Akrotiri Boxer Fresco

It is a fresco depicting two young boys wearing boxing gloves and belts and dates back to the Bronze Age, 1700 BC.

The youth of the boys in the Akrotiri Boxer Fresco hints that athletes began training very early on in life, suggesting that sports were extremely important to Minoan society.

The most common colours used in frescoes were green, blue, yellow, white, red, and black, all of which were derived from minerals and later fixed with organic material.

[7] Advanced geometric patterns suggest the usage of mechanical tools to improve the accuracy of the designs as well as a grid system for proportionality.

As is common in other forms of Greek art such as pottery, male skin is generally painted red while females tend to be portrayed as white.

[1] In the Akrotiri Boxer Fresco, the youths' red skin suggests their gender while their partially shaved heads indicate that they are still children.