The Grangeville globe. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho) 1907-1922, 1911-09-28
WRESTLING BOUTS
One of the Oldest Forms of Sport
Known to Man.
THE ART IN ANCIENT EGYPT.

Records Show That the garly Athletes
Were Masters of Over Four Hundred
Different HoIds--Many of the Old
Grips Are Used In .he Modern Game
The strenuous wrestling game Is as
old as the hills. In the days when
men lived In caves. clothed themselves
with fig leaves in summer and girded
their loins and limbs with skins Of fu,
in winter wrestling was part Of their
mode Of fighting. That the change In
the mode Of life during the long circle
Of years ia the present day has not
injured the art. that II exists practical
ly as 1t was in the dim. uncertain
ages OF thu past, Softenrd and mel
lowed perhaps in some of the rude
essentials, is made manifest by tn"
records which have stood all these
years, mocking the attempts Of Father
Time to efface them.
In the temple tombs of Benz Hasan,
located near the banks of the Nile,
hewn In stone, wrestlers are depicted
In various positions. exemplifying all
the holds and falls that the modern
opponents of wrestling now use In
their bouts. In tombs Nos. 16 and II
the figures OF the wrestlers represent
nearly 450 positions 1t would seem
from this that the Egyptians were
masters Of the art Of wrestling and
that the present day athlete scarcely
deviates from the methods employed
by men in this sport when the earth
was young and Egypt was the head
legs and torso of civilization.
1t was from the Egyptians that tn
Greeks obtained their knowledge o.
wrestling. The figures In the Ben.
Hasan tombs prove this. The Creek
were the greatest fighters Of thosl
days, and 1t was but natural that they
adopted sports as a means to develop
their physical condition; hence it was
that at their games held at Olympia
and elsewhere at stated intervals
wrestling was part Of the program
At these games the champions Of the
friendly nations met in rivalry. There
was great glory attached to victory
The successful competitor was treated
like hero. His return to his native
land and his entry into his home city
were made an occasion for a trtum
plant procession. He wss the hero Of
the day, Of the hour,
The Olympic games-the,r rsviNa
dates from TIE B. C.-were held ever
four years at Olympia. in Ellis. The.
were started as a religious festival IN
honor of Jupiter, but the games like
the play, soon became the thing. aAA
the people lost sight Of the soleu,nftJ
and sanctity of the meetings and -
sembled there just to see the sport
1t was in the eighteenth Olympfak,
LOT B. c., that the frat record OF wrsa-
thing was established. Hurabskea, q
Spartan, was the victer. He eaxrisa
OF the prize, q crown Of wild saivs
made from a tree which STOOD wakh1S
the inclosure at Olympia.
1t will be seen from this that wrss
Ting Is one Of the oldest sports, pas
times, means of attack or defense, can
1t what you will, known. In the history
Of man. From the dawn Of hteFatuRv
there are records Of wresttAg boutM.
To Homer we owe that gfittcring,
glowing description Of shA encouatss
between Ajax and Ulysses. He I'm
rdortalized Ajax. who was the incaf'
nation of strength, the physical powes
in man, and Ulysses, the crafty. ths
champion Of every art and villa. Ho
mer before he was stricken hIiod wit
messed many great wrestling bouts b
the Greek cities. In his Tliad" h
graphically describes the wrestling
bout between Ulysses and Ajax.
Nor ia that all. In the convula1@ni
of strife which followed among tn
Fighting warriors. down through IMAM.