Although it was a ball game, it was quite violent (at least inSparta).[5] The game is comparable torugby,American football, orcalcio storico fiorentino, at least in concept. The two teams would attempt to throw the ball over the heads of the other team. There was a white line called theskŷros ([1]σκῦρος)[4] between the teams, and another white line behind each team. The teams would change possession of the ball often, until one of the teams was forced behind their line. In Sparta, a form ofepiskyros was played during an annual city festival that included five teams of 14 players.[6][7][8][9][10] The Greek game ofepiskyros, or a similar game calledphainínda (Φαινίνδα)[11][a] was later adopted by the Romans, who renamed and transformed it intoharpastum.[13][14]"Harpastum" is thelatinisation of the Ancient Greekἁρπαστόν (harpastón), meaning "snatched away"[15] from the verbἁρπάζω (harpázō), meaning "I seize" or "I filch".[16]
A depiction on a vase displayed at theNational Archaeological Museum, Athens,[1] shows a Greek athlete balancing a ball on his thigh. This image is reproduced on the European Cup football trophy.[17]Other ancient Greek sports with a ball besides episkyros were:ἀπόῤῥαξις (apórrhaxis, "dribbling"),[18]οὐρανία (ūranía, "sky ball")[19][20] and maybeσφαιρομαχία (sphairomakhía,lit.''ball-fight'')[21] fromσφαῖρα (sphaîra, "ball", "sphere")[22] andμάχη (mákhē, "battle"),[23] though it has been argued that thesphairomakhia in this context is rather a boxing competition, and thesphairai were a form ofboxing gloves.[24]Julius Pollux includesphaininda andharpastum in a list of ball games:
Phaininda takes its name from Phaenides, who first invented it, or fromphenakizein ("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 fromharpazein ("to snatch") and perhaps one would call the game with the soft ball by the same name.[25]
^"episkuros (orharpaston)".The New Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007.The gameepiskuros was a ball-game popular in ancient Greece, with elements offootball,soccer, andrugby. Among other names (which might actually refer to distinct games (consider how to distinguish rugby from soccer when describing them to a sportsman who knows neither game) it was also calledharpaston; by the 2nd centuryBCE it had migrated to Rome and was then calledharpastum.
.svg)
