Athena Revealing Ithaca to Ulysses by Giuseppe Bottani

We humans are myth weavers, story tellers, poets, novelists, and bloggers. Humans have also, probably since the dawn of whatever genus started walking on two legs, been incorrigible wrestlers. The question is which matchups were so extraordinary and essential as to warrant becoming legend. These are matchups that reverberate in the human consciousness for the ferocity of the combatants or the ramifications of their outcomes. These are the events that, if they were on pay per view at the time, we would be sure not to skip. What is it we can learn from them? Let’s look first at an epic in the literal sense, The Iliad.

Many ages ago now, during a pause in the fighting of a brutal and intractable nine year war, two heroes and kings of legend tested their mettle in the combat sport of wrestling. The match took place on a sandy beach outside the city of Troy in the military encampment of an invading Greek army. The first competitor was the “finest fighting man” short of Achilles, Telamonian Ajax. The second the “master of tricks and clever devices” the “wily” Odysseus. It is perhaps obvious that the war epic The Iliad has much to say about warfare. The martial arts community of today is largely a combat sports community and Homer's masterpiece contains some fascinating and thrilling depictions of combat ameliorated into sport. Including this wrestling match of legend.

An Ancient Tale of the Tape

The first thing to know about our competitors is that they are kings. They would have had significant cheering sections from the ships full of warriors from their homeland. Book 2 of the Iliad includes a rigorous accounting of the lineage, lesser heroes, and total ships under each king’s banner. In this aspect our competitors are accounted as equals.

“From Ithaca and the windswept forest slopes of Neriton,[…] Odysseus Zeus’ peer in counsel. And twelve ships with crimson prows he mustered.”

“From Salamis, Ajax led twelve ships, and ranged his men alongside the Athenians.”

Just because they were rulers doesn't mean they weren't serious warriors. Odysseus plays key roles in the backstage drama, strategy, and rhetoric shaping the events on the battlefield. In Book 9 we get a sense also of his ferocity. During a large battle in which many Greeks fall back in fear, Odysseus finds himself outnumbered and fenced in by Trojan soldiers. He delivers a speech about how this is the time to either kill or die. Then he launches into action.

“so the Trojans harried Odysseus, dear to Zeus. But he retaliated, lunging at peerless Deïopites, striking him on the shoulder from above. He killed Thoön and Ennomus too, then Chersidamas as he leapt from his chariot, stabbing him in the navel with his spear below the bossed shield. The warrior fell in the dust, clutching the earth. Turning from them, Odysseus with a spear-thrust killed Charops, son of Hippasus”

Socus, brother of Charpos’s, witnesses this and vows Odysseus won’t succeed in slaying both sons of Hippasus. Socus even manages to wound Odysseus, which apparently satiates his blood lust because he decides to flee. Odysseus rewards him by burying a spear in his back. Odysseus then delivers these choice lines to the dying man. It's hard to tell exactly the extent to which he is gloating verses mournful.

‘Socus, son of Hippasus the stalwart charioteer, mortal fate was swift to catch you, and death you could not flee. Your eyes, poor wretch, will not be closed in death by your royal parents, but, flocking about you with flapping wings, the carrion birds will tear your corpse and feast on your dead flesh, while if I die, my noble Greeks will bury me.’

Ajax on the other hand would be the ignorant fan favorite. He is described as standing head and shoulders above the rest of the Greeks. During the war Ajax is often leading the charge or bravely holding the line. He nearly kills Hektor with a “great stone”. Could there be a more tell-tale weapon of a brute? Then there is this passage also from Book 9.

“Now Ajax attacked the Trojans, killing Doryclus Priam’s illegitimate son, then with spear-thrusts struck down Pandocus, Lysander, Pyrasus and Pylartes. Like a mountain torrent, swollen by winter rain, that floods across the plain, bearing dead oaks and pines to the sea, so Ajax in his glory stormed tumultuously over the field that day, slaughtering men and horses.”

This leaves little doubt we're dealing with two bad dudes. Those of you who spar or roll probably already recognize these archetypes in your own academy. The born jacked colossus who has never needed to perfect his technique. You have to give it to him though, there isn't an ounce of quit in him, and he is unaccustomed with failure. Such is Telamonian Ajax. Then there is the guy no one can seem to pin down. Certainly technique is involved, but it seems like he's just too squirrely, scrappy, crafty to give up anything easy. This is the "wily" Odysseus. Which leaves us with a "classic" match up in all senses of the word.

Achilles (left) playing a game with Ajax. Dated 530 B.C.

Funeral games

If you remember the story, late into the Iliad and fully nine years into the war the mighty Achilles is feuding with Agamemnon. Agamemnon is the political leader and wealthiest King of the Greek forces that have sailed on Troy. Patroclus, Achilles’ beloved companion, is slain by the Trojan prince Hektor. Achilles takes revenge by killing Hektor, mutilating his body, and returning to the Greek encampment to properly grieve Patroclus.

Part of this grieving process is to hold funeral games in which Achilles offers some of his war prizes to the winner of an Olympic-like procession of athletic contests. These include chariot races, foot races, throwing games, and combat sports.

First a Boxing Match

Before the wrestling match another recognizable combative contest is held. The prize announced for first place in the “painful art” of boxing is a sturdy mule. The second place prize is a two handed drinking cup. The hero Epeius volunteers for the match and delivers a classic fight hype trash talking “‘Whoever wants the cup, step forward. No man will beat me with his fists, and take the mule, since I’m the best boxer, I say. I may not be the greatest warrior, a man can’t be best at everything, but this thing is for sure, whoever I fight I’ll tear his flesh to ribbons and break his bones. I hope his kin are here to take him away when I’ve felled him.’”

Epeius is successful in winning the match and claiming the mule. It’s interesting this is only the second time Epeius is mentioned in the Iliad, the first time being when they were accounting the numbers of ships in Book 2. It seems Homeric Greeks didn't value the sweet science enough to have its prize won by a hero with household name recognition. They are also create a distinction between the skills necessary to be a successful boxer and a great warrior. Epeius’s trash talking is appropriately epic, but he is admits the martial limits to the sport of boxing.

I can't help but feel cheated in this boxing match. This was not the most exciting match-up possible. The most well-known heroic Greek boxer is Poldeuces. Former Argonaut, Son of Zeus and Laeda (when Zeus was a swan), Twin brother of Castor, which is the duo in the constellation Gemini. He couldn't make it to Troy as we learn when Helen, surveying the battlefield in Book 2, looks for the brothers.

"Though I see all the rest of the bright-eyed Greeks whom I know and could name, I see no sign of my two brothers, Castor the horse-tamer, and the boxer Polydeuces. Either they failed to join the fleet when it left fair Lacedaemon, or having reached here in their sea-going craft they choose not to mingle with these warriors for fear of the scorn and insults poured on me.’

She spoke, not knowing the rich soil already covered them, in Lacedaemon, their sweet native land."

We can add this to the list of all-time match-ups that never got realized.

The Wrestling Match

You can tell the special regard Homer must of had for the "painful art" of wrestling, since he chose to have two critical actors of the Iliad lock horns.

"“When they had both prepared, they entered the ring, and came to grips, clasping each other in their mighty arms, locked together like the sloping rafters that some skilled craftsman sets in place on a tall house, to resist the winds. Their backs creaked under the pressure of their strong hands, and the sweat ran down in streams, while many a blood-red weal appeared on their shoulders and ribs,[…] Odysseus could no more trip Ajax, and floor him, than Ajax could move powerful Odysseus’ firm stance.”" Sounds like a tie up and some brutal hand fighting to a draw. Odysseus prefers tripping techniques, but perhaps Ajax has the footwork or balance to prevent it. Ajax wants to bully Odysseus off his spot, but Odysseus is powerful enough to stand firm.

Despite the evocative architecture metaphor and the bloody struggle, the Greeks (referred to here as "Achaeans") in attendance actually get kind of bored.

“But when they began to weary the watching Achaeans, Ajax spoke quietly to Odysseus: ‘Zeus-born son of Laertes, Odysseus of the many wiles, you’d best try lift me, or I you, and let Zeus decide the matter.’"

They sort of self-impose a stalling penalty to press the action. Each fighter takes a turn with a lift. A nod to the restarts in top position in NCAA today.

"“So saying, he tried a lift, but Odysseus knew a trick or two. He kicked Ajax hard in the back of his knee, and toppled him backwards, falling on his chest. The spectators looked on admiringly, as they stood and noble long-enduring Odysseus in turn tried a lift, raising him off the ground a fraction, then failing to lift him further crooking a leg round Ajax’s knee, so they fell side by side, smothered in dust.”

Unlike in the hand fighting earlier, here each warrior plays his strength. Ajax is too powerful to lift. Odysseus performs a cunning reversal. Still neither has won. They bound up for a third try before Achilles steps in.

"“They sprang up ready for a third round, but Achilles restrained them: ‘No more, don’t wear each other out. You were both victorious, and shall have identical prizes: there are other events now for competition.’”

The match ends in a draw. The heroes keep their honor with the political phrasing "both victorious" and of course an equivalent share of prizes. Homer pitted an embodiment of power against an embodiment of skill and the two fought to a draw. A wise insight into the sport from a people who by all accounts knew it well. We fight fans love to believe technique conquers all, but wrestling is as brutal as it is strategic.

It is still somewhat unclear why Achilles stops the fight. It could have been an extension of the earlier line about the crowd growing "weary" with the contest. Despite the occasionally electric atmosphere surrounding the Olympics, Metamoris and EBI, real wrestling has never been much of a spectator sport. These events may forecast the centuries later evolution away from real wrestling to "pro" wrestling in order to entertain the masses while keeping everyone uninjured; able to perform multiple nights a week.

I think it's likely these destroyers of men were going to end up hurting each other and the Achaean cause couldn't suffer the loss of either. Stepping in to stop a match unfinished is a somber commentary on combative sports that resonates today. We are in the midst of an all-encompassing debate about how much damage we are willing to inflict on those who would fight for our entertainment. We might not need our warriors to help win a war, but their families might need them years after we've lost interest. While we process the debate we can weigh the wisdom of Achilles on the beaches of Troy.

Check out this related story:

Wrestling with Gods: Martial Art in Religious Texts