We have but few representations of pancratiasts in sculpture. The preliminary sparring—known as ἀκροχειρισμός[1760]—must have characterized the statue of the Sikyonian pancratiast Sostratos at Olympia by an unknown sculptor, since Pausanias says that this victor was known as ὁ ἀκροχερσίτης, explaining the epithet as that of one who gained his victories by seizing and bending his adversaries’ fingers, holding them fast till he yielded.[1761] Since a Delphian inscribed base[1762] gives the same number of victories as Pausanias, we infer that they were given also on the Olympia base, the source of Pausanias’ information. Since nothing is said, however, of Sostratos’ mode of fighting in the Delphi inscription, Pausanias must have argued it from the pose of the statue. The Sicilian wrestler Leontiskos of a century earlier, whose statue was by Pythagoras, had, according to Pausanias, used similar tactics, for “he vanquished his adversaries by bending back their fingers.”[1763] These cases show that statues of pancratiasts and wrestlers were frequently represented in vigorous lunging attitudes as well as in groups. The epigram on the base of the monument of the pancratiast Teisikrates at Delphi shows that the statue was represented in a similar way.[1764] The same lunging attitude is also shown on the Halimous grave-relief.[1765] Sometimes the contest ended with the preliminary sparring, though usually it developed into wrestling and boxing. [Illustration: FIG. 60.—Bronze Statuette of a Pancratiast (?), from Autun, France. Louvre, Paris.]