Boxer
In Greek boxing, only blows directed towards the head or the neck were allowed. Body blows, which we might today consider “under the belt”, were strictly forbidden. The reason for this is that Greek boxing was supposedly a Spartan invention, and because the Spartans refrained from wearing helmets—believing a shield to be enough—they had to train to avoid taking blows to the face and, when the blows came, to toughen their faces up.
As you might expect, the focus on the face and neck led to a fair few fatalities throughout the centuries, especially given how hard ancient boxers used to hit. We have a remarkable piece of physical evidence for this: the statue of a boxer at rest (pictured above) complete with facial scars and cauliflower ear. But we know they hit hard because the ancients told us. Cicero once wrote that when boxers deliver any blow they let out a grunt, not because they are tired or in any pain but so they can concentrate all their power into the physical effort.
Most of the information we have from these come from Olympia. This isn’t that surprising. As the most prestigious sporting competition of the ancient world, it makes sense that the athletes would have exerted themselves more. The first known fatality comes from sixth century and took place during the pankration. The pankration was essentially a bare-knuckle submission sport involving a mixture of boxing and wrestling. Because the rules were few (no biting or eye-gouging), serious injuries were common. And in 564 BC, one Arrachion lost his life in the event.
He was not the only one. The ancient travel writer Pausanius records one Iccus of Epidaurus losing his life to his rival Cleomedes of Astypalaea. The story became incredibly elaborated in the years to come—with one version saying that Cleomedes punched through Iccus’s body and pulled out his lung—but the long and short of it seem to be that the mighty Cleomedes dealt his rival one powerful punch and killed him instantly.
The judges convicted Cleomedes of foul play—presumably on account of the fact he’d struck the body—and denied him his prize. Their decision drove him mad with grief and he went on to live a reclusive guilt-ridden life. But over time he was forgiven, and upon his death the people of Delphi decided that he should undergo apotheosis (essentially becoming a god). Fatalities from boxing continued throughout antiquity right up until the second century AD.
