Greek wrestling was a grappling combat sport practiced by the Ancient Greeks. A wrestler's objective (aim, goal) was to throw his opponent to the ground from a standing position. A point (or fall) was scored when a wrestler's back or shoulders touched the ground. Three points were needed to win a match. Holds were restricted to the upper body. like modern wrestling, there were weight divisions and time limits. As a result, the sport was dominated by boys who could defeat smaller but more skillful opponents.
Each city had a place for wrestling, called a palaestra. Some large cities had several palaestrae. Wrestlers trained and competed in the nude. The sport was the first added to the Ancient Olympic Games that was not a footrace. Two ancient Greek wrestlers that are remembered today are Leontiskos of Messene and Milo of Croton. Leontiskos is infamous for winning the Olympics after breaking his opponent's fingers, and Milo is famous for winning five Olympic championships. Wrestling was a popular subject for Greek sculpture, painting, and literature.
Background
Greek wrestling was known to the ancients as or the pale ("upright (or erect) wrestling"). Legend says that Theseus of Athens invented wrestling. The wrestler's objective (aim) was to throw his opponent to the ground from a standing position. Holds were restricted to the upper body and pinning an opponent to the ground was unknown. Wrestling on the ground was permitted only in the sports known to the Greeks as kato pale ("ground wrestling") and pankration.
A point was scored for a fall. A fall occurred when a wrestler's back or shoulders touched the ground. Three points were required to win a match. Wrestling was less rough than the pankration and required less space. As a result, it was the most popular sport among Greek athletes. It was an event in the pentathlon (and could be the deciding event) but it was a separate event as well, with the same techniques. Wrestling was mentioned numerous times in Greek literature, especially poetry.
The remains of a papyrus wrestling manual from the 2nd century AD reveal that the Greeks were familiar with headlocks, joint locks, shoulder holds, and other techniques used by modern wrestlers. Because there were no time limits to matches, some would end in draws. A wrestler could submit under a chokehold and "tap out". Wrestlers were sometimes killed in contest, but their opponents were never held responsible for homicide.
Palaestra
Wrestling was taught and practiced in a building called the palaestra. There were many of these wrestling schools across Greece. The first palaestras were built about the 6th century BC. They were privately owned, but by the 5th century BC palaestras were being built at the public expense. Palaestras were built until the end of the Age of the Roman Empire. The ancient Greek scholar Plutarch writes that only wrestling and the pankration were taught and practiced in the palaestra. Boxing and other sports were taught and practiced in gymnasiums.
The palaestra consisted of a square or rectangular yard open to the sky. This yard was used for training and practice. The yard was surrounded by colonnades. During rainy weather, wrestling and the pankration were practiced under the colonnades. Rooms adjoining the colonnades were used for lectures, bathing, dressing and undressing, game playing, socializing, and the storage of equipment and olive oil. Gay sex was rampant in the palaestra, despite official efforts to curb it.
Outfit
Greek athletes were the few athletes in the ancient world who practiced and competed naked. Homer's wrestlers in Iliad wore loincloths, but shortly after the Age of Homer, Greek athletes started to strip. It is not known why. Pausanias says athletes wanted to imitate Orsippos of Megara, a runner who won a footrace at Olympia in 720 BC after losing his loincloth. Dionysios of Halikarnassos and Thucydides credited a Spartan with the custom.
Other legends say that a runner tripped on his loincloth and officials banned it as unsafe. Some say that athletes stripped to prove that they were males, or because they could run better in the nude. Other reasons have been given: athletes stripped for erotic reasons, or for cult reasons, or for good luck, or as a democratic equalizer. Some say they stripped because they were proud of their muscular bodies and their tans.
The Greeks called the penis a "dog". Athletes sometimes used a cord called a "dog leash" to tie off the foreskin of the penis. It is unknown if this custom had sexual or aesthetic meanings. It appears to have been a matter of personal preference. Tying the foreskin is sometimes a subject in vase painting.