The 2004 statue of Diagoras of Rhodes help up upon his son’s shoulders. This magnificent bronze was commissioned for the 2004 Olympics in Greece and has come to be an extremely recognisable image to fighters today. Diagoras won many boxing medals at the Olympics, Nemeans, Pythians and Ismithian Games in the 5th Century BCE. Two of his three sons went on to win at the Pankration, an even more bloody and brutal event that combined boxing, wrestling and (kickboxing) by today’s wording. It is essentially MMA or UFC. Academics cannot agree on how many events he won in his career, but he is often referred to as the greatest fighter in the ancient world.
After winning their events his sons picked up Diagoras and carried him around the crowd who cheered and yelled and this went on for some time. In ancient Greek culture, the ability to knock a man down, win a wrestling tournament etc, was akin to killing a man on the battlefield – it made you a quintessential, archetypal Greek hero (almost godlike) comparable to Achilles, Herakles and Perseus.
~ Dan
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