Martial Arts Of The World - Webs
Martial Arts Of The World - Webs Martial Arts Of The World - Webs
110 Europe system dates to the Egyptian Middle Kingdom (2040–1785 B.C.), where techniques of throws, kicks, punches, and joint locks can be found painted on the walls of the tombs of Beni-Hassan. This is the oldest recorded “text” of unarmed fighting techniques in existence. From the variety of physical maneuvers that are demonstrated, it can be inferred that a high-level system of self-defense and unarmed combat existed in Egypt by this time. In addition, Egyptians clearly had extensive training in armed combat. They developed two-handed spears that could be wielded as lances, created shields to protect their warriors in an age when armor was scarce and expensive, and developed a unique sword, the khopesh, that could be used to disarm opponents. It is not difficult, in retrospect, to see that military and martial prowess was one of the reasons that this great civilization was able to endure for thousands of years. If one moves forward 2,500 years to the Greek peninsula, martial arts are clearly documented, not only through material artifacts such as painted ceramics, but also by firsthand written accounts of practitioners and observers of these arts. In unarmed combat, the Greeks had boxing, wrestling, and the great ancestor of the “Ultimate Fighting Championship”: the pankration (all powers). Boxing during this era was not limited to blows with the closed fists, but also involved the use of the edge of the hand, kicks, elbows, and knees. Wrestling was not the “Greco-Roman” variant of today, but was divided roughly into three main categories. The first type involved groundwork wherein the participants had to get opponents into a joint lock or hold. In the second variant, the participants had to throw each other to the ground, much as in jûdô or Chinese wrestling. The third type was a combination of the two. In the pankration, the purpose was to get the opponent to admit defeat by any means possible. The only forbidden techniques were eye-gouging and biting. This meant that practitioners could use punches, kicks, wrestling holds, joint locks and choke holds, and throws in any combination required to insure victory. The ancient Greeks were famously well trained in the military use of weapons as well. The Greek hoplite warrior received extensive instruction in spear and short sword as well as shield work. History provides us with the results of soldiers well trained in these arts both for single combat and close-order drill. When the Hellenized Macedonian youth Alexander the Great set out in the third century B.C. to conquer the world using improved tactics and soldiers well trained in pankration and the use of sword, shield, and long spear, he very nearly succeeded. Only a revolt from his own soldiers and his final illness prevented him from moving deeper into India and beyond. It would be reasonable to assume that Alexander and his forces, which brought Greek civilization in the areas of warfare, mathematics, architecture, sculpture, music, and cuisine through-
out the conquered territories of Asia, also would have spread their formidable martial culture. Even more is known about the martial arts of the Roman Empire than about those of the Greeks. Indeed, it is from Latin that we even have our term martial arts—from the “arts of Mars,” Roman god of war. From the disciplined training of the legionnaires to the brutal displays of professional gladiators, Romans displayed their martial prowess. In addition to adopting the skills and methods of the Greeks, they developed many of their own. Their use of logistics and applied engineering resulted in the most formidable war machine of the ancient world. Romans of all classes were also adept at knife fighting, both for personal safety and as a badge of honor. Intriguing hints of gladiator training with blunt or wooden weapons and of their battles between armed and unarmed opponents as well as the specialty of combat with animals suggest a complex repertoire of combat techniques. Speculation exists that some elements of such methods are reflected in the surviving manuals of medieval Italian Masters of Defence. The decline of Roman civilization in the West and the rise of the feudal kingdoms of the Middle Ages did not halt the development of martial arts in Europe. In the period after the fall of the empire, powerful Germanic and Celtic warrior tribes prospered. These include many notorious for their martial spirits, such as the Gauls, Vandals, Goths, Picts, Angles, Jutes, Saxons, Franks, Lombards, Flems, Norse, Danes, Moors, and the Orthodox Christian warriors of the Byzantine Empire. The medieval warrior was a product of the cultural synthesis between the ordered might of the Roman war machine and the savage dynamism of Germano-Celtic tribes. The feudal knight of the Middle Ages was to become the very embodiment of the highest martial skill in Western Europe. Medieval warrior cultures were highly trained in the use of a vast array of weaponry. They drilled in and innovated different combinations of arms and armor: assorted shields and bucklers, short-swords and great-swords, axes, maces, staffs, daggers, the longbow and crossbow, as well as flails and war-hammers designed to smash the metal armor of opponents, and an array of deadly bladed pole weapons that assisted in the downfall of the armored knight. The formidable use of the shield, a highly versatile and effective weapon in its own right, reached its pinnacle in Western Europe. Shield design was in constant refinement. A multitude of specialized shield designs, for use on foot and in mounted combat as well as joust, siege, and single duel, were developed during the Middle Ages. During the medieval period, masters-at-arms were known at virtually every large village and keep, and knights were duty-bound to study arms for defense of church and realm. In addition, European warriors were in a constant struggle to improve military technology. Leather armor was re- Europe 111
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110 Europe<br />
system dates to the Egyptian Middle Kingdom (2040–1785 B.C.), where<br />
techniques of throws, kicks, punches, and joint locks can be found painted<br />
on the walls of the tombs of Beni-Hassan. This is the oldest recorded “text”<br />
of unarmed fighting techniques in existence. From the variety of physical<br />
maneuvers that are demonstrated, it can be inferred that a high-level system<br />
of self-defense and unarmed combat existed in Egypt by this time. In<br />
addition, Egyptians clearly had extensive training in armed combat. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
developed two-handed spears that could be wielded as lances, created<br />
shields to protect their warriors in an age when armor was scarce and expensive,<br />
and developed a unique sword, the khopesh, that could be used to<br />
disarm opponents. It is not difficult, in retrospect, to see that military and<br />
martial prowess was one of the reasons that this great civilization was able<br />
to endure for thousands of years.<br />
If one moves forward 2,500 years to the Greek peninsula, martial arts<br />
are clearly documented, not only through material artifacts such as painted<br />
ceramics, but also by firsthand written accounts of practitioners and observers<br />
of these arts. In unarmed combat, the Greeks had boxing, wrestling,<br />
and the great ancestor of the “Ultimate Fighting Championship”: the<br />
pankration (all powers). Boxing during this era was not limited to blows<br />
with the closed fists, but also involved the use of the edge of the hand,<br />
kicks, elbows, and knees. Wrestling was not the “Greco-Roman” variant<br />
of today, but was divided roughly into three main categories. <strong>The</strong> first type<br />
involved groundwork wherein the participants had to get opponents into a<br />
joint lock or hold. In the second variant, the participants had to throw each<br />
other to the ground, much as in jûdô or Chinese wrestling. <strong>The</strong> third type<br />
was a combination of the two. In the pankration, the purpose was to get<br />
the opponent to admit defeat by any means possible. <strong>The</strong> only forbidden<br />
techniques were eye-gouging and biting. This meant that practitioners<br />
could use punches, kicks, wrestling holds, joint locks and choke holds, and<br />
throws in any combination required to insure victory.<br />
<strong>The</strong> ancient Greeks were famously well trained in the military use of<br />
weapons as well. <strong>The</strong> Greek hoplite warrior received extensive instruction<br />
in spear and short sword as well as shield work. History provides us with<br />
the results of soldiers well trained in these arts both for single combat and<br />
close-order drill. When the Hellenized Macedonian youth Alexander the<br />
Great set out in the third century B.C. to conquer the world using improved<br />
tactics and soldiers well trained in pankration and the use of<br />
sword, shield, and long spear, he very nearly succeeded. Only a revolt<br />
from his own soldiers and his final illness prevented him from moving<br />
deeper into India and beyond. It would be reasonable to assume that<br />
Alexander and his forces, which brought Greek civilization in the areas of<br />
warfare, mathematics, architecture, sculpture, music, and cuisine through-