gladiatorial combat and all pagan festivals, was abolished by edict by the Christian Byzantine Emperor Theodosius I. Pausanias mention the wrestler Leontiscus () from Messene. He wrote that his technique of wrestling was similar to the pankration of Sostratus the Sicyonian, because Leontiscus did not know how to throw his opponents, but won by bending their fingers. Structure of the ancient competition There were neither weight divisions nor time limits in pankration competitions. However, there were two or three age groups in the competitions of antiquity. In the Ancient Olympic Games specifically there were only two such age groups:. men ( – ) and boys ( – ). The pankration event for boys was established at the Olympic Games in 200 BC. In pankration competitions, referees were armed with stout rods or switches to enforce the rules. In fact, there were only two rules regarding combat: no eye gouging or biting. Sparta was the only place eye gouging and biting were allowed. The contest itself usually continued uninterrupted until one of the combatants submitted, which was often signalled by the submitting contestant raising his index finger. The judges appear, however, to have had the right to stop a contest under certain conditions and award the victory to one of the two athletes; they could also declare the contest a tie. Pankration competitions were held in tournaments, most being outside of the Olympics. Each tournament began with a ritual which would decide how the tournament would take place. Grecophone satirist Lucian describes the process in detail: This process was apparently repeated every round until the finals. There would be a bye ( – "reserve") in every round containing an odd number of athletes, which could potentially be in every round until the final (but also potentially in none of the rounds, if the number of competitors was a power of 2 and none of the winners quit before fighting their next round, or any other irregularities). The same athlete could be an ephedros more than once, and this could of course be of great advantage to him as the ephedros would be spared the wear and tear of the rounds imposed on his opponent(s). To win a tournament without being an in any of the rounds ( – "non-reserve") was thus an honorable distinction. There is evidence that the major Games in Greek antiquity easily had four tournament rounds, that is,