The Greatest Martial Artists of All Time: Milo of Croton

A peculiar sight

Helios was steering his fiery steeds towards the horizon, painting the sky red with his passing. Down in the center of Croton, last remaining merchants were packing their goods and prepared to head homewards. The city was ready to fall asleep. Suddenly a crowd of children poured out from one of the surrounding streets. They were laughing and cheering around of a strange sight; a muscular man was carrying an ox on his shoulders. He was red from the face, huffing and puffing under the load, yet steadily marching forward.
     “Go go, Milo! It is not going to be lighter tomorrow,” mocked the laughing children.
When the odd crowd came closer, it became clear that the man carrying the ox was actually a teenage boy. Although already built like an adult, the age was clearly reflected on his face. Boy did not seem to mind the pestering that surrounded him as there was a slight smile on his lips.

A tradesman from a neighboring village turned to his colleague with an astonished look on his face.
      “Do not pay attention to them,” said the local man. “It is just the dummy Milo. He has been carrying that ox around since it was a calf. Every evening he walks around the town and then heads back home. Boy is for sure strong, but obviously not very bright”

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The Greatest Ever

The boy carrying the ox grew up to be known as Milo of Croton, one of the most successful athletes of the ancient times. During his wrestling career, he was so dominant, that people thought him to be a son of Zeus himself. No mortal man could have accomplished his feats.

Milo won the Olympic Games six times and was a countless champion in other, smaller sporting festivals. Five times he was awarded the ancient version of a Grand Slam, championing in the four most important games around Greece during the same year. His victorious streak continued until his seventh games, where his younger opponent, a fellow Crotonian, fought him with a strategy of avoiding close contact, escaping the crushing embrace and finally tiring out the old bear.

Commander

He also gained fame as a military leader. A tyrant from nearby city of Sybaris banished 500 of its wealthiest citizens and seized their property. The victims came to Croton, looking for refuge and help. The city responded by sending a thousand warriors to Sybaris with Milo as their commander. As the story goes, Milo, then a man in his forties, wore his Olympic crowns, put on a skin of a lion and armed himself with a giant club, thus resembling the demigod Hercules. With the Olympic champion leading the charge, they crushed the front lines and subsequently the moral of the much larger Sybarian forces and emerged victorious.

Gentle side

Far from a brute, he was well versed in music and poetry and was a student of the famous Pythagoras. In fact, he once saved the mathematicians life. They were dining in a banquet hall, when suddenly a supporting pillar collapsed. Milo supported the roof with his wide shoulders until Pythagoras and others could escape to safety.

Gods punish hubris

A great life must end in remarkable way. Milo was walking in a forest and came upon a tree trunk split with wedges. Never shying away from a challenge and perhaps wanting once again to prove his might, he decided to tear open the trunk. Milo put his hands into the cleft, flexed his great muscles and managed to pride the split wide enough so that the wedges fell out. But he could not halve the tree as intended and it collapsed back around his arms. Milo was trapped. When the night fell, he was attacked and devoured by wolves.

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The world has seen many great martial artists who continue living in our stories and in the examples they set. In the coming weeks I will introduce several others, who match the feats of Milo in their own way.

Stay tuned @puukallistaja