Pugilistic Fighters Armed Their Fist With Shark's TeethRound about 7,000 years to the city of Baghdad in the Middle East. they have been fighting for years and the proof is in a stone tablet discovered by archaeologist, Dr. E. A. Speiser in 1927. Though badly worn through time the image clearly depicts two men squaring off for a prize fight. Actually, several more tablets have been found around Baghdad, all at least around 7,000 years old. They are considered the earliest recordings of what we know as boxing. And back then they had no rules. It was brutal, it was bloody and usually one fighter ended up dead, while the other one although pretty bruised had his hand raised in victory. Betting were also done back then and was usually paid off in gold or silver coins. However, fighting wasn't unique to Baghdad only. In India, men fought with their hands wrapped in layers of string. On Tonga Islands, boxing matches were held as regular entertainment on command of the king. On the Mortlocks Islands somewhere in the Pacific as well boxers were even more brutal. They armed their fists with shark's teeth! The Sumerians Used Wrestling And Fist Stratagem To Conquer EnemiesPugilism gets its name from the Latin word ‘pugil'. It is the description of one who fights with fists. It was assumed for a long time that the ancient Romans and Greeks were the first to feature such battles. But certain slabs and figurines found in a temple of Khafaje, near Baghdad in Mespotarnia, by Dr. E.A. Speiser and Associates indicates that men fought with their fists and wrestled centuries before the Greeks and Romans. One stone slab showed two fighters squaring off. Another showed two wrestlers - grips, their hands touching one another's hips. The hands of the pugilists were well wrapped in leather, which was the earliest cestus. In the Roman languages cestus means belt, but was applied when leather was used to gridle anything, including the hands. The Sumerians used wrestling and fist stratagem, since hands were weapons given to the earliest man, he used them to fight off savage beasts and undoubtedly to conquer human enemies. The Pugilistic Arts Revived To Satisfy The Carving For Blood And DeathThe man striving for perfection in the use of hands in battle, no doubt practiced the fist arts and the specimens discovered by Dr. Speiser showed men at much performance. There appears to have been a lapse in the pugilistic arts from the Mespotamian era until about 1750 BC In about 900 BC, a Greek monarch Theseus son of Acgens, revived pugilistic arts to satisfy his carving for blood and death. He requisitioned certain of his father’s warriors (or gladiators). They would sit on flat stones with their fists encased in leather thongs, and punched one another till one of them died. When the Romans conquered Greece, they developed their own fist warriors. They sent them against the best in Greece, and the Romans usually won. Afterwards, the Romans staged bouts among their countrymen and made some radical changes in rules. They started bouts, which required fighters to fight in standing position. A limited space was marked off for fighters, which was circular rather than squared, accounting for the ‘rings. This term has been used to describe the squared off areas for fighters for centuries. Boxers Were Allowed To Kick, Stomp, Gouge Out Eyes And Body SlamFor hundreds of years boxing was non-existent publicly. It finally made a comeback around the 17th century in England, where it got it's name today. In England the word box means gift. So the word became a play on words for them. When the combatants fought they exchanged boxes. They used the word boxes to mean punches. This was a way to help reduce the harshness of this sport by saying that the men were exchanging boxes. Boxing matches began, and although they were a set phrase as exchanging boxes, they were no less polite than what the fighters did years before. These matches were quite brutal, bloody spectacles to watch. Men fought bare handed and often wore shoes with spikes or studs. Boxers were allowed to kick each other, stomp, gouge out eyes, head butt, body slam, It's easy to see how the art of wrestling was developed from. In those days it wasn't boxing it was a war of the the gladiators where both the winner and the loser usually ended up either half dead or on the way to dying or just dead most of the time. |
