The most ancient surviving European epic, the Ilias, is full of individual challenges. The Nordic custom of Holmgang was also just that, an honorable way to end a dispute without needlessly feuding clans and an escalation of cruelties and trickery. An island was chosen to elevate the conflict from profane assault to sacred ritual. This tradition was kept in Germany for centuries after christianisation with more and more bizarre rulesets after the sacred ceded to iuris prudentia.