Greek boxing[1671] is conveniently divided into two periods by the kind of glove used in the matches. From Homer down to the end of the fifth century B. C., soft gloves (ἱμάντες, ἱμάντες λεπτοί or μειλίχαι) were used; from then to late Roman days the heavy gloves (σφαῖραι or ἱμάντες ὀξεῖς) were the fashion. The weighted Roman cestus was not used in the Greek contest. Before discussing representations of boxers in art, we shall devote a few words to these two kinds of boxing-gloves, which frequently give us the date of a given monument.[1672] The Cretans are thought to have worn boxing-gloves, as they seem to be visible on the so-called Boxer Vase from Hagia Triada (Fig. [1]). Here, on the top and lower two rows, a leather gauntlet appears to cover the arm to beyond the elbow, being padded over the fist and confined at the wrist by a strap. Mosso derives the later Greek glove, which appears on athlete statues, from this primitive thong.[1673] In any case the antiquity of the glove in Greece is attested by its origin being ascribed to the myth of Amykos, king of the Bebrykes.[1674] Gloves were already known to Homer, who speaks of “well-cut thongs of ox-hide.”[1675] They are not mentioned in any detail before the time of Pausanias and Philostratos, so that we are mostly dependent for our knowledge of them on the monuments. The simplest form consisted of long, thin ox-hide thongs, which were wound round the hands, the soft gloves (ἱμάντες μαλακώτεροι or μειλίχαι) of later writers.[1676] They were used, not to deaden the blow, but to increase its force. Vase-paintings show that the thongs were about 10 or 12 feet long before being wound.[1677] On the exterior of a r.-f. kylix from Vulci by Douris, in the British Museum, showing chiefly boxing scenes, we see two youths standing before a paidotribes preparing to put on the thongs (Fig. [54]).[1678] One of them is holding the unwound thong in his outstretched hands. A similar figure appears on the r.-f. vase in Philadelphia already discussed (Fig. [50]b), which represents a palæstra scene.[1679] This scene has been wrongly interpreted as an illustration of the game of σκαπέρδη described by Pollux[1680] as a sort of tug-of-war, the unwound thong being explained as the rope used in this game,[1681] and the hurling-sticks stuck in the ground at either end as goals instead of akontia. A wound thong is seen hanging on the wall to the left. Philostratos describes how the boxing thongs were put on,[1682] and vase-paintings illustrate the method.[1683] The best example of the thongs on statuary is afforded by the bronze arm found in the sea off Antikythera (Cerigotto) (Fig. [52]), which Svoronos[1684] believes to be a remnant of the statue of the Nemean victor Kreugas of Epidamnos, which stood in the temple of Apollo Lykios in Argos.[1685] Pausanias says that Kreugas was crowned notwithstanding that he was killed by his adversary Damoxenos, and his description of the soft glove corresponds so closely with the one on the recovered arm that it seems as if it had been written in the presence of the statue: “In those days boxers did not yet wear the sharp thong (ἱμὰς ὀξύς) on each wrist, but boxed with the soft straps (μειλίχαις), which they fastened under the hollow of the hand in order that the fingers might be left bare; these soft straps were thin thongs (ἱμάντες λεπτοί) of raw cowhide, plaited together in an ancient fashion.”[1686] The strap allowed the ends of the fingers to project, and was held together by a cord wound around the forearm, just as Philostratos says. These μειλίχαι were used at the great games through the fifth century B. C., and were continued in the palæstra in the fourth. Early in the latter century the σφαῖραι mentioned by Plato[1687] and other writers appeared. We see them on Panathenaic vases of that century and on Etruscan cistæ of the following one.[1688] About the same time the regular ἱμάντες ὀξεῖς came in,[1689] but the old μειλίχαι or something similar were still used in the exercises of the palæstra.[1690]
Fig. 52.—Bronze Arm of Statue of a Boxer, found in the Sea off Antikythera. National Museum, Athens.
Fig. 53.—Forearm with Glove. From the Statue of the Seated Boxer (Pl. [16]). Museo delle Terme, Rome.
Our best illustration of these more formidable gloves on statuary is the gauntlet clearly represented on the forearms of the Seated Boxer of the Museo delle Terme (Fig. [53]). Here a close-fitting glove covers each forearm, leaving the upper joints of the fingers free and the palm open. It extends to above the wrist and ends in a rim of fur. Over it are drawn three thick bands of leather, which cover the first joints of the fingers and are fastened together on the outside of the hands with metal clasps. A soft pad keeps these bands from chafing the fingers. They are kept in place and the wrists are strengthened by two narrow straps which are interlaced several times around hand and wrist. Similar gloves appear on the Sorrento boxer in Naples (Fig. [57]),[1691] on the bronze forearm of a statue from Herculaneum in Naples,[1692] on a left fist found in 1887 in the arena at Verona,[1693] and on many other statues and fragments. The last representation in art of this sort of glove appears on the Roman relief in the Lateran, which dates from the time of Trajan, and represents a fight between two pugilists.[1694] The metal cestus was a Roman invention. None of the late Greek writers—neither Plutarch, nor Pausanias, nor Philostratos—makes any mention of this loaded glove. The “sharp thongs” were enough to cause all the injuries mentioned by the writers of the Greek Anthology.[1695] The cestus, perhaps used in the later gladiatorial shows in Greece, but never in the great games there, gave the death blow to real boxing. Virgil describes it and the vicious results of its use.[1696]
There are fewer representations of boxing matches on vases than of almost any other Greek sport, despite its great popularity. Gardiner has collected a number of vase-paintings dating from the sixth to the fourth centuries B. C., which illustrate the different positions assumed by boxers in action—attack, slipping, ducking, and leg and arm movements. We reproduce two from r.-f. kylikes in the British Museum. In one by Douris (Fig. [54])[1697] we have, besides the group already mentioned of two athletes preparing to put on thongs, three pairs of boxers engaged in a bout. In two groups one of the contestants is seen from behind; in all three the boxers extend their left arms for guarding and draw the right back for hitting—the fists being level with the shoulders. In one group we see the beginning of the fight, in the other two the middle, perhaps, and the end of it, respectively. In the last scene one contestant has fallen to the ground on his knee, and his conqueror has swung his right hand far back for a final blow, only to be stopped by the other, who raises his finger in token of defeat. On the other vase we see, besides a scene from the pankration, two pairs of boxers sparring (Fig. [55]).[1698] Here in one group the contestants do not have their fists doubled, but keep their fingers opened. On an Attic b.-f. Panathenaic panel-amphora in the University Museum in Philadelphia (Fig. [56]),[1699] we see bearded boxers sparring, while a boxer with thongs in his right hand stands to the right, and a trainer with his rod at the left. Statues of victorious boxers at Olympia were represented either in motion, i. e., probably in the position of sparring, or in repose, like that of the boy boxer Kyniskos by the elder Polykleitos discussed in the preceding chapter. The same foot position visible on the Kyniskos base[1700] occurs on two other Olympia bases, which, therefore, must have supported Polykleitan statues represented in repose. One of these, in the form of an astragalos, will be discussed further on in our treatment of pancratiast statues; the other supported the statue of the boy boxer Hellanikos of Lepreon, who won a victory in Ol. 89 ( = 424 B. C.).[1701] In this case the statue was also life-size, the left foot was firmly placed, and the right was set back resting on the ball, the stride being a little longer than in the case of the Kyniskos. Three other Olympia bases supported statues of boxers represented in repose, those of the boy Tellon from the Arkadian town Oresthasion,[1702] of the Epidaurian Aristion by the elder Polykleitos,[1703] and of the Rhodian Eukles by Naukydes of the Polykleitan circle.[1704] Furtwaengler believed that a number of existing statues of the Hermes type reproduced the statue of Aristion, because of a similar foot position. Among them the Pentelic marble one in Lansdowne House, London, is the best preserved, and most faithfully reproduces the Polykleitan style.[1705]