Troublesome Topic: INTRO TO CHIVALRY IN ANCIENT ONE-ON-ONE COMBAT

It is obvious that in ancient times, there were battles between armies, and there were one-on-one contests.

When the warriors were engaged in hand-to-hand combat, was it a free-for-all, or were there culturally accepted rules that governed such combat? Did they take turns in order to keep it always a one-on-one fight, or did multiple warriors attack one warrior from various angles at the same time?

Many people have assumed what I once assumed, that there were no rules in ancient warfare; anything that granted them an advantage was used in order to kill the enemy.

However, I have begun to question that assumption, especially as it relates to one-on-one contests.

In this short study series, I will strive to make the case that there appear to have been several unwritten rules that governed the one-on-one combats of the Ancient Near East and at least one rule that governed battles between their armies.

One-on-one contests were often part of large military engagements because every time a warrior came face to face with, or caught up with, an enemy warrior, they would face off in hand to hand combat. As these (usually short) contests took place there were other dangers such as arrows flying through the air. But on-on-one contests were also used in the cultures of the ancient Near East to resolve civil problems.

We will look together at several stories from the Old Testament, some of which can go either way, and some which strongly favor the presence of rules that governed the one-on-one conflicts of those days.

While I will not discuss more modern examples, it will only take a moment for you remember that there have been various ways in which various cultures have had some form of a life-and-death contest between two men. There are probably many examples. I bring this up to remind you that most cultures that have had some form of one-on-one contests to the death have employed rules that governed these encounters. Others have started out with no rules and then found it necessary to develop some rules to control the event.