page_title: Ancient Greek boxing
section_title: Rules
hierarchical_section_title: Ancient Greek boxing / Rules
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Boxer und Trainer: Der rechte Boxer geht zu Boden und gibt mit ausgestreckter Hand und Finger das Zeichen zur Aufgabe. Sein Gegner dringt trotzdem weiter auf ihn ein und wird deshalb vom Kampfrichter mit einer langen Gerte geschlagen. Seite A von einer attischen schwarzfigurigen Halsamphora, 510-500 v. Chr. Aus Vulci. English: Boxers and trainer. The right boxer goes down and gives up by holding up his finger. Nevertheless, his opponent continues to press him, and is therefore beaten by the referee to the left with a long rod. Side A of an Attic black-figure neck-amphora, 510–500 BC. From Vulci. Français&#160;: Boxeurs et entraîneur. Le combattant de droite tombe à terre et lève sa main, doigt dressé, pour indiquer qu'il abandonne. Son adversaire continue cependant à le presser, ce qui lui vaut d'être battu par l'arbitre qui utilise un long bâton. Face A d'une amphore à col attique à figures noires, 510-500 av. J.-C. Provenance&#160;: Vulci.
context_page_description: Ancient Greek boxing is a very old kind of sport. It has been practiced at least since the eighth century BC. Homer wrote about it in his poem Iliad. At that time, Greece was made of many city-states that were independent. Each city state seems to have had its own version of the sport.
  Today, most of the sources that talk about Greek boxing are either legends, or they are fragmentary. When a source is fragmentary, this means that part of the text has been lost, or is missing. This makes it difficult to find the rules, or where and how the activity was done. Several details are missing, but it seems boxing with gloves was an important part of the Greek athletic culture of the time.
context_section_description: The rules currently used for the sport are based on the old rules. As pointed out above, there are only incomplete sources for the rules. The rules needed to be deduced from old texts and images:
  No holds or wrestling
  Any type of blow with the hand was allowed but no gouging with the fingers
  No ring was used
  There were no rounds or time limits
  The winner was decided when one fighter gave up or could not move
  No weight-classes, opponents were selected by chance
  Judges enforced the rules by beating offenders with a switch
  Fighters could opt to exchange blows undefended if the fight lasted too long
caption: The right boxer signals he is giving up by raising his finger high (ca. 500 BC)
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 350D DIGITAL", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2006:01:28 12:28:13", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "188", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "9096", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7968", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/125", "EXIF FNumber": "16/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "800", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:01:28 12:28:13", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:01:28 12:28:13", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "228255/32768", "EXIF ApertureValue": "54987/16384", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "90", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2304", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3456", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "8972", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "384000/97", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "1728000/437", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}