title: Fatal chest injury with lung evisceration during athletic games in ancient Greece.
abstract: The "Olympic idealism" that dominates modern athletic culture is a myth. The true aims of the athletes in ancient Greece were rewards and life-long appointments to various positions in the military or the city administration. Competitions in the athletic games included, among others, wrestling, boxing, and pangration (a combination of wrestling and boxing). Occasionally, these games resulted in severe trauma or death. Two cases of extreme violence resulting in fatal chest trauma are presented and commented on from both surgical and social points of view.
authors.affiliation: First Department of Propedeutic Surgery, University of Athens, 114 V. Sofias Avenue, 11527 Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Evangelos
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Menenakos
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Alexakis
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Leandros
authors.forename: Gerasimos
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Laskaratos
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nikiteas
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bramis
authors.forename: Abe
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fingerhut
mesh_terms: D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000266:history*; D000076145:Greece, Ancient; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D055370:Lung Injury; D008297:Male; D013898:Thoracic Injuries / Q000266:history*