Melankomas
{{short description|Ancient Greek boxer}}{{Infobox Athlete
| name = Melankomas
| native_name = Μελανκόμας
| native_name_lang = Ancient Greek
| nationality = Ancient Greek
| birth_place = Caria
(modern-day Turkey)
| death_date = ~70 A.D.
| sport = Ancient Greek Boxing
| medaltemplates = {{MedalSport | Ancient Greek Olympics}}
{{MedalGold | 49 A.D. Olympia | Boxing}}
}}
Melankomas, or Melancomas ({{langx|el|Μελανκόμας or Μελαγκόμας}}), meaning 'One with the Black Hair,' was an Ancient Greek boxer from Caria and victor in the 207th Olympiad (49 AD.).
Biography
Melankomas was born in Caria to an Ancient Greek boxing champion, of the same name, who lived during the first century C.E. He made a name for himself as an Ancient Greek boxer in the Olympiad, even winning in the 207th Olympiad in 49 A.D.Dictionary Of History By Ramesh Chopra Page 192 {{ISBN|81-8205-223-8}}{{Cite web|date=2012|title=Ancient Olympics: Melankomas|url=http://ancientolympics.arts.kuleuven.be/eng/tp011en.html|url-status=dead|access-date=2021-07-21|website=ancientolympics.arts.kuleuven.be|publisher=KU Leuven|archive-date=2021-07-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210721021553/http://ancientolympics.arts.kuleuven.be/eng/tp011en.html}}{{Cite web|title=Athletes' Stories: Melankomas of Caria|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/melan.html|access-date=2021-07-21|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu|publisher=Tufts University}}
Supposedly he had a unique boxing style, blocking and avoiding the punches of the other boxer without throwing any himself.{{Cite web|date=2021-07-14|title=Ancient Olympic Athletes - Leonidas, Melankomas, Milon|url=https://olympics.com/ioc/ancient-olympic-games/the-athlete|access-date=2021-07-21|website=International Olympic Committee|language=en}}{{Cite news|last=Delistraty|first=Cody|date=2020-08-20|title=Lance Armstrong, Ryan Lochte and the Marketing of Controversy|language=en-US|work=Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/lance-armstrong-ryan-lochte-sports-documentaries-11597927487|access-date=2021-07-21|issn=0099-9660}} Ancient Greek boxing rules specified that only blows were permitted, and matches had no time limits or points, simply lasting until one boxer surrendered. Thus, once his opponents had run out of stamina and could no longer attack nor defend themselves, they would have to forfeit, leaving Melankomas the victor.{{Cite book|last=Early|first=Gerald|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0sqCDwAAQBAJ&dq=Melankomas&pg=PA30|title=The Cambridge Companion to Boxing|date=2019-01-24|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-108-65103-5|language=en}}
It was related by Dio Chrysostom that he was able to fight like this by training significantly more than his contemporaries and having an unmatched endurance, being able to fight through a whole day or hold his arms up, in a static hold, continuously for two days.{{Cite journal|last=Poliakoff|first=Michael B.|date=1987|title=Melankomas, ek klimakos, and Greek Boxing|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/294676|journal=The American Journal of Philology|volume=108|issue=3|pages=511–518|doi=10.2307/294676|jstor=294676|issn=0002-9475|url-access=subscription}}
Melankomas died young, around the year 70 A.D. during the games in Naples.{{Cite book|last=König|first=Jason|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WypKKCGev2wC&dq=Melankomas&pg=PA146|title=Athletics and Literature in the Roman Empire|date=2005-04-21|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-83845-0|language=en}}
Legacy
Melankomas is known to us mainly from the 28th and 29th Discourses of Dio Chrysostom, in which that writer uses his life as a canvas for a discussion of the ideal athlete and the ideal man; Dio praises his athleticism, good looks, and brave heart. Dio says he never lost a match, hit an opponent, or was struck by an opponent.Melankomas is also mentioned in Themistius, Orationes 10 (=165 Dinsdorf) and alluded to by Eustathius. Michael B. Poliakoff, "Melankomas, ἐκ κλίμακο, and Greek Boxing", The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 108, No. 3 (Autumn, 1987), p. 511. Themistius reports that the emperor Titus was his lover ({{lang|el|erastes}}).{{Cite book|last1=Heather|first1=Peter J.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m8p4SxNNk1YC&dq=Melankomas&pg=PA43|title=The Goths in the Fourth Century|last2=Heather|first2=Professor of Medieval History Peter|last3=Sozomen|last4=Matthews|first4=John|date=1991|publisher=Liverpool University Press|isbn=978-0-85323-426-5|language=en}}
Some scholars believe Melankomas to have been a real person, while others believe that he or his record was an invention of Dio's; there is nothing allowing a firm conclusion either way.
Melankomas was mentioned in a second-season episode of Sports Night as a contender for "Athlete of the Millennium."{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}
He appears as an opponent in the Cestarii expansion of the mobile game Gladiator Manager.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Dio_Chrysostom/home.html#28 Dio Chrysostom, Discourses 28–29]
Category:Ancient Greeks in Caria
Category:Roman-era Olympic competitors
Category:Place of birth unknowncaria
Category:Year of birth unknown
Category:Year of death unknown
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