History of Combat Sports

Just as in modern times, ancient civilization’s combat sports played a large role in the entertainment of its societies. And although modern times and the ancient world may differ in terms of its means of combat sports, they can also at times appear to be very similar. In Michael B. Poliakoff’s book “Combat Sports in the Ancient World,” the author discusses both of these topics, as well as the origin and rules of combat sport in ancient Greece, Rome, and the Near East.
Poliakoff defines sport as “activity in which a person physically competes against another in a contest with established regulations and procedures, with the immediate object of succeeding in that contest under criteria for determining victory that are different from those that mark success in everyday life (warfare, of course, being included as part of everyday life in antiquity).” That being said, sport can not exist, then, without an opponent and a structured, success-measuring system. This defin...