Fig. 154. Panathenaic amphora. Sixth century. (Mon. d. I. I. xxii.)
Fig. 155. Panathenaic amphora. Sixth century. (Mon. d. I. I. xxii.)
A favourite trick of the pankratiast was to catch his opponent by the foot, and lifting it up, to tilt him backwards. Antaeus is frequently depicted grabbing thus at the foot of Heracles, but without success.[[750]] The manœuvre is excellently illustrated on two Panathenaic vases (Figs. [154], [155]), and on the coins of Aspendus (Fig. [109]). On a gem in the British Museum (Fig. [162]) a somewhat similar hold is adopted by way of defence by a wrestler who has his head in chancery.
Sometimes a wrestler, having thrown his opponent, would lift him up by the legs, and the other, to save himself from a heavy fall, would balance himself on his hands and head. Philostratus, speaking of the short, thickset athletes, whom he calls οἱ ἐν μικρῷ μεγάλοι[[751]]—the type of the “pocket Hercules”—says, “They are quick and active, and able to extricate themselves from the most hopeless grips, standing on their heads as on a pedestal.” This manœuvre, quite familiar in modern wrestling, is not represented in Greek art, but occurs on the wall paintings of Beni-Hassan.
A wrestler who was thrown on his back was defeated. But a pankratiast might intentionally throw himself on his back in order to throw his opponent more heavily, or to throw him in a worse position. A manœuvre of this sort called τὸ ἀποπτερνίζειν was invented, according to Philostratus,[[752]] by a Cilician pankratiast, nicknamed for the smallness of his stature, Halter or the Dumbbell. On his way to compete at Delphi, he stopped at the shrine of the hero Protesilaus to ask him how he should conquer his opponents. The hero replied, “By being trampled upon” (πατούμενος). At first he was disconcerted by this ambiguous answer, but after a little thought he understood that the hero’s advice meant “that he was not to let go the foot of his opponent; for the man who wrestles with the opponent’s foot must be constantly trampled on and be underneath his opponent.” So he devised the “heel trick,” by means of which he remained undefeated and won great renown. This is probably the same method as that described in the passage of Philostratus already quoted as “wrestling with the ankle.” Such a hold ensures a heavy fall; but the peculiarity of the “Dumbbell’s” method was, that instead of releasing the foot after throwing his opponent, he preserved his hold, and by twisting or bending the foot forced him to yield. This use of the ankle hold is well known in Japanese wrestling. Arrhichion, we are told, forced his opponent to succumb by twisting his foot out of its socket.
Another throw in which the thrower throws himself on his back is the “stomach throw.” A wrestler seizes his opponent by the shoulders or arms and throws himself backward, at the same time planting his foot in the other’s stomach and thus throwing him heavily clean over his head, while he himself falls lightly. This favourite throw of the Japanese is depicted on the tombs of Beni-Hassan. It is accurately described by Dio Cassius in his account of a fight between the Romans and Iazyges:[[753]] “Whenever any of them fell backwards, he would drag his opponent after him, and with his feet hurl him backwards as in wrestling.” Pindar in his third Isthmian Ode is referring to tactics of this sort when he says of Melissus: “In craft he is as the fox that spreadeth out her feet and preventeth the swoop of the eagle.” The only representation which I know of such a throw is on a black-figured hydria in Munich (Fig. [156]), where Antaeus lies on his back with his right hand grasping Heracles’ left foot and his left leg kicking him in the stomach. As usual, Antaeus has failed to execute the throw and Heracles has regained the advantage.
Fig. 156. B.-f. hydria. Munich, 114.