The ἅμμα involved grasping the opponent in such a manner that he could be held in a position that would tire him and perhaps exhaust his energy. Herakles in his wrestling contest with the mighty giant, Antaios, was believed to have used this trick; but Herakles held his antagonist in the air. Running toward each other with lowered heads for the purpose of butting, after the manner of rams, also belonged to the province of wrestling, and was practiced by Lucian himself in the Lykeion at Athens.
Plato protests against right-handedness (Laws, 8-794). He demands that a trained wrestler, pankratiast and boxer should be able to use both hands equally, so that if his opponent should succeed in turning him around he could defend himself from the other side. The wrestler would sometimes endeavor to place himself behind his adversary by a quick movement, then wind his leg around his opponent’s body and throw him. If successful in this attempt he would choke him.
Besides these tricks there were others with the fingers. For instance, a wrestler would grasp his opponent’s finger-tips and disjoint or break them, not letting go until the pain compelled his victim to declare himself conquered. This finger contest sometimes preceded the actual contest, and was oftentimes the only feature. Sostratos of Sikyon was specially famed for this mode of contest; he was twelve times victorious in the Nemean and Isthmian, twice in the Pythian and three times in the Olympian games. Leontiskos of Messina, in Sicily, also practiced wrestling in this manner and gained his victory by breaking his opponent’s fingers.
In ground wrestling the athlete even attempted to break his opponent’s toes. Another special scheme which belonged to the standing wrestling was as follows: the contestant made a circle around himself and challenged his opponent to force him from his position. If the latter failed to do this, the victory belonged to the former. Especially noted in this style of wrestling was Milo of Crotona, the most famous wrestler of antiquity. When a mere boy he was victorious in the Olympic and Pythian games. Six times his head was crowned with the sacred olive of Olympia. Young men of the noblest families engaged in these wrestling contests. Plato, when a youth, is said to have been victorious in the Pythian and Isthmian games, probably in the wrestling match.