Arrichion: a champion who won after his death (4 photos)

Pankration is a brutal sport. This ancient Greek bloody symbiosis of boxing and wrestling had virtually no rules.





The goal was simple: win by any means necessary. You could beat, break limbs, strangle - only biting and gouging out eyes were prohibited. The fight ended when one of the opponents surrendered or lost consciousness. Many pankratiasts paid for their glory with their lives.



Two wrestlers in a pankration bout. Plaster cast of a marble sculpture, ca. 300 BC.

Arrhichion was a pankration legend. A three-time Olympic champion (572, 568, and 564 BC), he won his final victory… when he was already dead. But how is that possible, if the rules say that the one who is defeated loses?

According to legend, in the decisive fight, the opponent grabbed Arrhichion by the throat in a death grip, slowly cutting off his breathing. But the champion did not give up, even when his consciousness began to fade. At that moment, his trainer shouted: "What honor awaits you if you do not give up! "Undefeated at Olympia" - here is your eternal monument!"

These words breathed the last of Arrichion's strength. Already on the verge of death, he rushed forward, breaking his opponent's ankle with a crushing blow. The unbearable pain made him loosen his grip. But Arrichion himself collapsed on the sand of the arena, lifeless.





The ancient writer Philostratus described this fight as follows:

Arrichion's opponent, having grabbed him by the waist, tried to strangle him, clasping his neck with his forearm and squeezing his throat. His legs squeezed his groin, and his feet blocked his knees, depriving the champion of the ability to resist. But at the moment when death was already enveloping his mind, Arrichion suddenly jerked, hitting his opponent's leg with his heel. He, unable to bear the pain, loosened his grip - but it was too late: the champion fell dead, never having released his enemy's broken ankle from his grip.

The judges unanimously recognized: since the opponent surrendered, the victory belongs to Arrichion. Thus, he became the only Olympic champion in history to be crowned posthumously.

The Mystery of Death



"The Pankrationists" - painting by Sir John Everett Millais, 1842

Although the story is considered reliable, the controversy about the cause of Arrichion's death does not subside.

Strangulation is unlikely, since a person loses consciousness long before death, and the referee would have stopped the fight. A broken neck is possible, since instant death is explained only in this way. Another version: adrenaline and hypoxia could have killed the champion before the opponent unclenched his hands.

After his death, a statue of Arrichion was erected on the agora in Phigalia - one of the oldest Olympic sculptures. Today it is kept in the Museum of the Olympic Games in Olympia. The champion's last blow truly became his immortality.