Greek Martial Arts

Despite many thinking that martial arts only came from Asia, it has in fact been found in every culture and the Greek martial arts are no exception.

Every group of people at some point in time needed some form of combat fighting to ward off attackers, and many styles of combat can be compared to the Asian martial arts. While each style may be respectful to their culture, they all have similar methods and techniques to doing things.

The Greek martial arts can be similar to other styles in that they also incorporate a sense of strength towards their attackers. Wrestling can be found not only in the culture but within other cultures as well, and is a universal form of combat fighting. Breaking objects to symbolize strength has also been shown throughout martial art history, no matter what country the contestants or combatants were from. Using concentration and discipline, warriors showed attackers through force what they were capable of and also sent a message of superior power and strength.

In the ancient cultures, there have been discoveries of martial arts that compare to those techniques of the Asian styles. Known as Pankration, this martial art from the Greek culture uses wrestling, boxing, kicking and striking as well as the use of pressure points and joint locking. These methods of fighting have also been seen in many other cultures throughout history, and at one point even made its way into the Olympic games. As with any nation, the Greek infantry used the style of fighting as part of training and use against attackers. They also use this form of martial arts as a way to invade other armies and gain more land.

Greek martial arts made an impact on other countries the same way Asian cultures have also done. With the invading countries came new techniques or methods and then were picked up by natives and adapted into their own culture. Martial arts throughout the world have enough similarities to have all at one point been derived from one another, while each style has also been able to maintain its cultural impact on the rest of the world. The Pankration's impact may have started the first idea of incorporating many different types of techniques into one fighting style, which can still be seen today among many other martial arts.

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