Martial Arts of the World - Ancient Civilizations

The true origins of the martial arts are still unknown to us. We can understand that early man had to rely on their hands and feet to defend themselves and overcome obstacles to survive in nature. Over time, these methods of defence evolved and were structured into systems of combat; otherwise known as martial arts.

Most of the ancient civilizations have drawings on the walls of their temples or scriptures and other evidences that they had practiced some kind of martial art or had held competition of a form of physical combat within their societies.

Ancient paintings in tombs and inscriptions engraved in the great pyramids of Egypt clearly demonstrate that they practiced open hand combat similar to boxing of today.

Images of wrestling techniques were found as early as 2000bc in the tomb of the middle kingdom in Egypt. There are also many tablets found in old Mesopotamia, Sumer and Akkad which display hand-to-hand fighting techniques used by the ancient warriors.

Greek also showed the earliest evidence for boxing gloves, which means they practiced it as an art form. By 700bc, wrestling, boxing and other forms of combat were watched at events in the Olympiads.

Pankration is one of the earliest martial arts or fighting systems, it combined wrestling, submission locks and strikes, using the whole body as a weapon. This system was later implemented by the Roman gladiators.

As time passed, multiple styles of combat developed worldwide and they each hold the meaning as to why they were created and for what purpose they were used.