Whether wrestling-groups were set up at Olympia is doubtful. Chariot-groups were indeed common, but there is no reason why the victorious wrestler should have had himself coupled with his defeated opponent. Pausanias, moreover, mentions no such groups. We are therefore safe in inferring that in most, if not in all, cases the wrestler would content himself with a single statue, and this might represent him in any position in which he was not actually interlocked with his adversary. That such statues represented him both in repose and in motion is attested by recovered bases. The footprints on the base of the statue of the Elean wrestler Paianios, a victor of the early third century B. C.,[1655] shows us that he was represented as standing in repose, the weight of the body resting on the right leg, the left being drawn back and touching the ground with the toes only. A hole in the base may have been for a spear on which the victor’s hand rested, though the statue is not that of a pentathlete. The perfectly preserved footprints on the base of the statue of the boy wrestler Xenokles by Polykleitos the Younger show that he was represented as standing with his weight on the right leg, the left being slightly advanced and to one side, though resting flat on the ground. The head was probably turned a little to the right. Thus the wrestler was poised ready to grip his adversary.[1656] This statue must have been a favorite among athlete monuments, since the same motive appears in various Roman copies, which Furtwaengler assigns to the immediate circle of the pupils of Polykleitos. The statue of the Argive wrestler Cheimon by Naukydes may have represented him in motion, since Pausanias, in mentioning two statues of the victor, one in Olympia and the other in the temple of Concord at Rome, says that they were among the most famous works of that sculptor. From this encomium Reisch has assumed that the one at Olympia was represented in lively motion.[1657]
Boxing, like wrestling, was one of the oldest sports in Greece, as it has been everywhere else. The fist is the simplest and most natural of all weapons.[1658] Boxing was popular already in Homer, matches being described both in the Iliad and the Odyssey.[1659] Homer speaks of it as πυγμαχίη ἀλεγεινή,[1660] and this “painful” character is also mentioned by Xenophanes.[1661] However, boxing was far older than epic poetry. We have already seen that it was the only form of real athletics in Aegean Crete. One of the oldest representations of a boxing match is seen on the fragments of a bronze shield discovered there in the grotto of Zeus on Mount Ida. Here on a single concentric ring are seen two warriors, armed like Assyrians with corslets, shields, and helmets, fighting with doubled fists.[1662] The high antiquity of boxing in Greece is also shown by myths.[1663] At Olympia Apollo is said to have beaten Ares,[1664] and Polydeukes won a victory there.[1665] Apollo appears as the god of boxing in the Iliad,[1666] and the Delphians sacrificed to Apollo Πύκτης.[1667] Herakles, Polydeukes, Tydeus, and Theseus were all famed boxers; the latter was said to have invented the art.[1668] The historical boxing match was introduced at Olympia in Ol. 23 (= 688 B. C.), and Onomastos of Smyrna, the first victor, instituted the rules of the contest.[1669] The boys’ contest was instituted in Ol. 41 (= 616 B. C.).[1670] It was by far the most popular contest there. Of the 192 monuments erected to 187 victors mentioned by Pausanias, 56, or nearly one-third, were erected to men and boy boxers for 63 victories.