Several varieties of neck-hold are exhibited on the vases. On a red-figured krater in the Ashmolean (Fig. [117]) one wrestler seizes the other’s wrist with his left hand, his neck with his right. The wrestler so attacked defends himself by seizing the other under the left arm-pit with his left hand. An interesting feature of this vase is the figure of winged Victory seated upon a pillar watching the contest. A different defence is shown on the black-figured amphora in the British Museum, B. 295 (Fig. [118]). Here the left-hand wrestler grasps with his left hand his opponent’s right which is seizing his neck. We may notice that he grasps it at one of the weakest points just below the elbow. Yet another means of defence is to seize the opponent’s neck.
Fig. 117. R.-f. krater. Oxford, Ashmolean, 288.
Fig. 118. Reverse of Fig. [143]. British Museum, B. 295.
Perhaps the best illustration of a neck-hold occurs on a black-figured amphora in Munich, representing the wrestling match between Peleus and Atalanta, which took place at the funeral games of Pelias (Fig. [119]). Peleus has apparently tried to seize Atalanta’s right arm with both hands, but Atalanta, moving forward, seizes him by the back of the neck, very much in the style of a modern wrestler. The picture reminds us how in the gymnasia of Chios young men and maidens might be seen wrestling with one another.[[672]]
Fig. 119. B.-f. amphora. Munich, 584.
The neck-hold is commonly employed by Heracles in his fight with the Nemean lion. Sometimes his left arm is round the animal’s neck, while his right hand grasps its left paw, sometimes both hands are clasped round its neck. The interlocking of the hands is the same as that employed by Westmorland and Cumberland wrestlers to-day, the hands being turned so that the palms face one another and the fingers hooked together. On an amphora in Munich Heracles employs this same grip against Antaeus, who, sinking on one knee, grabs characteristically but vainly at the hero’s foot.[[673]]
Of the actual throws to which a neck-hold led we have little evidence in the monuments. On a psykter of Euthymides Theseus has secured a powerful hold on Cercyon with one arm passed over his left shoulder, the other under his right arm-pit and swings him off his feet.[[674]] Tripping was doubtless freely employed with these holds, but the only illustration of this combination occurs in a group of bronzes discussed below. Similarly the movement described as ἕδραν στρέφειν, to turn one’s buttocks towards an opponent was certainly combined with neck-holds. A good illustration of this occurs on a Panathenaic vase in Boulogne (Fig. [120]).