Asia is probably one of the first things that come to mind when most people think of martial arts. That makes a lot of sense, because this is where many of the most famous and popular fighting arts were born.
From judo to jiu jitsu, karate to taekwondo, the list of fighting and hand-to-hand combat styles that hail from Asia seems endless.
But did you know that it is possibly Greece and not Asia that created one of the oldest martial arts in the world? This fighting style is known as Pancracio. Not only did it influence many fighting styles around the world, but it is still used by fighting enthusiasts to this day.
You will find that many of the world’s best fighting and hand-to-hand combat styles are very similar to Greek fighting techniques. In fact, Greek techniques often rival each other!
Boxing, punching, kicking, and wrestling are common fighting techniques that Pankration shares with many other fighting styles. Pankration also introduced joint locking, pressure points, and other techniques into widespread use for the first time.
The use of physical force when fighting an opponent is often not the focus of many styles of martial arts. In some cases, the force is completely ignored.
On the other hand, strength is important in many Greek fighting techniques. Good examples including grappling and grappling techniques.
Even the name of the Greek fighting style refers to strength. Pankration is formed from two Greek words: “Pan” refers to “all”, “kratos” refers to “strength” or “strength”.
Today, modified versions of Pankration are practiced. In some cases, it’s more like a kickboxing hybrid and less like the fighting art used in ancient Greece.
There are also fighting styles that use a mix of martial arts techniques. Actually, many of these mixed martial arts stem from the Greek fighting techniques of the early days of Pankration.
Even so, the Greek martial art still survives in some form as the techniques are adopted by newer martial arts. Many people are making efforts to make Pankration a part of the Olympic Games again.
