LUCTA

LUCTĀTĬO ( πάλη , πάλαισμα , παλαισμοσύνη , or καταβλητική ), wrestling. The Greeks ascribed the invention of wrestling to mythical personages, and Hermes, the god of all gymnastic exercises, also presided over wrestling. In the Homeric age wrestling was much practised: during this period wrestlers contended naked, and only the loins were covered with the perizoma ( περίζωμα ), and this custom probably remained throughout Greece until Ol. 15, from which time the perizoma was no longer used, and wrestlers contended entirely naked. In the Homeric age the custom of anointing the body for the purpose of wrestling does not appear to have been known, but in the time of Solon it was quite general, and was said to have been adopted by the Cretans and Lace daemon i ans at a very early period. After the body was anointed, it was strewed over with sand or dust, in order to enable the wrestlers to take a firm hold of each other. If one combatant threw the other down three times, the victory was decided. Wrestling was practised in all the great games of the Greeks. The most renowned wrestler was Milon, of Croton. [ Pancratium . ]