How did Alexander train?

[Demeter56]

Lovin' this site!How did Alexander train? Did he go to a weight training gymnasium or have a master trainer? Thanks for replies in advance. Rule the world!Demeter56

[stavros]

hello, as a fan and student of martial arts, i know that alexander trained in the ancient greek martial art of Pankration. i think plutarch also mentions it? Pankration means 'all powers'. Pankration is a full contact, bare-knuckled, no-holds-barred, unarmed combat. 'All powers' means wresting, boxing and kicking. He also introduced Pankration with his army throughout the middle east and Asia (ie. India), as he conquered these lands .it is said that by introducing Pankration to India Alexander may have laid the foundation for Pankration to mix with Ancient Indian martial arts that then flourished and expanded into china, korea and of course japan, paving the way and forming the very skillful kung fu, karate as we know them today, just to name a few.Pankration was a brutul sport. However it was more than just a sport. in ancient greece, survival of a city via war was through the men that fought them, therefore armies trained in Pankration to secure the fittest and strongest men to do battle. which explains why the 300 spartans did well against a large army of persians.indians trained in a sport or martial art called Vajramoushti or something very similar, however it was not as brutul as Pankration. The greeks in Pankration use to kick hard, punch hard, and wrestle their opponent to death if need be. when this combined with indian and other oriental martial arts like Vajramoushti it influenced a new style of fighting that was indian, incorporating the greek powerful (crazy in my words) Pankration. so essentially what i am trying to say is that the greeks introduced a strong fighting style of kicking, punching and wrestling that was unknown throughout india and asia. kicking and punching was unknown to martial arts in asia at the time.Mas Oyama the Japanese founder of 'Kyokushin Karate', (a karate style known as the mercedes benz of Karate) said himself and i quote that "karate originated in ancient greece". cheersStavros

[Alex K.]

Stayros,That is some wonderful information. If you don't mind two questions:What is your backround? and
Is Pankration practiced at all in Greece today?Thanks in advance!

[lucinos]

I dont know stavros, but what he is writting is true or very probable. there are many sourses and images about pankration. pankration was forbiden by christians as they forbid anything that had to do with greek cultute, so there is a gap of about 1500 years. today there are some people trying to regenerate it.

[marcus]

I think it's worth clarifying that a bit. The Christians didn't ban it because it was part of Greek culture, but because it was linked to pagan religious ceremonies. But I don't think it was a 'ban' as such, anyway... more that it just died out because the Christians didn't "do it".All the bestMarcus

[Alex K.]

I wasn't questioning Stavros' credibility BTW-just curious what his backround was.

[stavros]

Hi Alexthis info amazed me as well. but it does make sense. My background as in nationality, is Hellenic.
and have been practicing and studying martial arts for years.Pankration is still practiced in Greece and especially the USA. It is definately alive and kicking in the USA. Today Pankration has probably developed into more of a kickboxing/wrestiling/muay thai kind of sport with a lot Asian style of fighting, i would say. either way still a great sport. if you do a Google search you will find heaps of info on Pankration.cheersstavros

[Alex K.]

Thanks for the info Stayros. The only thing I knew about Pankration in the modern age was that it was associated with cage fighting, and more cheesy/gory/illegal forms of MA. The reason I asked about your backround was becuase for some strange reason I had a gut feeling you were a Stayros I know! (a vaulter) hehehe...GO figure!

[Alex K.]

BTW, among the other returns, Google turned up this not so favorable review of Modern Pankration in Greece. http://clubs.pathfinder.gr/clubs/Pagrat ... ima/229050

[lucinos]

maybe I am a bit excessive but when I used the word culture it was not a mistake. My view is that greek civilization had to do with the freedom of city-states. the Hellenistic empires was opponent to that, the Romans also but most it was the Christians that opposed this. they opposed greek democracy (Satan's polity), greek philosophy, greek science. pankration was not just a very impressive Olympic game (since 648 bc) but also the ultimate self defence system teaching people to be masters of themselves. For christianity the master is the Lord (and the emperor). so it was not just the religion that christians opposed.

[marcus]

I'm no expert on early Christianity, but I would be very surprised if the early Christians had the slightest objection to Greek philosophy and science. Admittedly the majority of early Christians might not have known the first thing about them, but the early Church Fathers were often educated in exactly those things, and there wouldn't have been anything that they should have objected to.All the bestMarcus

[Eric Hanson]

From my readings, i thought alexander was more of the philosophizing type than the bruiser type. While he did sport, I never recall reading this type of training in his background.

[lucinos]

I recomend you to read about "Loukianos", "Epikouros", "Kelsos",
"Ioulianos", "Porphyrios" and the Gospels (I cant recomend exact books becouse I have read these in greek). Have in your mind that christanity during the 1st, 2nd ,3rd and 4th centuries varies very much. the Gospels were the only things that remained constant. also Greeks in the 4th century were 97% in the ancient religion. greeks christianized during the 5th,6th,7th,8th,9th centuries. ofcourse we are christians for over 1000 years. the philosophy school in Athens closed by Ioustinianos the year 526.

[marcus]

Hi Eric,The problem is, we don't know enough about Alexander's childhood and youth to be sure of anything. The best we can do is surmise from what we know of others, more generally, in Greece.It's highly unlikely, for instance, that Alexander *didn't* receive this sort of training, as it all helped in training him as a warrior. It doesn't go against his intellectual education, because any well-born youth (and particularly a prince) would have received the broadest education possible.I'm pretty sure it states in one of the sources that Alexander didn't like wrestling; but I'd be surprised if he didn't do it as a child, because he wouldn't have had any choice in the matter! And he probably would have done it even if he didn't like it, because it was, after all, martial training.All the bestMarcus