Early History

The earliest examples of martial arts goes back to 3400 BC in places such as Egypt. It was in the form of wrestling and practiced as a sport and a leisure activity. However the first well structured and defined form of martial arts was created in 648 BC by Alexander the Great. It was known as pankration and was a cross between todays jiu jitsu and boxing. As attention was brought to the art, it became very popular in the Greek Olympic games. With virtually no rules and fouls it gained a reputation for its extreme brutality and severely bloody competitions. However its creation wasn't intended to entertain the Greeks, it was to make Alexander the Great's soldiers ruthless killers. During this time warfare was often fought within spitting distance your enemy and cold steel clashed all around you. So if you were disarmed or thrown to the ground by your enemy, you still had a fighting chance with the new techniques of pankration. In the end it saved many lives and struck fear into the enemies hearts knowing that their enemy was a deadly warrior wether they had a weapon or not. This art of pankration became the structure and blueprints for many other forms of martial arts to come.