Single Combat - Antiquity

Antiquity

Further information: Spolia opima

An important episode in "The Tale of Sinuhe", one of the most well-known works of Ancient Egyptian literature, concerns the protagonist - an Egyptian exile in Upper Retjenu (Canaan) - defeating a powerful opponent in single combat.

Duels between individual warriors are depicted in the Iliad, including those between Menelaus and Paris and later between Achilles and Hector. The Hebrew Bible also includes a few accounts of single combat, the most famous being David versus Goliath.

Single combat is mentioned quite frequently in the history of Ancient Rome – the Horatii's defeat of the Alba Longan Curiatii in the 7th century BC is reported by Livy to have settled a war in Rome's favor and subjected Alba Longa to Rome; Marcus Claudius Marcellus took the spolia opima from Viridomarus, king of the Gaesatae, at the Battle of Clastidium (222 BC); and Marcus Licinius Crassus from Deldo, king of the Bastarnae (29 BC).

Depictions of single combat also appear in the Hindu epics of the Mahābhārata and the Ramayana. Single combats are often preludes to battles in the Chinese epic Romance of the Three Kingdoms and are featured prominently throughout the epic.

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