Harpastum
Encyclopedia
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 (not as large as a follis, paganica, or soccer-sized ball) and hard, probably about the size and solidity of a softball
. The word harpastum is the latinisation
of the Greek
ἁρπαστόν (harpaston), the neuter of ἁρπαστός (harpastos), "carried away", from the verb ἁρπάζω (harpazo), "to seize, to snatch".
This game was apparently a romanized
version of a Greek
game called phaininda (Greek
: φαινίνδα), or of another Greek game called ἐπίσκυρος (episkuros
). It involved considerable speed, agility, and physical exertion. Little is known about the exact rules of the game, but sources indicate the game was a violent one with players often ending up on the ground. In Greece
, a spectator (of the Greek form of the game) once had his leg broken when he got caught in the middle of play.
The general impression from these descriptions is of a game quite similar to rugby. Additional descriptions suggest a line was drawn in the dirt, and that the teams would endeavor to keep the ball behind their side of the line and prevent the opponents from reaching it. This seems rather like an 'inverted' form of football. If the opponents had the ball on their side of the line, the objective would seem to be to get in and "pass" it to another player, or somehow get it back over the line.
The ancient accounts of the game are not precise enough to enable us to reconstruct the rules in any detail. Indeed we do not even know that there were any fixed rules. But what follows is a hypothetical reconstruction of the rules. Perhaps 5-12 players on each side of a line, on a field about the size of a football field. A team that won the toss of a coin (dice
or tali have been mentioned in this context) would start with the ball sitting on their side of the line. The opposing team would try to steal the ball and get it back to their side. Presumably only the person holding the ball could be 'held,' which is why the player above passed it while dodging an opponent—he was in danger of being tackled. Scoring might be accomplished by letting the ball hit the ground in your own territory, which may be why the ball was not allowed to hit the ground. The other characteristics of the game, such as players or balls going out of bounds, could be expected to be similar to modern rules of soccer or football.
In an epigram, Martial
makes reference to the dusty game of Harpasta in reference to Atticus' preference for running as exercise :
"No hand-ball (pila), no bladder-ball (follis), no feather-stuffed ball (paganica) makes you ready for the warm bath, nor the blunted sword-stroke upon the unarmed stump; nor do you stretch forth squared arms besmeared with oil, nor, darting to and fro, snatch the dusty scrimmage-ball (harpasta), but you run only by the clear Virgin water (the Aqua Virgo
aqueduct)."
Ball game
In American English, ball game refers specifically to either a game of basketball, baseball or American football. In British English ball game refers to any sport played with a ball....
played in the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
. The Romans also referred to it as the small ball game. The ball used was small (not as large as a follis, paganica, or soccer-sized ball) and hard, probably about the size and solidity of a softball
Softball
Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
. The word harpastum is 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
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
ἁρπαστόν (harpaston), the neuter of ἁρπαστός (harpastos), "carried away", from the verb ἁρπάζω (harpazo), "to seize, to snatch".
This game was apparently a romanized
Romanization (cultural)
Romanization or latinization indicate different historical processes, such as acculturation, integration and assimilation of newly incorporated and peripheral populations by the Roman Republic and the later Roman Empire...
version of a 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...
game called phaininda (Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
: φαινίνδα), or of another Greek game called ἐπίσκυρος (episkuros
Episkyros
Episkyros was an ancient Greek ball game . 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...
). It involved considerable speed, agility, and physical exertion. Little is known about the exact rules of the game, but sources indicate the game was a violent one with players often ending up on the ground. In Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, a spectator (of the Greek form of the game) once had his leg broken when he got caught in the middle of play.
Writings related to Harpastum
- AthenaeusAthenaeusAthenaeus , of Naucratis in Egypt, Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourished about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century AD...
writes:
- "Harpastum, which used to be called Phaininda, is the game I like most of all. Great are the exertion and fatigue attendant upon contests of ball-playing, and violent twisting and turning of the neck. Hence Antiphanes, "Damn it, what a pain in the neck I've got." He describes the game thus: "He seized the ball and passed it to a team-mate while dodging another and laughing. He pushed it out of the way of another. Another fellow player he raised to his feet. All the while the crowd resounded with shouts of Out of bounds, Too far, Right beside him, Over his head, On the ground, Up in the air, Too short, Pass it back in the scrum."
- GalenGalenAelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus , better known as Galen of Pergamon , was a prominent Roman physician, surgeon and philosopher...
, in On Exercise with the Small Ball , describes Harpastum as:
- "better than wrestling or running because it exercises every part of the body, takes up little time, and costs nothing."; it was "profitable training in strategy", and could be "played with varying degrees of strenuousness." Galen adds, "When, for example, people face each other, vigorously attempting to prevent each other from taking the space between, this exercise is a very heavy, vigorous one, involving much use of the hold by the neck, and many wrestling holds."
- An anonymous poet praises the ball skills of Piso:
- "No less is your nimbleness, if it is your pleasure to return the flying ball, or recover it when falling to the ground, and by a surprising movement get it within bounds again in its flight. To watch such play the populace remains stockstill, and the whole crowd suddenly abandons its own games."
- Julius PolluxJulius PolluxJulius 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 Harpastum and Phaininda 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."
- Sidonius ApollinarisSidonius ApollinarisGaius Sollius Apollinaris Sidonius or Saint Sidonius Apollinaris was a poet, diplomat, and bishop. Sidonius is "the single most important surviving author from fifth-century Gaul" according to Eric Goldberg...
describes a ball game in one of his letters:
- "And now the illustrious Filimatius sturdily flung himself into the squadrons of the players, like Virgil's hero, 'daring to set his hand to the task of youth'; he had been a splendid player himself in his youth. But over and over again, he was forced from his position among the stationary players by the shock of some runner from the middle, and driven into the midfield, where the ball flew past him, or was thrown over his head; and he failed to intercept or parry it. More than once he fell prone, and had to pick himself up from such collapses as best he could; naturally he was the first to withdraw from the stress of the game."
The general impression from these descriptions is of a game quite similar to rugby. Additional descriptions suggest a line was drawn in the dirt, and that the teams would endeavor to keep the ball behind their side of the line and prevent the opponents from reaching it. This seems rather like an 'inverted' form of football. If the opponents had the ball on their side of the line, the objective would seem to be to get in and "pass" it to another player, or somehow get it back over the line.
The ancient accounts of the game are not precise enough to enable us to reconstruct the rules in any detail. Indeed we do not even know that there were any fixed rules. But what follows is a hypothetical reconstruction of the rules. Perhaps 5-12 players on each side of a line, on a field about the size of a football field. A team that won the toss of a coin (dice
Dice
A die is a small throwable object with multiple resting positions, used for generating random numbers...
or tali have been mentioned in this context) would start with the ball sitting on their side of the line. The opposing team would try to steal the ball and get it back to their side. Presumably only the person holding the ball could be 'held,' which is why the player above passed it while dodging an opponent—he was in danger of being tackled. Scoring might be accomplished by letting the ball hit the ground in your own territory, which may be why the ball was not allowed to hit the ground. The other characteristics of the game, such as players or balls going out of bounds, could be expected to be similar to modern rules of soccer or football.
In an epigram, Martial
Martial
Marcus Valerius Martialis , was a Latin poet from Hispania best known for his twelve books of Epigrams, published in Rome between AD 86 and 103, during the reigns of the emperors Domitian, Nerva and Trajan...
makes reference to the dusty game of Harpasta in reference to Atticus' preference for running as exercise :
"No hand-ball (pila), no bladder-ball (follis), no feather-stuffed ball (paganica) makes you ready for the warm bath, nor the blunted sword-stroke upon the unarmed stump; nor do you stretch forth squared arms besmeared with oil, nor, darting to and fro, snatch the dusty scrimmage-ball (harpasta), but you run only by the clear Virgin water (the Aqua Virgo
Aqua Virgo
The Aqua Virgo was one of the 11 aqueducts that supplied the city of ancient Rome. The aqueduct fell into disuse with the fall of the Roman Empire, but was fully restored nearly a whole millennium later during the Renaissance to take its current form as the Acqua Vergine.The Aqua Virgo was...
aqueduct)."
See also
- Calcio FiorentinoCalcio FiorentinoCalcio Fiorentino was an early form of football that originated in 16th century Italy. The Piazza Santa Croce of Florence is the cradle of this sport, that became known as giuoco del calcio fiorentino or simply calcio .The official rules of calcio were published for the first time in 1580 by...
- CujuCujuCuju is an ancient code of football with similarities to association football. It is seen by some to be a forerunner of modern football and originated in China, and was also played in Korea, Japan and Vietnam.-History:...
- Follis (ball game)
- History of football (soccer)History of football (soccer)Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, can be traced to as far back as the Medieval period in Britain . The modern game of association football originates from the formation of the The Football Association in London, England in 1863 based on multiple efforts to standardise...
- Kirkwall Ba gameKirkwall Ba gameThe Kirkwall Ba Game is one of the main annual events held in the town of Kirkwall, in Orkney, Scotland. It is one of a number of Ba Games played in the streets of towns around Scotland; these are examples of traditional football games which are still played in towns in the United Kingdom and...
- La SouleLa SouleLa soule, also known as choule, is a traditional team sport that originated in Normandy and Picardy.The ball, called a soule, could be solid or hollow and made of either wood or leather. Leather balls would be filled with hay, bran, horse hair or moss...
- VolataVolataVolata is a ball game that was developed in fascist Italy as a substitute for association football and rugby union. It was played by eight-man sides to rules that were a hybrid of those for football and handball....