Athletics of the ancient world / [Edward Norman Gardiner].

  • Edward Norman Gardiner
Date:
1930
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Athletics of the ancient world / [Edward Norman Gardiner]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    20/350 page 4
    SPORTS OF THE ANCIENT EAST EGYPT OF the popularity of games among the Egyptians from the earliest times we have abundant evidence in the paintings of their tombs. The walls of Beni-Hassan in particular present us with a truly marvellous display of games and sports. With the sedentary games we are not here concerned except so far as they illustrate the antiquity of the games which have been popular at all times in the Mediterranean, especially of games of chance. It does not follow that we must look for the origin of these games to Egypt; rather it seems that they are the common property of the whole Mediterranean world, and possibly, if we had fuller knowledge of the Sumerians, we should find the same games among them. Here a few examples must suffice. One of the oldest and most widespread games is draughts. We have the draughtboard and draughtsmen that the Egyptians used, and Cnossos has yielded up a beautifully inlaid draught¬ board. We have a picture of Rameses III seated on a throne and playing draughts with a lady, perhaps his queen, who is standing opposite. He is in the act of moving one of the men. We re¬ member too how in the Odyssey Athena found the suitors seated before the palace, taking their pleasure in draughts. A late terra-cotta group from Athens shows us a young Athenian and a woman quarrelling over a game of draughts, while an aged dame expostulates with them. In the Via dell’ Abondanza at Pompeii an inscription on the walls tells us of the existence of a draughts or chess club (Latruncularii). Yet a more striking example of the persistence of a game is the Italian game of Morra, known to every visitor to Italy though forbidden by the Italian law. It was especially common among the ladies of fourth- century Athens, and two thousand years earlier the Egyptian artist depicted it on the walls of Beni-Hassan. With acrobatic performances we come somewhat nearer to athletics, for they imply physical agility and strength and require long and strenuous training. The Egyptians, like all orientals, loved shows of every sort. Acrobats were introduced at their feasts to amuse the guests just as they were at Xenophon’s Sym-
    No text description is available for this image
    No text description is available for this image
    No text description is available for this image