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The Old World’s Medieval Untouchables and Other Random Historical Facts

Khalid Elhassan March 17, 2020 33 min

Pancho Villa - Mexican Revolution — General Pancho Villa before a firing squad in 1912. Wikimedia

29. The Olympic Champion Who Won Despite Being Dead

Ancient Greek vase depicting pankratists. Wikimedia

Pankration, meaning “all force” was an ancient Greek sport that is seen by many as the ancestor of modern Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). It combined wrestling and boxing, and just about everything was permitted, except for gouging, biting, or attacking the genitals. Ancient Greece’s most famous pankratist was Arrhichion of Phigalia (died 564 BC), who was crowned champion in the 572 BC, 568 BC, and 564 BC Olympics – winning the last one despite being dead.

Having already won back-to-back Olympic crowns, Arrhichion sought a three-peat in the 564 BC Olympics. He advanced through the early rounds and reached the title fight where, perhaps with age catching up with him and slowing him down, he got into trouble. His opponent outmaneuvered Arrhichion, got behind him, and with legs locked around his torso and heels digging into his groin, applied a chokehold.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.