Episkyros was an ancient Greek

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...

 ball game (also called έφηβική ephebike and ἐπίκοινος epikoinos, "commonball"). 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. 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. It was played primarily by men but women also practiced it. The Greek game of episkyros (or a similar game called φαινίνδα - phaininda, probably meaning "deceiving game", from the verb φενακίζω - phenakizo, "to cheat, to lie") was later adopted by the Romans, who renamed and transformed it into harpastum

Harpastum

Harpastum, also known as Harpustum, was a form of ball game played in the Roman Empire. The Romans also referred to it as the small ball game. The ball used was small and hard, probably about the size and solidity of a softball...

, the latinisation

Latinisation (literature)

Latinisation is the practice of rendering a non-Latin name in a Latin style. It is commonly met with for historical personal names, with toponyms, or for the standard binomial nomenclature of the life sciences. It goes further than Romanisation, which is the writing of a word in the Latin alphabet...

 of the Greek ἁρπαστόν (harpaston), neuter of ἁρπαστός (harpastos), "carried away", from the verb ἁρπάζω (harpazo), "to seize, to snatch". A depiction on an Attic lekythos

Lekythos

A lekythos is a type of Greek pottery used for storing oil , especially olive oil. It has a narrow body and one handle attached to the neck of the vessel. The lekythos was used for anointing dead bodies of unmarried men and many lekythoi are found in tombs. The images on lekythoi were often...

 in the Acropolis Museum

Acropolis Museum

The Old Acropolis Museum was an archaeological museum located in Athens, Greece on the archeological site of Acropolis. It is built in a niche at the eastern edge of the rock and most of it lies beneath the level of the hilltop, making it largely invisible. It was considered one of the major...

 in Athens, shows a Greek athlete balancing a ball on his thigh. This image is reproduced on the European Cup soccer trophy. Other ancient Greek sports with a ball besides phaininda, were: ἀπόρραξις (aporrhaxis) (bouncing ball game) οὐρανίαν (ouranian), "throwing a ball high in air game" and σφαιρομαχία (sphairomachia), literally "ball-battle", from σφαῖρα (sphaira) "ball, sphere" + μάχη (mache), "battle".

Julius Pollux

Julius Pollux

Julius Pollux was a Greek or Egyptian grammarian and sophist from Alexandria who taught at Athens, where he was appointed professor of rhetoric at the Academy by the emperor Commodus — on account of his melodious voice, according to Philostratus' Lives of the Sophists. Nothing of his...

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."