures where ritual violence, training, and entertainment often overlap.
The chapters on wrestling are particularly strong. Ancient wrestling emerges not as a crude precursor to modern grappling, but as a technically sophisticated discipline with regional variation, established pedagogy, and aesthetic preferences—especially the Greek emphasis on upright throws over prolonged ground engagement. The discussion of pankration similarly highlights how unarmed combat could move fluidly between athletic contest and something closer to lethal struggle.
I was especially interested in the material on stick fighting, both because of its antiquity and because of my own background in weapons-based martial arts, including Filipino systems. Poliakoff’s treatment of Egyptian stick fighting—its ritual dimensions, its popularity, and its visual documentation—is one of the most compelling sections of the book. The continuity of stick fighting traditions in Egypt and neighboring regions over thousands of years is difficult to ignore.
That said, this is also where the book’s selectivity becomes more apparent. While Poliakoff acknowledges Nubian wrestling and stick fighting, the discussion sometimes shifts instead to the Nuba peoples, who are culturally and historically distinct from the Nubian kingdoms of Kush and related polities. Given the archaeological and iconographic evidence for Nubian combat sports dating back more than three millennia, this substitution feels imprecise and understates the depth of Nubian contributions in their own right.
One genuinely surprising detail was the claim that Alexander the Great favored stick fighting as training. This intersects interestingly with broader philosophical debates in antiquity about athletic games versus practical military preparation—debates that echo later Islamic discussions about physical training, discipline, and usefulness.
The final sections of the book broaden considerably, moving into myth, metaphor, and religious symbolism. Poliakoff draws connections to figures such as Gilgamesh and Jacob wrestling the angel, treating combat not only as physical contest but as moral and cosmological language. The brief inclusion of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and Rukāna stands out here—not because it is analyzed in depth, but because it signals that combat sports retained ethical and spiritual significance well beyond the classical Greek world.
At times, the book does drift, and its late-1980s academic framing shows through in places. It is also highly selective in geography and culture. Still, taken on its own terms, Combat Sports in the Ancient World is a thoughtful and often illuminating study. It does not resolve the religious or ethical questions I initially brought to it—but it helped me situate those questions within a much longer human history of regulated violence, training, and embodied discipline.
As such, it remains a worthwhile book to contemplate as part of a larger conversation about how societies have understood combat sports and their societal and ethical implications.
Great mental walk through the history of some excellent literature as well.
This book did help me to further develop a deeper historical picture: How were combat sports conceived in earlier civilizations? What distinctions existed between sport, ritual, training, and violence? And how might that broader landscape help clarify what Islam inherited, rejected, or reoriented?
Poliakoff’s book does not answer those questions directly—but it does provide a wide and often fascinating backdrop against which they can be asked more intelligently.
The book is primarily centered on the Greek world, with wrestling, boxing, and pankration forming the core of the analysis. Roman material appears, but largely as an extension or contrast rather than as a focus in its own right. That emphasis is consistent throughout, and readers should approach the book with that expectation. Where the work succeeds is in its careful use of visual evidence—vase paintings, reliefs, sculpture, inscriptions—to reconstruct how these sports were practiced, regulated, and imagined.
One of Poliakoff’s more valuable contributions is his insistence on defining “sport” narrowly and deliberately. He distinguishes regulated athletic contests from warfare, gladiatorial combat, and armed dueling, arguing that sport presupposes agreed-upon rules, an opponent, and criteria for victory. Whether one agrees with every boundary he draws, the methodological clarity is useful, especially when discussing cultures where ritual violence, training, and entertainment often overlap.
The chapters on wrestling are particularly strong. Ancient wrestling emerges not as a crude precursor to modern grappling, but as a technically sophisticated discipline with regional variation, established pedagogy, and aesthetic preferences—especially the Greek emphasis on upright throws over prolonged ground engagement. The discussion of pankration similarly highlights how unarmed combat could move fluidly between athletic contest and something closer to lethal struggle.
I was especially interested in the material on stick fighting, both because of its antiquity and because of my own background in weapons-based martial arts, including Filipino systems. Poliakoff’s treatment of Egyptian stick fighting—its ritual dimensions, its popularity, and its visual documentation—is one of the most compelling sections of the book. The continuity of stick fighting traditions in Egypt and neighboring regions over thousands of years is difficult to ignore.
That said, this is also where the book’s selectivity becomes more apparent. While Poliakoff acknowledges Nubian wrestling and stick fighting, the discussion sometimes shifts instead to the Nuba peoples, who are culturally and historically distinct from the Nubian kingdoms of Kush and related polities. Given the archaeological and iconographic evidence for Nubian combat sports dating back more than three millennia, this substitution feels imprecise and understates the depth of Nubian contributions in their own right.
One genuinely surprising detail was the claim that Alexander the Great favored stick fighting as training. This intersects interestingly with broader philosophical debates in antiquity about athletic games versus practical military preparation—debates that echo later Islamic discussions about physical training, discipline, and usefulness.
The final sections of the book broaden considerably, moving into myth, metaphor, and religious symbolism. Poliakoff draws connections to figures such as Gilgamesh and Jacob wrestling the angel, treating combat not only as physical contest but as moral and cosmological language. The brief inclusion of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and Rukāna stands out here—not because it is analyzed in depth, but because it signals that combat sports retained ethical and spiritual significance well beyond the classical Greek world.
At times, the book does drift, and its late-1980s academic framing shows through in places. It is also highly selective in geography and culture. Still, taken on its own terms, Combat Sports in the Ancient World is a thoughtful and often illuminating study. It does not resolve the religious or ethical questions I initially brought to it—but it helped me situate those questions within a much longer human history of regulated violence, training, and embodied discipline.
As such, it remains a worthwhile book to contemplate as part of a larger conversation about how societies have understood combat sports and their societal and ethical implications.
Great mental walk through the history of some excellent literature as well.
January 14, 2024
A great academic resource on combat sports in the classical Mediterranean world. Includes plenty of illustrations from the period.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews