Editing Melankomas

{{short description|Ancient Greek boxer}}{{Infobox Athlete
| name = Melankomas
| native_name = Μελανκόμας
| native_name_lang = Ancient Greek
| nationality = [[Ancient Greece|Ancient Greek]]
| birth_place = [[Caria]]<br />(modern-day [[Turkey]])
| death_date = ~70 A.D.
| death_place = [[Naples]], [[Italy]]
| sport = [[Ancient Greek Boxing]]
| medaltemplates = {{MedalSport | [[Ancient Greek Olympics]]}}
{{MedalGold  | 49 A.D. Olympia | [[Ancient Greek Boxing|Boxing]]}}
}}

'''Melankomas''', or '''Melancomas''' ({{langx|el|Μελανκόμας or Μελαγκόμας}}), meaning ''''One with the Black Hair''',' was an [[Ancient Greece|Ancient Greek]] [[Ancient Greek boxing|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 Greece|Ancient Greek]] boxer in the [[Olympiad]], even winning in the 207th Olympiad in 49 A.D.<ref name=":0">Dictionary Of History By Ramesh Chopra Page 192 {{ISBN|81-8205-223-8}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{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}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{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}}</ref> 

Supposedly he had a unique boxing [[Martial arts|style]], blocking and avoiding the punches of the other boxer without throwing any himself.<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{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}}</ref> [[Ancient Greek boxing#Rules and characteristics|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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

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.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3">{{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}}</ref>

Melankomas died young, around the year 70 A.D. during the games in [[Naples]].<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":6">{{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}}</ref>

== 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.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":6" /><ref name=":4">Melankomas is also mentioned in [[Themistius]], ''Orationes'' 10 (=165 Dinsdorf) and alluded to by [[Eustathius of Thessalonica|Eustathius]]. Michael B. Poliakoff, "Melankomas, ἐκ κλίμακο, and Greek Boxing", ''The American Journal of Philology'', Vol. 108, No. 3 (Autumn, 1987), p. 511.</ref> [[Themistius]] reports that the emperor [[Titus]] was his lover (''{{lang|el|[[Erastes (Ancient Greece)|erastes]]}}'').<ref>{{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}}</ref>

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.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" />

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 Greeks]]
[[Category:Roman-era Olympic competitors]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek boxers]]
[[Category:1st-century births]]
[[Category:Place of birth unknown]]caria

[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]
[[Category:Greek male boxers]]


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