Opening an athletic magazine today we are met with diets, supplements, and energy boosters, all designed with excelling at a particular sport in mind. Gone are the days of the well-rounded gentleman athlete that Baron Pierre de Coubertin had in mind when he sought to re-establish the Olympic Games in 1894. The amateurs those…

The pankration (το παγκρατιον) was quite possibly the most dangerous and physically demanding of all ancient Olympic events. It was a no holds barred martial art, save for two rules: no biting and no eye-gouging. The Spartans, we are told, permitted even biting and gouging as they saw the sport as training for live…