From:
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/pankration.html Ancient Olympic Events
* Boxing
* Equestrian events
o Chariot racing
o Riding
* Pankration
* Pentathlon
o Discus
o Javelin
o Jump
o Running
o Wrestling
* Running
* Wrestling
Pankration
Toledo 1961.24
Side B: pankration
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of the Toledo Museum of Art
This event was a grueling combination of boxing and wrestling. Punches were allowed, although the fighters did not wrap their hands with the boxing himantes.
Rules outlawed only biting and gouging an opponent's eyes, nose, or mouth with fingernails. Attacks such as kicking an opponent in the belly, which are against the rules in modern sports, were perfectly legal.
Olympia,Stadium: View through vaulted entrance from E
Photograph courtesy of Frederick Hemans
Like boxing and wrestling, among others, this event had separate divisions for both men and boys.
The poet Xenophanes describes the pankration as "that new and terrible contest...of all holds" (Xenophanes 2)