Ancient Greek boxing Ancient Greek boxing Ancient Greek boxing ( "pygmachia", "fist fighting") dates back to at least the 8th century BC (Homer's "Iliad"), and was practiced in a variety of social contexts in different Greek city-states. Most extant sources about ancient Greek boxing are fragmentary or legendary, making it difficult to reconstruct the rules, customs and history surrounding this activity in great detail. Still, it is clear that gloved boxing bouts were a significant part of ancient Greek athletic culture throughout the early classical period. There is archeological and artistic evidence of ancient Greek boxing ("πύξ" - "pyx" or "πυγμή" - "pygme"
Ancient Greek left-to-right became standard during the classic period. Modern editions of Ancient Greek texts are usually written with accents and breathing marks, interword spacing, modern punctuation, and sometimes mixed case, but these were all introduced later. The beginning of Homer's Iliad exemplifies the Archaic period of Ancient Greek (see Homeric Greek for more details): <poem style="margin-left: 2em"></poem> The beginning of Apology by Plato exemplifies Attic Greek from the Classical period of Ancient Greek: Using the IPA: Transliterated into the Latin alphabet using a modern version of the Erasmian scheme: Translated into English: The study of Ancient Greek in European countries in