If you didnt follow the rules of ancient pankration what would happen?

Answer 1

You would never be allowed to compete in, or even watch the Olympics ever again. The ancient Greeks believed that the human body was created in the image of the gods, and as such it was worthy of respect, and just as importantly it needed to be properly taken care of. Because of this, they had a sport culture that emphasized worship of the pagan gods in their pantheon. Modern athletes play sports for ego, or money, ancient Greek athletes played sports to honor their gods.

Studies of skeletal remains have revealed, that the bones of ancient Greek athletes, were, actually they still are, a whopping 50% denser than those of modern Olympic and professional athletes. Why does bone density matter?

Because, the stronger your skeletal muscles become, the denser your bones become so that your muscles can generate more strength without your bones breaking. Ultimately, all the human strength system is, is a "rope" system, supported by "beams" (e.g. bones). The stronger the "rope," the stronger the "beams" need to be. Personally I get sick of all the egomaniachal bullcrap, about how much better modern people are over ancient people.

Take for instance the ancient Greek wrestler Milo; where he to step into the Octagon today, he would not only manhandle all of those guys, regardless of their size, but, if ordered to, and given special permission by the U.S. government to do so, he could crush those men's skulls as if though they were grapes. Ancient Greek athletes were incredibly strong, the reason for this was, they brutalized their bodies, training literally all day, and consuming nothing but protein, and to quench their thirst they drank goat milk rather than water.

The combination of ridiculous amounts of protein, combined with ultra brutal, often inhuman training, gave them physical strength that was borderline superhuman. The Milo literally threw an opponent out of the Wrestling ring, is not a myth; studies of skeletal remains of ancient Greek athletes, have all shown, some of them were indeed that strong. Again the reason they trained so fanatically was rooted in their ancient, pagan religion; to them, it was a form of worship. The Greeks used weight training, but their methods were different; rather than use static repetition, working single muscles, or small groups of muscles, they engaged in total body movement.

They would grab a dumbell, shaped like a Bowling ball with a handle on it, and, move it around in what would look like a "dance" pattern. They would then switch to the other arm. What was the purpose of this? The ancient Greeks knew full well, that it was not only about having larger muscles, but about how those muscles worked together, that created physical strength. Consider this for a moment; why is it that in the world of athletics you have two guys lets say, both the same age, height, weight, build, and fitness level, and yet one of them is much stronger than the other? Again even their muscle structure is identical, yet one of them is a "wimp." The reason this is, is because some people are born with a natural intuition on how to get muscle groups to work together as a single but complex unit.

When you deadlift for instance, you are using several muscles at once, all working together as a team, they are not individually firing in a successive manner. When deadlifting a weight, its not "okay, first, activate the thigh muscles, now activate the calf ones, then the trapezius and latissimus muscles, followed by the extensors (the forearms), now, activate the lower back muscles so that the weight can be lifted........" The human brain and body, don't work that way; when deadlifting a weight, the brain commands ALL those muscles to activate at once, working as a single but complex unit.

The ancient Greeks understood this just from crude observation; they had no knowledge whatsoever of the nervous system and its connection to muscle activation. While exercises you see in modern day weight rooms existed in ancient Greece, mostly free weight stuff (obviously they did not have machines), they also engaged in "muscle group" exercises, and they also did a lot of bodyweight stuff.

Your average ancient Greek athlete began his day with calisthenics, spent the middle portion of his day practicing his sport, and they would finish their day with weight training. They were a complete package man; they did it all. They believed they were honoring the gods, so, well what can I say, those guys were serious, seeing their fitness activity as a "sacred duty."

Because all things related to fitness were taken so seriously, violating any rules in the Olympics meant a punishment worse than death; if the local government was in a good mood, they may only prevent you from watching the games ever again, or they might have you executed, in extreme cases, violating the rules in the Olympics meant being banished from your city.

To the ancient Greeks sports weren't a mere game; they considered it, very much, a "sacred duty to honor the gods." Legend has it, that one ancient Greek athlete, during Roman times, trained so hard, so fanatically he achieved a level of boxing skill, that has not been equaled since. The Legendary boxer Melankomas of Caria, who, allegedly, was NEVER struck in a contest, he always cleanly dodged or blocked any oncommong blows. The story says "he was never struck, nor did he ever strike anyone." The story that is chronicled as reliable history.

The story is so incredible, many people consider it a myth HOWEVER, most nay sayer skeptics, are arrogant people who think such feats are impossible just because modern Americans haven't achieved it. Because an American 165 lb man has not successfully achieved a level of strength where they can bench press 450 lbs, its IMPOSSIBLE. Because a white man has not achieved it, its IMPOSSIBLE.

Obviously ancient Greece wasn't as great as America so, Melankomas did not exist. Okay, what proof is there, contemporary proof, that Melankomas was real?

Believe it or not Jack Dempsey's tormentor Gene Tunney; Tunney was a weakling okay? In terms of pro athlete athleticism, even during those earlier, ignorant times regarding athletic conditioning and supplementation, Tunney was, quite pathetic. I am not being arrogant or big-headed in saying I could take a punch better than Tunney; in fact chances are YOU could take a punch better than Gene Tunney, the man had more glass in his jaw than, say, the Sahara desert, after having had the world's nuclear arsenal dropped on it. You could knock down Gene Tunney if you blew on him hard enough.

Okay, okay, that was a little harsh, the point I'm trying to make is that Tunney was the biggest wuss in heavyweight boxing history. How the hell did he capture the heavyweight crown then, taking on a beast like Dempsey? Brain power and polished boxing form, and that's it. Throughout Tunney's career, he was only knocked down twice, and he was very rarely cleanly struck. Most of the punches that cut up Tunney were glancing punches; only Dempsey, and one other man successfully and cleanly hit Tunney in the face.

Tunney trained no harder than the average of the time, roughly 3 hours per day every day, and 6 hours a day a month before a fight. The old timers were serious; modern boxers only put in 2 hours these days, in the old days the average training time though was 3 or 4, that is why virtually everyone was in shape back then.

If Gene Tunney was able to achieve a level of boxing skill, where he was never truly cleanly struck, except the two times he was knocked down, imagine what a total fanatic would achieve, someone who put in not 3, but 8, possibly 10 hour long training days. Melankomas was not a myth, and further proof of this, is that both Greeks and Romans took great pains for the honest documentation of sports events.

Because sports were sacred to the Romans and the Greeks, ironically enough, there was less corruption during those events than even in politics. Even criminals ceased their activities during sporting events in the ancient Greco/Roman world this fact, is well known to historians. What I'm trying to say is, you could not get away with lying, or tall tales; the incredible feats of strength on the part of Milo, and the incredible feat of boxing skill on the part of Melankomas really did happen.

Although skepticism is a good mindset, because trust is something that needs to be earned, careful of skeptics fed by an arrogant mind.

"If I can't do it, if my race can't do it, and if my culture can't do it, then its impossible; its a myth."

Be careful of those types; the academic world is full of them.