Episkyros

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Ancient Greek football player balancing the ball. Depiction on an Attic Lekythos.

Episkyros (Greek: ἐπίσκυρος[1]) was an ancient Greek ball game also called έφηβική ephebike, "adolescence", and ἐπίκοινος epikoinos, "commonball"[2]). The game was played between two teams of usually 12 to 14 players each, with one ball and the rules of the game allowed using hands. Although it was a ball game, it was violent, at least at Sparta.[3] The teams would try to throw the ball over the heads of the other team. There was a white line between the teams and another white line behind each team. Teams would change the ball often until one of the team is forced behind the line at their end. In Sparta a form of episkyros was played during an annual city festival that included five teams of 14 players.[4][5][6][7][8] It was played primarily by men but women also practiced it. The Greek game of episkyros (or a similar game called φαινίνδα - phaininda,[9] probably meaning "deceiving game", from the verb φενακίζω - phenakizo, "to cheat, to lie"[10]) was later adopted by the Romans, who renamed and transformed it into harpastum,[11][12] the latinisation of the Greek ἁρπαστόν (harpaston), neuter of ἁρπαστός (harpastos), "carried away",[13] from the verb ἁρπάζω (harpazo), "to seize, to snatch".[14] A depiction on an Attic lekythos in the Acropolis Museum in Athens, shows a Greek athlete balancing a ball on his thigh. This image is reproduced on the European Cup soccer trophy.[15] Other ancient Greek sports with a ball besides phaininda, were: ἀπόρραξις (aporrhaxis) (bouncing ball game)[16] οὐρανίαν (ouranian), "throwing a ball high in air game"[17][18] and σφαιρομαχία (sphairomachia), literally "ball-battle",[19] from σφαῖρα (sphaira) "ball, sphere"[20] + μάχη (mache), "battle".[21]

Julius Pollux [22] includes Phaininda and Harpastum in a list of ball games:

"Phaininda takes its name from Phaenides, who first invented it, or from 'phenakizein' (to deceive), because they show the ball to one man and then throw to another, contrary to expectation. It is likely that this is the same as the game with the small ball, which takes its name from 'harpazein' (to snatch) and perhaps one would call the game with the soft ball by the same name."

See also

References

  1. ↑ ἐπίσκυρος, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus Digital Library
  2. ↑ ἐπίκοινος, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus Digital Library
  3. ↑ Stephen G. Miller, Ancient Greek Athletics, Yale University Press, 2006, on Google books
  4. ↑ Sports and games of the ancients By Steve Craig Page 101 ISBN 0-313-36120-7 (2002)
  5. ↑ H. A. Harris, Sport in Greece and Rome, Cornell University Press, on Google books
  6. ↑ Nigel M. Kennell, The Gymnasium of Virtue: Education and Culture in Ancient Sparta, The University of North Carolina Press, 1995, on Google books
  7. ↑ Origin of Ball Games
  8. ↑ Nigel B. Crowther, Sport in Ancient Times (Praeger Series on the Ancient World), Praeger Publishers, January 2007
  9. ↑ φαινίνδα, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus Digital Library
  10. ↑ φενακίζω, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus Digital Library
  11. ↑ The New Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007 Edition: "In ancient Greece a game with elements of football, episkuros, or harpaston, was played, and it had migrated to Rome as harpastum by the 2nd century BC".
  12. ↑ harpastum, Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary, on Perseus Digital Library
  13. ↑ ἁρπαστός, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus Digital Library
  14. ↑ ἁρπάζω, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus Digital Library
  15. ↑ Soccer: Rules, Tips, Strategy, and Safety By Brian Wingate Page 101 ISBN 0-313-36120-7, 2007
  16. ↑ ἀπόρραξις, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus Digital Library
  17. ↑ οὐρανιάζω, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus Digital Library
  18. ↑ Arete: Greek sports from ancient sources Page 124 By Stephen Gaylord Miller ISBN 0-520-07509-9 (2004)
  19. ↑ σφαιρομαχία, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus Digital Library
  20. ↑ σφαῖρα, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus Digital Library
  21. ↑ μάχη, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus Digital Library
  22. ↑ Julius Pollux, "Onomasticon", 9.105
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