The equestrian contests at Olympia were succeeded by boxing. Boxing for men was introduced at the Olympic festival in the twenty-third Olympiad, and for boys in the thirty-seventh Olympiad. But the sport was already very old, and its introduction at Olympia was probably a recognition of its popularity and antiquity. In fact, as the fist is the simplest and most natural weapon of mankind, it is not surprising to find that boxing was one of the earliest athletic games among the Hellenes. Homer’s detailed description of the contest of the invincible Epeios with Euryalos has already been mentioned, and Homer had probably heard many similar tales of the prowess of Mycenæan boxers. Polydeukes, the bravest boxer among the pre-Homeric heroes, is said to have defeated the strong Amykos. The latter was a teacher of the art, and allowed no stranger to depart from his country without challenging him to a pugilistic contest. Apollo himself, the gracious companion and leader of the Pierides, is described as engaging in a boxing contest at Olympus with Ares, the powerful god of war; perhaps in this myth there is a suggestion of the advantage which the nimble and quick-witted boxer sometimes has over a more bulky one. In the mythical founding of the Nemean games, Tydeus was victorious in a boxing contest. In the passage of Virgil’s Æneid (Book V, 401 ff.), which so closely resembles the twenty-third Book of the Iliad, the aged Entellus vanquishes the young and boastful Dares. This contest showed a complete system of striking and parrying. It is quite likely that these and many other similar legends augmented the natural interest in the sport, and hastened its introduction into the greatest of all athletic festivals. But at Olympia the sport was marked with variations. Whereas, for instance, the Homeric heroes, when boxing, had protected their bodies by means of a girdle around the loins (Il. XXIII, 683), the Olympian athletes, being already accustomed to nudity in the wrestling and racing contests, dispensed with such protection. Again, from the first, Olympian boxers oiled the body, contrary to the practice of Homeric athletes. Probably very few of the tactics of modern pugilists were unknown to the Greek athletes. Some of the accessories of a modern ring-fight, such as the “preliminary hand-shake,” tossing for corners, etc., were of course wanting; particularly noticeable was the absence of ropes and stakes; there was no referee to enforce so strict a code of ethics as the Marquis of Queensberry rules, fair play being secured by the voice of the people. Grasping or hugging the opponent was not permitted; it was in the elimination of such tactics that boxing differed from the pankration, a combination of boxing and wrestling. Kicking was likewise forbidden.