Wrestling probably originated in hand-to-hand combat, and in particular as a sportive form of combat substituting the submission of a contestant for his death. Works of art from 3000 bce depict belt wrestling in Babylonia and Egypt, and the Sumerian Gilgamesh epic has a description of such wrestling. Loose wrestling in India dates to before 1500 bce. Chinese documents from 700 bce describe loose wrestling, as do Japanese records from the 1st century bce. The belt wrestling practiced locally in the 20th century by the Swiss, Icelanders, Japanese, and Cossacks differed little from that of the Egyptians in 2500 bce.
