Oldest Extreme Sports – Adrenaline Rush From The Past

Ever since humans have walked the Earth, extreme sports have existed. Extreme can mean a lot of things, but we collected the most dangerous, spectacular, and brutal ones from hundreds of years ago. Scroll down for the oldest extreme sports!

Polo as a Pre-war Workout

Until now, researchers have not clarified where one of the oldest extreme sports originated from, but they are sure that the first polo players were from the equestrian nations of Central Asia during ancient times. The ancient Persians, Japanese, and Scythians already knew this unique game, which they considered a great sport in the periods between the wars. 

Due to the lack of historical sources, the place where the polo game first appeared has not yet been found, but the earliest records are in the Chinese chronicles. They started practicing the sport at least 600 BC, which was mainly popular among warriors. Emperor Manuel once suffered a concussion during the game, while III. Alexander and a Trebizond emperor died while playing polo.

Oldest Extreme Sports

Pankration was a sport in ancient Greece. This old extreme sport was a form of wrestling with one difference: the athletes could use their fists. Kicks and punches were allowed, but biting and gouging out the eye or soft spot with the thumb or finger were prohibited. Athletes who broke these rules were flogged by the judges. Despite this punishment, violations often occurred. The Greek wrestlers aimed to throw their opponents, but the purpose of pankrators was to force their opponents to admit defeat.

The Greeks loved pankration. This was considered the greatest test of the athletes’ skill and strength. Pankration was a popular sport during the Roman Empire as well. The most famous ancient pankrator was Arrichon of Philageia in the 6th century BC. He won the championship title at two Olympics, but he died due to an unlucky chokehold at the Olympics in 564. Click on the link, and you can find out more about the ancient Olympic Games and pankration!

Chariot Race – The Best-Paid Sport

While today the highest-paid stars in the sports world are usually football, basketball, or baseball players, in a historical context, an ancient Roman charioteer, Gaius Appuleius Diocles, was the highest-paid athlete of all time. Chariot racing was one of the most dangerous sports in ancient Rome! They could easily fall out of the chariots pulled by two, four, sometimes even ten galloping horses, which equaled death, especially since they attached the drivers to the horses’ bridles by their waists. 

However, they paid the best handsomely. Gaius Appuleius Diocles, an ancient Roman charioteer, won 35.8 million sestertii during his racing career. The estimated value is around 15 billion dollars today! This amount alone could have fed Rome for an entire year. Diocles did not simply survive or was a lucky athlete, as according to the records, he won 1,462 chariot races out of 4,257 and finished second or third in another 1,438 races.

However, it is no coincidence that the charioteer won such a legendary prize! Chariot racing was one of the most dangerous and oldest extreme sports! Even a small mistake could easily lead to death. That is why the best received so much money and respect. The largest track was the Circus Maximus, where roughly 150,000 spectators could sit. Many movies give a realistic performance of how brutal the sport was. Check them out at online sportsbook sites in Greece!

Oldest Extreme Sports – Knattleikr 

Although the everyday life of Vikings from Scandinavia consisted of hard, physical work in addition to constant raids, sometimes the northern warriors also needed rest. The common characteristic of the forms of activity pursued by the Vikings was the demonstration of violence, and the emphasis was on masculine qualities. According to written sources, the ideal Viking man should be strong and trained, and the game served this purpose. The games were physical activities, sometimes brutal, but there are no records of cases that resulted in severe injury or death. 

For example, we know from the Grettis saga that the Vikings did a lot of wrestling, but stone lifting was also well-liked, which resembled modern weight lifting. Among the sports played by the Vikings, ball games, collectively known as knattleikr, were by far the most popular. In these hand-to-hand, sometimes bloody, fights, they used a tool reminiscent of a cricket or baseball bat. However, the sagas do not tell us much about the rules, only that the Vikings played it roughly.

Thousand Years Old Fire-Walking Tradition

We do not know how old the Fire Walking culture is, or from which continent it started, but it is undoubtedly one of the oldest extreme sports. It appeared as a religious ritual or even an initiation ceremony. They also used it as a healing and self-development method in certain areas. The first documented fire walk took place around 1200 BC when two Indian monks competed to see which could go the furthest on a path of embers.

They found documents from ancient Rome, from which it became clear that those citizens who could pass through the embers without injury did not have to pay taxes. Who wouldn’t accept a challenge like that? The act of fire walking is still present today all over the world, from Greece to Africa, Spain, Japan, India, Australia, Thailand, and Mongolia.

In Bulgaria and Greece, fire walking events have been organized for thousands of years, the original name of which is Anastenaria. The tradition is a form of worship in honor of St. Constantine and St. Athanasius. Here, the brave participants walk along the smoldering logs while holding the icon depicting the saints in their hands.

The most Dangerous Type of Football

Harpastum existed in ancient Rome, a ball game that we can consider the predecessor of rugby and football. The players had to get the ball behind the opponent’s lines without touching the ground. Harpastum did not disappear, as nowadays, Calcio Fiorentino, or Florentine football, is considered the successor of the ancient game. Every year, the city’s toughest guys gather in one of Florence’s main squares to beat each other to a pulp during one of the oldest extreme sports and bring glory to their neighborhood. 

They celebrate the winning team members as heroes, and the players are seen as gladiators. As if we traveled back in time, even though we are in the 21st century, in one of the most modern corners of the world.

Florence is considered the cradle of the Renaissance, thanks to which millions of tourists visit the UNESCO-protected city center and its attractions every year. However, there is also a lesser-known side to the city, more precisely to its citizens. They have kept Florence’s ancient soccer tradition alive since the Middle Ages.

Calcio Fiorentino is like mixing football, rugby, and cage fighting together. It’s a sport that defines an entire town’s identity. While it may be too violent for today’s tastes, grown men volunteer to compete. The game looks chaotic at first glance and even at second glance. Just like modern football, points must be scored here as well, with the difference that in this ancient sport, almost everything is allowed. Faking an injury on the ground is out of the question. Check out its betting options at Bet365 Sportsbook!

Oldest Extreme Sport Rules

They play the game in Santa Croce square in the center of Florence once a year. Teams from the four historic districts of the city play a bloody match against each other. No one knows when they played the first match, but the square where the games took place was built in the 14th century. We know that Calcio Storico appeared during the Renaissance, but its origins trace back to Roman times. In ancient times, there was a ball game called Harpastum, which the Roman legions played in order to stay in training even in times of peace.

There is not much information about its rules, but based on contemporary descriptions, it was similar to rugby. After the Renaissance and the centuries that followed, people forgot about it until the 1930s. Today’s game imitates medieval times, as the rules, the surroundings, and clothes have remained true to the era. The rules are not complicated. The aim is to get the ball into the net stretched at the end of the opponent’s field. If they do it and score a goal or Caccia, it is worth one point. If the ball flies over the net, the opponent team earns a point as a penalty. 

Beyond that, practically anything is allowed. The 27 players are divided into goalkeepers, defenders, and forwards on the field. The players of the two teams can punch, kick, and choke each other with movements from cage fighting. An essential addition is that there is no substitution, so if someone is knocked out, it is game over for them. There are only two prohibitions: head kicks and multiple players must not attack one player. Fighting is only allowed in one-on-one style. By the way, they play on sand, and a match consists of a single 50-minute round.

Oldest Extreme Sports – Nanggol

Vanuatu is a country in the Pacific Ocean. The country lies on 12 large and more than 60 smaller volcanic coral islands, 1,500 km from the coast of Australia. On one of its islands in Pentecost, a strange and life-threatening ritual has been held for centuries. Locals practically risk their lives with the predecessor of modern bungee jumping in a ceremony called nanggol or vine jumping. During nanggol, males between 10 and 30 jump from a 20-30 meter high wooden tower. Only the vines tied to their ankles save the jumpers from death, which everyone chooses for themselves.

It is not only the load-bearing capacity of the vine that they must take into account when they choose! If the tendril is too long, the jump will almost certainly lead to immediate death. Rumor has it that a woman started the crazy custom who was running away from her husband into the jungle. The husband chased her into the forest, where the woman allegedly climbed a tree. She tied a vine around her ankles and jumped down when the man was close. 

The tendrils saved the woman’s life, but the man threw himself down without thinking and died. After the story spread, women were the first to make nanggol a habit. However, soon enough, men took over because they wanted to prove their bravery. Since it’s an old extreme sport, several people have already died during the ritual. One of the most famous incidents happened in 1974 when Elizabeth II visited the island, and the locals put on a show just for her sake. However, one of the men broke his spine and died.

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