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Pugilism, which gets its name from the Latin "pugil" is the description of "one who fights with his fists." It was assumed for a long time that the ancient Romans and Greeks were the first to feature such battles. But certain slabs and figurines found in a temple at Khafaje, near Bagdad in Mesopotamia, by Dr. E.A. Speiser and associates indicate that men fought with their fists and wrestled centuries before the Greeks and Romans. Dr. Speiser headed an exploration group, sent out more than 40 years ago and sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania and the American Schools of Oriental Research.

One stone slab showed two fighters squaring off. Another showed two wrestlers at grips, their hands touching each other's hips. The hands of the pugilists were well wrapped in leather, the earliest cestus. In the Roman language, "cestus" really meant belt, but was applied when leather was used to girdle anything, including the hands.

It was no great surprise to learn that men of centuries ago-no doubt the Sumerians-used wrestling and fistic tactics, since hands were weapons given to the earliest man. He used them to fight off savage beasts, and undoubtedly to conquer human enemies. In his less vengeful hours, man, striving for perfection in the use of hands in battle, no doubt practiced the fistic arts, and the specimens discovered by Dr. Speiser showed men at such performance.

There appears to have been a lapse in the pugilistic arts from the Mesopotamian era until about 1750 B.C., when the practice was revived in a minor way. In about 900 B.C., the most brutal features of pugilism were sponsored by Theseus, son of Aegeus, a Greek monarch, to provide battles that satisfied his craving for blood and death.

Theseus lived in an era when kings seized every muscular youth in the nation for service as a warrior. Those men were not, in the full sense, slaves. But they were subject at all times to the rule and the whim of the kings. Generally, they were used for war. When there was no war, they were permitted to remain in comparative idleness, but all the while it was demanded of them that they keep physically fit.

Since the Greeks were great believers in holidays and there was constant striving to put on thrilling programs, Theseus devised fist fighting according to rules that were certain to provoke high drama and tragedy. He requisitioned certain of his father's warriors (or gladiators), explained the rules for the method of sport that he had created and forced them into action.

The warriors, as required by the rules of Theseus, sat on flat stones facing each other, their noses almost touching. Their fists were encased in leather thongs. On signal, they started punching at each other. All battles were to a finish. It seems that only the death of the antagonist meant complete victory. Therefore, when one man had hammered the other into insensibility, he continued to punch until he had beaten him to death.

Some of the battles were too prolonged to be pleasing to Theseus. They delayed staging of other fights by fresh gladiators. Therefore, Theseus had the thongs studded with metal, which resulted in quicker finishes. As time went on, the thongs were fitted with something like metal spikes, some short, others long, and often the first few blows landed by a man crushed the face of his opponent, while the delivery of a dozen subsequent blows usually ended the battle-and the warrior.

Historians are inclined to grant the title of all-time champion to Theagenes, of Thasos, Greece, a man who could deliver blows with awesome power. After winning the championship by finishing off the champion who preceded him, Theagenes is credited with obliterating his next 1,425 opponents. He struck quickly; far more so than his rivals. He struck with shattering force. Therefore, since he usually got in the first punch and often injured the other fighter so horribly he could not retaliate, Theagenes went on and on, beating and killing a long succession of gladiators.