As documented in the recently published The Playing Fields of the Hellenes. A Story about the Ancient Olympics, the original Olympics occurred in a place called Olympia from 776 B.C. to 393 A.D. In the later years of these ancient games, the pankration was a brutal event described as follows:

Olney raised his arm to signify his defeat…The pankration had not been an event for the first several hundred years of the ancient Olympics. In peace times, city-states sought ways to reward great warriors. The pankration sporting event evolved from competitions between warriors. Causing death was prohibited, and killing an opponent led to immediate disqualification. The Pankration became sport, but those participants were still engaged in war. Perhaps in a game called war, there can be no victory.

This week, in the Paris Olympics, the Italian Angela Carini signaled her defeat after just 46 seconds in the current Olympics to avoid further pummeling from Algerian Imane Khelif, a boxer with XY chromosomes. At least in the ancient games, persons with beards were not allowed to participate in women’s events.

The ancient Olympics was canceled in 393 AD by a roman emperor because of butchery and pagan rituals.

Image: Auguste Vinchon