The Ancient Egyptians, history tells, are not only the inventors of sports, but as Nevine El-Aref uncovers, of ball itself Ancient Egyptians were the forefathers of many modern day sports. Not only did they conceptualise the games themselves, but the Pharaohs set down the fundamentals of 'sport', such as rules for games, a special uniform for players, a referee organising the contest, interfering to break up a scuffle or grapple and announcing the winners by awarding them different collars or victor's ribbons. Sportsmanship is amongst those elements: On the walls of Ramses III's temple in Madinet Habu on Luxor's west bank, a scene depicts a player walking towards the audience and greeting them by bowing and raising his hand to his forehead -- it was then, it is clear, that the values of a sportsman were born. Actual items of entertainment -- such as dolls, leather-covered balls, board games and toy animals -- were found as grace goods in the tombs. The question of whether these images are interpreted subjectively is one which has been raised, refuted, and ultimately proved wrong. The images are clear; vivid in their depictions of the sports, their rules, and their reason for play. "Although it was a cultural phenomenon, sports in Ancient Egypt played, in fact, a significant social and political role," Tarek El- Awadi, chief inspector at the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), told Al-Ahram Weekly. El-Awadi explained that sports were divided into categories; the first -- for entertainment and keeping slim -- included activities such as gymnastics, acrobatics, hunting, swimming, and high jump. The second -- for building the bodies of kings and warriors, as well as strengthening the muscles of youth preparing to be priests or military officers -- included sports such as boxing, wrestling, equestrian, marathon and archery. Hunting, archery and javelin throw appear to have been the most important, and exciting, for royals and nobles. "They were not only to enjoy the camaraderie of their friends and family but a chance to prove their prowess as well as showing their courage and physical ability to defeat a lion or a tiger running in the desert, a hippo or a crocodile crossing the Nile," El-Awadi offered. At Ramses III's west bank temple, a number of scenes featuring Ramses III as a hippo, wild bull and lion hunter are shown. On display at the Egyptian museum in Tahrir Square is a small statue of Tutankhamen as a hippo hunter. Alongside it, a collection of fishing hooks of different shapes and sizes reveal how developed the sport was. The pleasure of the hunt is recorded in the fishing and fowling papyrus: "A happy day when we go down to the marsh, that we may snare birds and catch many fishes in the water.... A happy day on which we give to everybody and the marsh goddess is propitious. We shall trap birds and shall light a brazier to god Sobek." Fishing, on the other hand, was a sport practised by the ruling classes as well as ordinary people. It is depicted in the tombs of the nobles, which show scenes of fishing as a hobby. For civics, however, it was seen as a treacherous profession in which real danger was faced from both the poisonous catfish, and the most dreaded foe of all, the crocodile. If a boat capsized, the risk of being devoured by this Nile monster was high. Upon the completion of a fishing trip, the relief of fisherman at the safe return was depicted in the humorous jostle of fishermen with their fishing poles. Rowing is another Ancient Egyptian sport that required most physical strength. Plates recorded team-rowing in which players depended on harmonising their rowing according to the directives of their leader who held the rudder. The leader also controlled their movement through a high pitched systematic call to unify the moment when oars touched the surface of water and that helped to push the boat forward more steadily and swiftly -- a method still adopted in rowing today. The Nile was not the only place for fishing and rowing contests. While the calm waters of the Nile were the ultimate destination for big competitors, noblemen first learnt the sport in the privacy of their own swimming pools. "Marathon races were the utmost significant sport in Ancient Egypt," Mohamed Ismail, head of scientific research at the SCA technical office, told the Weekly. He explained that the marathon gained its importance not only as an essential element of a person's physical wellbeing, but also for religious purposes. The marathon, however, was practised by the king only during the Heb-Sed celebration to effect a regeneration of the king's might, to put the Pharaoh in the necessary condition to fulfil his office. Rejuvenated and equipped with new power, he was made to confront his own successor through the feat. One of the essential rituals of this celebration was to hold a marathon run by the king at a running station built around his funerary collection or his pyramids collection. Among the most well known scenes of the Heb-Sed jubilee is the one of King Djoser running around his complex -- characterising it as the central structure in the sequence of festive events. "Ball games were also very popular in Ancient Egypt as it is today," Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of the SCA, told the Weekly. Hawass asserted that Ancient Egyptians were the first to devise ball games -- portrayed more than five thousand years ago in the tombs in Saqqara. "Many balls have been found in excavations, stuffed with palm or papyrus fibre, or straw, and covered in sewn leather or cloth," Hawass said. Scenes from the tombs at Beni Hassan in Menya show groups of girls cleverly juggling with two or three balls at once or playing a game of catch while mounted piggy-back on a companion. This game is too similar to the handball matches of today. "Those girls were also shown in another scene while kicking a ball with their legs and passing it to each other. This would be the early form of the well known football game of today," Hawass asserted. Next to the latter, a drawing depicting a ball game similar to present-day hockey was also found. It portrayed two players flicking a small ball with long rackets, hockey sticks made of palm leaf stalk, bent and broad at the end like the hockey sticks in use today. The hockey ball was made of compressed papyrus fibres covered with two pieces of leather in the shape of a semicircle. The ball was dyed in two or more colours. "This primitive hockey game is still played in the countryside and is known as Hoksha," Hawass pointed out. Among the sports that the Ancient Egyptians invented to keep strong and slim are gymnastics and acrobatics. An ostracon from Deir Al-Medina dating back to 2000 BC, shows a gymnastics drill in which the body is bent backwards until the hands touch the ground, revealing bodily flexibility. It is one of the most commonly practised exercises today. Another painting represents a player performing consecutive vaults and making more than one complete turn in the air. "At the end of the exercise the players stand firmly upright, which is one of the basic rules of floor exercise applied in today's Olympics," El-Awadi revealed. Ancient Egyptians, in fact, had mastered many of modern-day Olympic sports. The reliefs found in Beni Hassan show the various positions and movements of various sports in succession, like film stills recorded a long time ago; for example some scenes were found in Mery-Re tomb in Menya of boxing, Similarly, in the Ptah-Hotep tomb in Saqqara, one can see a boxer in position, ready to hit the other player who in his turn tries to repel the blows and protect his face. The same for wrestling. Ahmed Said, assistant professor at Cairo University's Faculty of Antiquities, believes that wrestling and hunting were in existence during pre-Pharaonic times. "They were practised since the prehistoric era of Naqqada III," Said said. "Wrestlers were shown during their combat and hunters during the process on hands of the ivory knifes as decorative items." These knifes were found at Gaeibel Al-Tareq and Geibel Al-Arqi in the eastern desert, near Qena governorate. They were made of ivory, ebony or gold plated. Track and field, too, had its place. Hawass said that Ancient Egyptians invented several games including a variation on the high-jump. In this game two players created a human barrier with their hands while the third player tried to jump between them without touching them. The players would then make the barrier successively higher by using their legs. "This game is still played in countryside and it is known as goose steps," said Hawass. He also said that all the ancient sports were enjoyed by young women, even though some engravings show martial arts to be associated with boys. A depiction of a girl practising archery and shooting at three targets is shown on tombs' walls. Children too had their place in ancient sports. In the Old Kingdom tomb of Mereruka, girls and boys are twirled round by the arms in a game that describes "pressing the grapes". "It is a pity that we have no more details than this illustration," said Hawass. Nearby, holding mirrors and rattles other girls are performing Hathor's dancing game, which was central in Egyptian culture, both for celebrations and religious purposes. A scene showing girls being trained to dance is also found at Beni Hassan; the girls are shown practising various steps and movements, instructed by two men. Hawass confirmed that daughters of elite families would also be thought to sing and play a musical instrument, so that as adults they would be able to participate in an essential part of temple ritual. Amidst the thousands of images engraved into the ancient stones, the playing of ball is one which comes up time and again. The Ancient Egyptians were indeed the founders of street ball, and the image is one which continues its legacy in Egypt today -- not just as football, but also as kura shurab -- (sock football). [To find out about the Egyptian invention of sock football, see next week's twentyten page]
