Pankration: The Unchained Combat Sport of Ancient Greece

Great book. Well researched: Includes many pictures of artifacts used as first hand sources in the authors analysis. Bibliography of sources used. The author draws logical, meaningful conclusions based on available evidence. This book was everything I expected and more, especially from a martial arts book. Would have given five stars, in fact almost did, but the book is extremely redundant. Many facts are repeated as many as four or five times throughout the book. Also, there are a few grammatical and spelling errors throughout the book. This is not a big deal, but makes me more willing to move down to a four star rating.This book will appeal more to a history buff, an experienced martial artist or a Grecophile and less towards someone looking to learn how to perform Pankration techniques. I found the first half of the book most interesting. This focused on the sport's history and the history of warfare, weapons, armor and tactics (relevant to the time and region).

Fantastic book! The reader is transported back in time to the origins of MMA. From armed battlefield methods to hand to hand combat, and even the diet of a warrior. You will see the history combat as it compares to the modern fighter. As Jim Arvanitis says " There is nothing new under the sun." A must read for any Martial Artist.

Great reproduction of the art and dedication of the oldest combat sport. It reflects the evidence that since ancient times western mixed martial arts pointed to the pragmatic results

I had no idea that the ancient Greek martial art of Pankration was so developed. The book provides logical arguments based on a sound knowledge of martial arts and backs ups its theories with evidence from Greek scholars, and depictions of Pankration in Greek art such as sculptures and geek vases, which demonstrate techniques that will be familiar to martial artists. A very interesting read, would highly recommend it.

Bien, mais le livre manque de réelles techniques à mettre en pratique. C'est dommage car les références sont intéressantes pour moi.