Sport in Ancient Times Recent Titles in the Praeger Series on the Ancient World Daughters of Gaia: Women in the Ancient Mediterranean World Bella Vivante SPORT IN ANCIENT TIMES Nigel B. Crowther Praeger Series on the Ancient World Bella Vivante, Series Editor Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Crowther, Nigel B. Sport in ancient times / Nigel B. Crowther. p. cm. — (Praeger series on the ancient world, ISSN 1932–1406) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-10: 0–275–98739–6 (alk. paper) ISBN-13: 978–0–275–98739–8 (alk. paper) 1. Sports—History. I. Title. GV571.C76 2007 796.'0901—dc22 2006032995 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available. Copyright © 2007 by Nigel B. Crowther All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, by any process or technique, without the express written consent of the publisher. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2006032995 ISBN-10: 0–275–98739–6 ISBN-13: 978–0–275–98739–8 ISSN: 1932–1406 First published in 2007 Praeger Publishers, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881 An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. www.praeger.com Printed in the United States of America The paper used in this book complies with the Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National Information Standards Organization (Z39.48–1984). 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 RMZ coniugi amatissimae Contents Figures ix Preface xi Timelines for Ancient Civilizations xv Introduction xxi 1. The Far East: China, Japan, and Korea 1 2. The Middle East (Excluding Egypt) 15 3. Egypt at the Time of the Pharaohs 25 4. Minoan Civilization 34 5. Mycenae and Homer 40 6. The Ancient Olympic Games 45 7. Ancient Greek Athletics 57 8. The Etruscans in Ancient Italy 78 9. Roman Games and Greek Athletics 83 10. Roman Recreations and Physical Fitness 87 11. Recreational Areas in Rome: The Baths and Campus Martius 95 12. Roman Gladiators 103 13. Roman Chariot Racing 124 14. The Byzantine Empire 134 15. Three Sporting Heroes of the Ancient World 140 16. Women and Sport: Atalanta and the “Gladiator Girl” 146 viii Contents 17. Greco-Roman Ball Games and Team Sports 154 18. Mesoamerican Ball Games 160 Further Readings 169 Index 177 Figures 1.1 Chinese swimming. Wall painting from Xinjiang province, about 500 C.E. Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz. 2 1.2 Terra-cotta statuette of a “polo” player from the Tang dynasty. Musée Cernuschi, Paris. 5 1.3 Terra-cotta statuette of a female “polo” player from the eighth century C.E . Musée des Arts Asiatiques-Guimet, Paris. 8 2.1 Early terra-cotta fragment containing part of the text of the Epic of Gilgamesh. Israel Museum (IDAM), Jerusalem, Israel. 16 2.2 Wrestlers take hold of each other’s belts. Copper statuette with offering stand above. Iraq Museum, Baghdad. 17 3.1 Tutankhamon hunting in the desert with chariot and bow. Detail from the lid of a chest. Egyptian Museum, Cairo. 28 3.2 Part of a sequence of wrestling scenes from Beni Hasan (2000 B.C.E .). Beni Hasan, Egypt. 30 3.3 Gaming board of Senet, with pieces, from Saqqara. Egyptian Museum, Cairo. 32 4.1 Bull leaping. Minoan fresco, 1500 B.C.E . Archaeological Museum, Heraklion, Crete. 35 4.2 The “Boxer Vase” from Hagia Triada, Crete. 37 4.3 The “Boy Boxer” fresco from Thera. National Archaeological Museum, Athens. 38 5.1 Portrait bust of Homer. Musei Capitolini, Rome. 41 6.1 Later stadium at Olympia looking toward the Altis . 51 7.1 Relief from the base of a kouros. National Archaeological Museum, Athens. 61 7.2 A vase painting by Epicterus (fi fth century B.C.E .). Louvre, Paris. 64 7.3 Roman copy of Myron’s Discobolus. Museo Nazionale Romano (Terme di Diocleziano), Rome. 65 7.4 “Seated Boxer.” Museo Nazionale Romano (Terme di Diocleziano), Rome. 69 7.5 Four-horse chariot race with horses abreast. Black-fi gured amphora with white glaze (sixth century B.C.E .). Louvre, Paris. 72 x Figures 8.1 Runners wearing shorts in the Tomb of the Olympiads, Tarquinia, Italy, sixth century B.C.E . 80 8.2 Wrestlers in the Tomb of the Augurs, Tarquinia, Italy, sixth century B.C.E . 81 9.1 Model of the U-shaped stadium of Domitian. Museo della Civiltà Romana, Rome. 85 10.1 Ganymede playing with a hoop. Attic red-fi gure bell crater, late fi fth century B.C.E . Louvre, Paris. 88 11.1 Aerial view of the Baths of Caracalla, Rome, Italy. 96 11.2 An ancient Roman bath in Bath, England. 98 12.1 Roman mosaic of a retiarius. Galleria Borghese, Rome. 107 12.2 Aerial shot of the Colosseum in the center of Rome. 110 13.1 Model of the Circus Maximus in Rome. Museo della Civiltà Romana, Rome. 125 13.2 Terra-cotta relief, fi rst to third century C .E. , of the quadriga. Louvre, Paris. 128 14.1 The obelisk in the hippodrome in Istanbul. 135 16.1 Atalanta and Peleus wrestling. Attic black-fi gure amphora from Nola. Antikensammlung, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin. 147 16.2 Part of the “Bikini Mosaic” depicting here a jumper, discus thrower, and runner. Villa del Casale, Piazza Armerina, Sicily. 149 16.3 Marble relief of female gladiators from Halicarnassus, Turkey. British Museum, London. 152 17.1 The “Hockey Relief.” National Archaeological Museum, Athens. 156 17.2 Game of episkyros? A late sixth-century B.C.E. relief. National Archaeological Museum, Athens. 157 18.1 I-shaped ball court at Chichén Itzá, Mexico. Chichén Itzá, Yucatán, Mexico. 162 18.2 Vertical ring in the ball court at Uxmal, Yucatán, Mexico. Maya period, ninth to tenth century C .E . 163 18.3 Hohokam ball court, Wupatki, northern Arizona, twelfth century C .E ., Cline Library. 164 Preface This book examines a wide range of sports in ancient times—almost 100 in all—that involve competition, physical prowess without competition, games, recreations that sometimes may be nonphysical, or in some cases even pur- suits that one would not consider sports today. It concentrates as much as possible, however, on activities that embrace contests, skill, training, energy, and fi tness, and deals less with nonphysical recreations such as board games and gambling, which usually receive a bare mention. If I had used the term sport in a narrower sense and included only competitive contests that the ancients played for their own sake, this would have been a short work in- deed! Readers will fi nd further comments on the problems of defi ning sport in the Introduction. The study covers sport in the Far East, the Middle East, North Africa, Greece, Italy, the Byzantine Empire, and the Americas, which gives a large representative sample from 5 continents and 20 different societies that in- clude both Eastern and Western traditions. It surveys various types of sport and recreation from the beginning of writing in about 3000 B.C.E . to the Mid- dle Ages. Although sport of some kind, however informal, probably existed earlier than this (in the Stone Ages), the records are largely nonexistent. The historical period of Greece and Rome occupies a prominent role in this book, partly because more abundant sources remain than for other early cultures, but also because sport played such a signifi cant role in these civilizations. Because the ancient world extends over so vast a time span, the book takes a historical approach. This overview brings out the cultural complexities in ancient times of so basic an activity as sport. The 18 chapters are of various lengths, depending to some extent on the primary sources available. Chapter 1 surveys among˘ other activities early forms of polo, soccer, and golf in China, sumo wrestling in Japan, and tra- ditional sports in Korea. Chapter 2 investigates the sports of the Sumerians, Hittites, and other peoples of the Middle East (except Egypt). Chapter 3 con- tains a detailed discussion of Egyptian sports, many of which have connec- tions with the ideology of the pharaohs. Chapter 4 looks at bull leaping and boxing on prehistoric Crete and Thera, where art and archaeology provide xii Preface our only information for sport. Chapter 5 discusses the literary accounts of sport found in the epics of Homer and their relevance for later Greek society. Chapter 6 describes the ancient Olympics and the numerous similarities and differences between the games of old and those of today. Chapter 7 examines the competitive nature of Greek athletics, using documentation that is more complete than for almost any other society except our own. The term athletics throughout the book refers to their track and fi eld and combat events of the ancient Greeks. Chapter 8 discusses sport practiced by the early Italian tribe known as the Etruscans and its infl uence on the Romans. Chapters 9 through 13 cover sport among the Romans. These emphasize their attitudes to the Olym- pic Games, their various recreations, and the political concept of “bread and games” (or feeding the masses and entertaining them), as seen in gladiato- rial combats and chariot racing. Although some modern historians have refused to discuss Roman gladiatorial contests under the heading of sport because they involve violence and coercion, these performances became major spectacles that often included “real” matches between free combatants who competed with referees and rules. Chapter 14 discusses the enormous signifi cance of Byzantine chariot racing and its effect on society. Chapter 15 examines the status of three heroes from the ancient world whose successes transcended sport: Theogenes, a Greek Olympic victor; Hermes, a Roman gladiator; and Porphyrius, a Byzantine charioteer.