This course offers a historical exploration of the relationship between art and physical combat as represented and/or enacted in various media. Taking as its subject ancient artefacts, literature, painting, and film from a variety of cultures and historical moments, this course asks what representations of combat say about why humans engage in combat sports. It also explores and analyses the forms through which this combat itself is enacted – whether in wooded glades; on small, confined stages; in tents; or through a variety of televisual and cinematic media – to delve into the implications of meaning, media, and communal ritual in a variety of historical and contemporary contexts.