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Wrestling is one of the world’s most popular types of entertainment and it’s also one of the oldest. By looking at some other classic ways of being entertained, we can see how wrestling has been a part of life for so long and what else did for entertainment in ancient times.
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Spinning a wheel and waiting to see a random outcome is one of the few games that can compete with wrestling in terms of age. Rota Fortunae was the name used in ancient times for a wheel of fortune, as they believed that the Roman goddess Fortuna dictated events on Earth by spinning a wheel. We can find Roman quotes about the wheel of fortune from the 2nd century CE, but it’s believed to be based on an Indian wheel that was created even earlier.
Just like wrestling, wheel games like roulette remain hugely popular. However, these games have also diversified thanks to new technology, as we can see when we play Adventures Beyond Wonderland Live at Betfair. This game is presented by a live dealer who is live-streamed onto the screen from a gaming studio. The spinning wheel has various numbered segments with the player predicting where it will stop, as well as a couple of sections that trigger bonus games.
The definition of kayfabe in wrestling given by this Merriam-Webster article suggests that wrestling is a form of theatre, but this only applies to certain types of professional wrestling in modern times. If we go back in time, we can find that storytelling as a form of theatre has been around almost since human civilisation began.
The first type of theatre that we’re aware of is the storytelling industry that flourished in Ancient Greece. Beginning around the 6th century BCE, it became an important part of the culture in Athens. The Festival of Dionysus or Greater Dionysia soon became the leading theatrical event where the top playwrights would reveal their latest works over several days of entertainment in Athens.
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Search online for the oldest sport in history and you’ll find that wrestling is the answer most commonly provided. It was one of the events in the ancient Olympic Games in 708 BCE, but there’s also plenty of evidence that people wrestled before then. Cave drawings and historic texts like The Iliad and the Vedas include descriptions of people wrestling.
Perhaps it could be argued that running was the world’s first sport, but it’s not clear when it was first carried out on a competitive basis. Other contenders for the title include gymnastics, which was created in Greece around 500 BCE to keep soldiers flexible. The Mesoamerican ballgame was played in parts of what is now Central America from around 2500 BCE, while the Chinese developed the cuju ball game around the same time.
While we will never be completely certain which type of entertainment came first, the evidence shows that wrestling was among the first ways of entertaining people and has remained a favourite of many people over the centuries since it began.
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