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| My fiancee Maya and I acting tough |
If you ask people how they like to spend their Saturday
mornings, most will say sleeping in, playing soccer, watching Netflix, or
reading a book. For me, I can't think of a better Saturday activity than
getting choked out, punched in the face, and beat up.
When I began training in the art of
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and MMA over a year ago, I never considered its ancient
Greek heritage. The amazing sport the world calls Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu hasn't
always been so Brazilian. In fact, Jiu-Jitsu is likely to have descended from
the Olympic Games in Ancient Greece.
The best candidate for the direct ancestor of Jiu-Jitsu within these ancient competitions was Pankration,
one of the most popular sports in the entire event. Pankration was a sport that
combined boxing and wrestling techniques into a hybrid fighting style, very similar to MMA
(mixed martial arts) and UFC you can watch on pay-per-view today. Although the
medium in which we view the fighting has developed drastically, men and women unknowingly
train in the ancient art of Pankration for the entertainment of the masses.
What sports do you enjoy that have descended from the Greeks?
Click here for the History of Jiu-Jitsu
You know, to be perfectly honest, I myself have never personally been a fan of MMA or jiu-jitsu. But I find that I appreciate it a lot more knowing what ancient roots it has. I think this goes along with our discussion of class today of why we study rhetoric and past civilizations. Learning about them can give us greater appreciation for things in our culture today that we may not have thought about otherwise.
ReplyDeleteThanks Chloe, my fiancee and mom are not very big fans either, but I have found it has taught me greater self-control and confidence. I agree with you that understanding the roots of a practice can lead to greater appreciation and tolerance.
DeleteIt would be interesting to see where the Greeks' methods of fighting originated from. From scripture (Genesis 32:24) we see examples of wrestling even earlier than when the first Olympics were going on.
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