Playing Ball in Greek Antiquity

7/29/2019 Playing Ball in Greek Antiquity

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Gr & Rom, Vol. 59, No. 1, Th Classial Assoiation, 2012. All rights rsrvddoi:10.1017/S0017383511000222

P L AY INGB A L L INGR E EK A NT IQUIT Y

PLAYING BALL IN GREEK ANTIQUITY

Among th plthora o minor playrs whos nams intrudrifly into th historial rord o th ag o Alxandr th Gratis Aristonius o Carystus. A mmr o Alxandrs ntourag, hlarly attaind som standing in his own right, and at last som othat rnown drivd, it sms, rom his prowss as a all-playr. Thuson o th intrloutors in Athnaus Deipnosophistairports o his

honouring at Athns (1.19a) that

, , .

Th Athnians mad Aristonius th Carystian, Alxandrs all-playr, a itizn o

thir ity on account of his skill, and thy rtd a statu to him.1

I it wr aus o his all-playing skills that th Athnians hadlratd Aristonius, this would striking indd: all th mor so

as Aristonius sms to hav rivd th highst honours that thity ould stow, or it is proaly this sam Aristonius whos namis partially prsrvd on SEG 21.341 (IG ii2 385) as th ripintnot only o itiznship ut also o th privilg o puli dining, orsitesis, at th Prytanum, alongsid th dsndants o Harmodius andAristogiton and othr stat nators.2 So losly guardd was thprivilg o sitesis at Athns that its award was stritly govrnd ylgislation, and skill at all-playing is sarly onsistnt with any o

th ormal ritria or honorands.3

W nd not posit, howvr, thatth Athnians rgardd Aristonius all-playing so highly that thy

* I am most gratul or th advi and suggstions rom th anonymous rr o Greece &Rome. Any aults rmain my own. Any unrditd translations ar also my own.

1 Emphasis addd. All translations rom Athnaus ar rom C. D. Yong, Athenaeus. ThDipnosophists (London, 1854).

2 Th assoiation o this dr or an Aristonius with th Carystian Aristonius is nouragdoth y th possil aommodation o his thni idntifiation within th stoihdon pattrno th stl and y Athnaus xpliit rrn to th Athnians granting o itiznship to him,as itd aov. Th statu would prsumaly hav n part and parl o th sam honours:

s S. Dow, Th Athnian Honors or Aristonikos o Karystos, Alxandrs ,HSCPh 67 (1963), 836; . M. J. Osorn,Naturalization in Athens (Brussls, 19813), ii.127.3 For th rgulations govrning sitesis, s IG i3 131, with disussion y M. J. Osorn,

Entrtainmnt at th Prytanion in Athns,ZPE41 (1981), 15370. Panhllni vitors aturamong th honorands.


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18 PLAYING BALL IN GREEK ANTIQUITY

ontravnd thir own laws in ordr to mak him an Athnian andgrant him stat dining rights.4 Athnaus purpos in mntioningth honouring o a ball-player is hostil, an illustration o a Grk

dgnray that saw thm applaud suh ntrtainrs; w may susptthat th srvis or whih Aristonius truly mritd suh rognitionmay wll hav n othr orms o nation, prormd prhaps inan amassadorial apaity on hal o Alxandr th Grat or ono th Diadochoi, th kind o work or whih stat rognition is wllparallld.5 Th honorary statu rtd or him may wll, howvr,hav depictedhim as a all-playr; suh an imag would urnish a asisor Athnaus distorting (or distortd) undrstanding o th honours,

and it is prtinnt that Athnaus digrssion on Grk dgnraymovs rom Aristonius to a latr statu rtd or th jugglrThodorus, whih vidntly portrayd its honorand with a pl inhis hand.

Whil Aristonius may thus not hav n grantd Athnianitiznship and sitesis as a all-playr, vn th likly dpition ohim as a pratitionr o this skill in a pulily ommissiond statuis worthy o onsidration, hinting as it dos at a shit in th soialrognition or valuation o his hosn sport. It is not, atr all,

Aristonius physial prowss as suh that marks his honours out ordrision y Athnaus, ut his partiular arna o xprtis. ManyGrkpoleis had long honourd athlts otn xtravagantly so utit had n th vitors o Panhllni omptition (whthr o athltior qustrian ontsts) that had n laudd. Ths wr vitorsimmortalizd in epinicia (songs o vitory), mn whos lrity statusould provid a modl or outstanding military ladrs (th primxampl is Thuydids tratmnt o th rption o th onquring

Spartan gnral, Brasidas, at Sion as though hwr an athlt; 4.121). Status o suh mn as ths wr de rigueur,and vn Athns a ity that th Athnian statsman Lyurgus proudlyoastd had stoppd short o displaying status o athlti vitors inits agora (Lyurg. Leoc. 51) grantd its highst ivi honours towinnrs o Panhllni rowns; only suh vitors as ths ar amongth slt w stipulatd y law as worthy ripints ositesis.

4 In his nativ Carystus, th xistn o a stival namd th Aristoniia (IGxii.9.207.41)

may takn as an indiation o xtraordinary honour thr.5 Compar Dow (n. 2), 889; Osorn (n. 2), ii.1279 (th dr or Aristonius isOsorns D49). For omparison with othr drs or Madonian assoiats, a usul listo honours onrrd on suordinats o Madonian potntats in this priod is ompild yI. Kralli, Athns and Hllnisti Kings, CQ 50 (2000), 1302.


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PLAYING BALL IN GREEK ANTIQUITY 19

It is th purpos o this artil to st Aristonius all-playing withina roadr ultural ontxt, on that taks us to th intrstion o thworlds o th Madonian ourt and o Grk poleis suh as Athns

and Sparta. In ths divrs worlds, rathr dirnt soial valus smto hav attahd to th playing o all sports; ths diring soialvalus thmslvs may loatd within a nxus o widr idas aoutth untion o sporting display and omptition. Considration o thprstig and soial valu attahd to othr orms o physial prowssmay hlp to luidat our ultural ontxts.

The culture of Greek ball-playing

Ball gams wr larly popular as a rrational ativity in antiquity,6ut xpliit mntions o th playing o all sports ar not ommonwithin Grk historial narrativs; only a handul o vas dpitions oall gams, omind with lat tstimonia (suh as Poll. Onom. 9.103 and Eust. Od. 8.376),7 onfirms that suh pastims wr knownand prhaps widsprad in lassial Gr. Th siln may taknas an indiation o th low soial valu prtaining to all-playing, a

status to whih th vry uiquity o all-play may itsl hav na ontriuting ator. (As alrady touhd upon, th kudos o thathlti and qustrian agones (ontsts), with thir lit individualism,provids a tlling ontrast; w shall hav many oasions low onwhih to not ontrasts o this kind.8) Ball-play was, atr all, a ormo ntrtainmnt assil to all ag groups. Whil som partiulargams wr th provin o youths on th rink o manhood (s

6 Eust. Od. 8.376: (thy saythat h dmd all-play no small part o xris).

7 S, or xampl, a lekythos y th Edinurgh Paintr, 500490 (Oxord, AshmolanMusum, inv. no. 1890.27); a marl unrary loutrophoros o th arly ourth ntury (AthnsNational Musum, inv. no. 873); and a marl statu as c. 510 bce (Athns National Musum,inv. no. 347). S also low n. 13.

8 Panhllni omptition had lar assoiations with aristorati litism. Ths wr mostpronound in th as o qustrian vnts, with thir havy finanial urdns, ut athltiontsts mor gnrally rtaind an idologial (and otn a mor than nominal) assoiation withlitism (so, or xampl, [Xn.] Ath. pol. 1.13); this lar idologial assoiation is a dirntmattr rom th qustion, now rathr ontrovrsial, o th xtnt to whih partiipation in athltiontst was atually th prsrv o an lit or was in at opn to sustantial partiipation rom

a roadr stor o anint soitis. S N. Fishr, Gymnasia and th Dmorati Valus oLisur, in P. Cartldg, P. Milltt, and S. von Rdn (ds.),Kosmos. Essays in Order, Conflict andCommunity in Classical Athens (Camridg, 1998), 84104; D. Prithard, Athltis, Eduationand Partiipation in Classial Athns, in D. Phillips and D. Prithard (ds.), Sport and Festivalin the Ancient Greek World(Swansa, 2003), 293349.


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low, p. 26), alls wr thn as now also th trinkts o hildhood,with Aristotl lighting upon a wll-mad all as a fitting prsnt orth magnanimous man to giv a hild (Eth. Nic. 4.1123a14); suh toys

hav n ound in th gravs o youths.9 Linguisti pattrns onfirmth assoiation: on might lgitimatly spak oplayingat all (, as or xampl at Hom. Od. 6.100), with a vr nvr usd oth sports in Panhllni ontsts.

Mor prolmatially still, prhaps, all gams wr also playd ygirls, and in a ontxt o mal playrs suh gams might imudwith rotiism. This is prsnt rom th arlist prsntations o all-play in Grk litratur, with Homrs Nausiaa haning upon th

slping Odyssus whil rtriving a all thrown y hr ompanions(Od. 6.99 ); th topos vidntly took hold, at tims with Eros himsltaking part in th all gams o young maidns. Thus Anaron358 PMG, in a pom that itsl draws upon th Homri Nausiaapisod,10 has th poti narrator struk y a all ast y Eros and soall in lov with th autiul all-playing girl. In a not dissimilar vin,ApolloniusArgonautica (3.11350) has Aphrodit riing hr spoiltand wilul hild to aus Mda to all in lov with Jason y promisinghim a goldn all.11 Th Argonautica passag in at rings togthr

a numr o th thmati onrns o all-playing that mad it ingnral a lss prstigious pastim than many othr sporting ativitis,or th goldn all is hr not only a trinkt mant to tmpt Eros intoting a lov aair ut is also dsrid as th plaything o Zussinany, a toy givn him y his nurs Adrastia whn h was a hild,ngagd in hildish ways. So spaks Aphrodit to hr son:

,

, , . : : :

9 For xampl, in a grav o two adolsnts at Samothra: s E. B. Dusnury, A

Samothraian Nropolis,Archaeology 12 (1959), 1689.10 S I. L. Pijr, Playing Ball with Homr: An Intrprtation o Anaron 358 PMG,Mnemosyne 53 (2000), 16484.

11 Mart. 10.86 has a twist on th thm y having on Laurus turn rom amorous sports toall-play, suh that all gams om th roti intrst.


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: : . . (Ap. Rhod.Argon. 3.132 )

I will giv you Zuss all-autous plaything th on whih his dar nurs Adrastia

mad or him, whil h still livd a hild, with hildish ways, in th Idaan av a wll-

roundd all; no ttr toy will you gt rom th hands o Hphastus. All o gold ar its

zons, and round ah doul sams run in a irl; ut th stiths ar hiddn, and a

dark lu spiral ovrlays thm all.This I will giv you; and you, strik with your shat

and harm th daughtr o Ats with lov or Jason.12

Suh assoiations o all-playing and womn within an roti ontxtar not onfind to th litrary vidn. Not, or xampl, th

trraotta all housd in th Boston Musum that longd to onMyrrhin, whos idntity as a hetaira (ourtsan) is suggstd yth dorativ shm and th sympoti kaloiinsriptions on th allitsl.13

This potntial or all sport to loatd within th ralms opatim ativity and vn within a minin sphr sparats it inidologial trms rom th pursuits o Panhllni omptition, andgos som way to xplaining what is largly an asn o all-playingin Grk historial narrativs.14 It is tlling, in this ontxt, that on oth vry rar andots to assoiat all-play with a historial figuro th lassial priod onrns th playwright Sophols, whosall-playing skills liitd amazmnt whn h was prorming as awoman, taking th part o Nausiaa on stag.15

12 Th translation is modifid rom that o R. C. Saton, Apollonius Rhodius. Argonautia(Camridg, MA and London, 1912), 203. Whn first approahd y his mothr with hr ri,Apollonius Eros is morovr ngagd in anothr lss prstigious pastim: h is playing di(alit with goldn di) with Ganymd (and shamlssly hating at th gam: 3.117 ). It is

just this pairing o all gams with di-playing as ativitis that Athnaus lights upon in hisxmpla o unworthy instans o ivi rognition. Ball-playing and diing ar hr sn asquintssntially th ativitis o patim and luxurious living (ut s low, n. 45, on Ciro).

13 H. Homan, A Clay Ball o Myrrhin, Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 61(1963), 202; H. R. Immrwahr, An Insrid Trraotta Ball in Boston, GRBS 8 (1967),25566. Th ojt is, mor prisly, a rattl that imitats a all. Not too th rd-figur kylixo th Saouro Paintr (c. 460 bce), on whih is dpitd a satd woman juggling thr allsand wathd y two youths, o whom on is oring a ird as a git (Lidn, Rijksmusum voorOudhdn, inv. no. PC 77).

14 S. G. Millr,Ancient Greek Athletics (Nw Havn, CT, 2004), 175, also mphasizs th tamnatur o all-play, whih st it at odds with th individualizd onptions oaret(ourag)dominant in lassial Gr. Th distintion twn tam and individual omptition is an

important on, to whih w rturn low.15 Ath. 1.20. Charatristi o th kind o tals rquntly attahd to pots, th andotitsl is, o ours, suspt: s M. Lkowitz, The Lives of the Greek Poets (London, 1981), 77.[Plato]s usag o sysphairistai or his orrspondnts (Ep. 363d), manwhil, is mtaphorial,as athing a all is usd as a simil or taking up an argumnt in Euthd. 277. A lurring o


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Contrast th situation in th Madonian amps o Alxandr andhis sussors, whr all-playing tnds to ast in a positiv lightand thos displaying a partiular profiiny ar laudd. In addition to

th muh-lratd Aristonius o Carystus with whom w gan, wlarn rom PlutarhsAlexander(39.3) o anothr all-playr attahdto Alxandrs ourt, y nam Srapion. Plutarh mntions him withina disquisition on Alxandrs gnrosity, rlating that, sin Srapionnvr askd or prsnts, Alxandr nvr gav thm until Srapionhld ak rom throwing th all to Alxandr, on th grounds thatAlxandr nvr askd or it; Srapion was, ndlss to say, lavishlyrognizd as a rsult.16 Th Srapion pisod is notworthy or its

rvlation, af rmd also in Athnaus tratmnt o Aristonius andinidntally in a third andot rportd y Plutarh (Vit. Alex. 73.7),that Alxandr himsl ngagd in all-play: Alxandr

, ,

on took o his loths or xris and was playing at all, and whn it was tim to

drss again, th young mn who wr playing with him hld a man satd on th

kings thron17

A urthr andot in Plutarh (Reg. et Imp. Apophth. 182a; slow, p. 27) suggsts that all-playing was latr a avourd pastim oAntigonus Monophthalmus soldirs; it may this sam Antigonuswho himsl, with his rinds, would disro and play all (Ath.1.15). Ths rrns onstitut a small lustring o matrial, utth lustr is striking whn st against th gnral lak o intrst inall-playing that w find in th historial narrativs o lassial Gr.Only in on othr Grkpolis is thr a similarly pronound intrst inall sports, and that is at Sparta: th assoiation thr was suf intlystrong or Spartans to rditd y at last on authority, Hippasus

philosophial and litral manings may prsnt in Antigonus o Carystus (largly hostil)dsription o th third-ntury Pripatti sholarh, Lyon, as a skilul and lvr all-playr(Ath. 12.548).

16

Prhaps it is this pisod that th sholiast had in mind who ommntd on Hs. Op. l.355that Plutarh ompars suh mn, who hav a gnrous natur, to all-playrs who, whn thyath th all thrown y anothr, do not hold on to it or pass it to unskilld playrs, ut to thoswho ar al to rturn th pass.

17 Th translation is that o B. Prrin, Plutarchs Livs (London and Nw York, 1919), vii.429.


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(a fith-ntury Pythagoran), as th invntors o all gams.18 Whyth dirn?

The curious cases of Macedonia and Sparta

Two potntial ators may isolatd to hlp us undrstand this soialprominn o all-playing, o whih on is its prominn in thHomri pis. Th all-playing o Nausiaa has alrady n touhdupon, ut thr is also th display o all skill stagd or Odyssusntrtainmnt at th Phaaian ourt itsl in Book 8. Odyssus has

listnd to th prorman o a ard, and thn , . ,, , : , . ,

: , . : , , , : . (Od. 8.37084)

Thn Alinous ad Halius and Laodamas dan alon, or no on ould ontnd with

thm. And whn thy had takn in thir hands th autiul all o rimson, whih

wis Polyus had mad or thm, th on would lan akward and toss it toward th

shadowy louds, and th othr would lap up rom th arth and skilully ath it or

his t touhd th ground again. But whn thy had trid thir skill in throwing th

all straight up, th two ll to daning on th ountous arth, vr tossing th all to

and ro, and th othr youths stood in th lists and at tim, and thrat a grat din

aros. Thn to Alinous spok goodly Odyssus: Lord Alinous, rnownd aov all

mn, you did oast that your danrs wr th st, and indd, your words ar mad

good; amazmnt holds m as I look on thm.19

18 Or at last o th typ o all gam playd y th Phaaians in Hom. Od. 78 (disussdlow).

19 Th translation is modifid rom that o A. T. Murray, Homer. Th Odyssy (London andNw York, 1924), i.285.


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Homrs loation o this playing o all within th Phaaian ourtitsl srvs to hint at its undamntally un-Grk natur. Th worldo th Phaaians is a liminal on, on that aords to Odyssus a

point o transition rom th aulous ralms o his arlir journyingto rintgration into th mor amiliar landsap o th Grk poleis.In kping with this liminal position, th Phaaians dmonstratthir own aquaintan with Grk agonisti ultur in its usual orms(wrstling, throwing o th spar), ut thir own talnts li in fildsmor rmovd rom Odyssus xprin: thus it is that Alinousordrs th display o all-play, and thus it is that Odyssus xprssshis astonishmnt at th skill o Halius and Laodamas.

Dspit this ssntial othrnss o th Phaaian all-play, it dosfind a rsonan within on Grk polis, namly Sparta, in historialtims. It is spifially in onntion with suh Homri all-play thatAthnaus (1.14d) its th authority o Hippasus rditing thinvntion o this sport to th Spartans:

, : , , .

Th dans spokn o in Homr ar partly thos o tumlrs and partly thos o all-

playrs; th invntion o whih last kind Agallis, th Coryran authorss who wrot on

grammar, attriuts to Nausiaa, paying a omplimnt to hr own ountrywoman; ut

Diaarhus attriuts it to th Siyonians. But Hippasus givs th rdit o oth this

and athlti xriss to th Ladamonians.

On might not also th tstimony o Eustathius who, iting thatphilo-Laonian Athnian oligarh and sophist, Critias, asris to th

Spartans a orm o xris that omins all and dan lmntsin a ashion rsonant with th Phaaian prorman o Odyssey 8.Eustathius ommntary on Odyssey 8.376 runs thus:

, ., . , .

It is to notd that suh a gam playd with a all was also a kind o dan, as

h maks lar likwis who wrot thus: Th thermaustris (tong-dan) is a daninvolving vigorous lg movmnts. At any rat Critias writs as ollows: Laping up


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high o th ground or dropping ak to arth, thy xutd many rossings-ovr

with thir t, and this thy alld doing th tong-dan.20

Th Spartan nthusiasm or all-play, at last in som o its orms,was thus privd to hav som ontinuity with Homri ultur. Itis possil, although (givn th inadquat dsriptions o th atualtyps o all gams indulgd in y Alxandr) unproval, that thprsn o all gams in th Homri pis xrisd som influnon th Madonian ourt. Our sours amply attst to th partiularrvrn in whih th Homri poms wr hld y Alxandr himsland y many o his ourtirs.21

Mor important than th mr at o its inlusion in th world

o th Homri pis, howvr, is th rigour o th gam playd yHalius and Laodamas, whih is rmovd rom th world o mininamusmnts vn i w might suspt that th rathr roust gamo dodg ngagd in y Nausiaa and hr maidns was anothrmanistation o th sam physial prowss that Odyssus so ommndsin th Phaaian youths.22 Admittdly Athnaus xpliitly onntsth daning, diing, and all-playing that atur in th Odyssey withth patim stting o that poms ativity:

: .

(Ath. 1.1819a)

or th li dsrid in th Odyssey is that o mn living luxuriously and asily owing

to th paAnd that is why, in that stat o things, thy play at di and dan and

play all.

20 Critias DK 88 B36, with translation rom R. K. Spragu, The Older Sophists (Columia,SC, 1972), 263. Th matrial is onvntionally (and plausily) attriutd to his work SpartanConstitution.

21 Alxandrs prsonal nthusiasm or th Homri pis (as indd that o som othrs oth Madonian lit, inluding Cassandr) is andotally attstd, or xampl y Onsirtus

FGrH134 F8 (= Plut. Vit. Alex. 8.2); also Eust. Il. 24.482. Givn that th Phaaian displayo all skills is assoiatd with th ntrtainmnt o Odyssus atr a anqut, partiular notshould mad o th Madonian ondnss or (prhaps vn rtntion o?) rtain aturs oHomri dining and sympoti prati, on whih s E. Carny, Symposia and th Madonian

Elit, Syllecta Classica 18 (2007), 1445.22 Nausiaas gam itsl ontains hints o vigour, as H. A. Harris, Sport in Greece and Rome(London, 1972), 82, nots; also dsrving mntion hr ar th rsonans osrvd y J. P.Holoka, Iliad13.2025: , AJPh 102 (1981), 3512, twn Nausiaasgam and th us mad y Ajax o a svrd had at Hom. Il. 13.2025.


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Th Phaaian ourt is, morovr, haratrizd y its luxurious living.23Nonthlss, th display o skill in whih Halius and Laodamas ngagtrays lmnts o mor srious omat: thus th arna on whih

thy prorm is trmd an agon (Od. 8.380: ),24 and thirxhiition o all skill is juxtaposd with agonisti ontsts in sportssuh as running, wrstling, and th lik. Athlti omptitions inddprd th daning and all-play in Book 8, and th Phaaian king,Alinous, alls or xhiitions in th lattr xhiitions in ndavoursin whih th Phaaians wr unsurpassd in rspons to Odyssusangry assrtion o his prsonal athlti prowss (so Od. 8.2503).

It is, in at, th potntial or all sport to prov usul in th

inulation o military skill that may wll th ky rason or itspopularity oth in Alxandrs amp and in Sparta. A militaristiaspt is most larly disrnil at Sparta, and partiularly in a allgam playd thr (at last rom Hllnisti tims) y th ephebes(oldr oys). Th all-playrs who took part, trmd sphaireis in thisSpartan ontxt ut sphairistai lswhr, wr on th thrshold othir intgration rom th agoge (military training) into ull Spartanhoplit soity; th gam sms to hav ormd a vital part o thirtransition, and vitory onrrd immns prstig upon th winning

tam.25 Th xat natur o this all sport, playd at an of ial lvlwithin th Spartan stat, is unrtain. It may wll hav n akin toth gam episkyros; dtaild y Eustathius, Pollux, Sutonius and in thPlatoni sholia, this was an vnt in whih two tams ndavourd todriv thir opponnts, y tossing a all high ovr thir hads, arossa oundary markd on a playing fild. Th assoiation o episkyroswith ephebes y Pollux (9.103), Eustathius, Sutonius (Peri Paidon 2)and schol. Plato Theat. 146a, and Polluxs us o th agonisti trm

sphairomachia (attl with a all) in his tratmnt o this partiulargam, ar oth onsistnt with (ut not proo o) its idntifiation

23 Not, in partiular, Alinous haratrization o th Phaaian listyl at Od. 8.2489,with vidn o thir luxury at Od. 7.3368. Th luxuriousnss xtnds vn to th gam, whrth all itsl is rimson and its makr worthy o naming.

24 So, too, thir pr-minn as all-playrs is dsrid in trms suitd to pr-minn inwarriors skills: ompar 8.371 (or no on ould ontnd with thm)

with Nstor in Il. 2.555 (Nstor alon ould ontnd, namly againstMnsthus) (a omparison I ow to A. F. Garvi, Homer. Odyssy. Books 68 [Camridg,

1994], 312).25 Gratst dtail is aordd y N. M. Knnll, The Gymnasium of Virtue. Education andCulture in Ancient Sparta (Chapl Hill, NC, 1995), 5963. Th ddiations y tams o vitorioussphairistai long to th Roman priod (Tod [1903/4], 701), ut all-play is mntiond in aSpartan ontxt in th lassial priod: s sp. Xn. Const. Lac. 9.5.


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with th gam playd y Spartan sphaireis.26 Whatvr th prisorm o this Spartan phi gam, th partiular assoiation o thSpartans mor gnrally with all-play that was oth omptitiv and

militaristi is unamiguous; as Eustathius nots, still prhaps drawingon an authority as arly as Critias,

(Eust. Od. 8.37627)

and, thy say, ustomary among th Spartans was a all-math ontst

It is, morovr, almost rtainly Spartan praxis that Plato has in mindwhn h rommnds sphairomachia, playd in ull armour, as part o

th wis lawgivrs military training rgimn or his itizns, at Leges830; sphairomachia is thr xtolld (alongsid simulatd fightingwith luntd darts) as ing as nar as possil to th ral xprino tru omat in war.28

Th indiations ar rustratingly sant or th typs o all gamspopular among th Madonians, ut th w hints availal mightindiat that th Madonians, lik th Spartans, wr awar o thmilitary nfits o som all-play. This mrgs most larly romth andot told aout Antigonus Monophthalmus (Plut. Reg. et Imp.Apophth. 182a):

t : , .

Whn h saw som o th soldirs playing at all in thir rastplats and hlmts, h

was plasd, and snt or thir of rs, intnding to ommnd thm; ut whn h hard

that th of rs wr drinking, h stowd thir ommands on th soldirs.29

26 Th vidn or episkyros is olltd and disussd y N. B. Crowthr, Th AnintGrk Gam oEpiskyros, Stadion 23 (1997), 115; s sp. 56 or th possil idntifiationo th Spartan phi gam as episkyros. (This artil, with additional matrial, is now alsoassil in N. B. Crowthr,Athletika [Hildshim, 2004], 36172, 373). For disussion o thways in whih episkyros might at as a simil or attl ovr disputd trritory, s urthr D. F.Elmr, Epikoinos: Th Ball Gam Episkuros and Iliad12.42123, CPh 103 (2008), 41423, whoisolats possil voations o th gam in Homri dsriptions o war.

27 Th ontxt o Eustathius rmark is, o ours, th dan-um-all gam o th PhaaiansHalius and Laodamas, and it would sm that Eustathius is dsriing just suh a Spartan all

gam/dan (not th e) as on o th typs o Spartan sphairomachia.28 For th influn o Spartan modls on Plato, spially in th Leges, ompar E. David,Th Spartan Syssitia and Platos Laws,AJPh 99 (1978), 48695.

29 All translations o Reg. et Imp. Apophth. ar rom E. Hinton, Plutarchs Morals, rv. W. W.Goodwin (Boston, MA, 1870).


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This rognition o th utility o som all sports within Madonianand Spartan ontxts is ar rmovd rom th roti ovrtons thatdominat muh o th litrary ngagmnt with suh sport, and it

may postulatd that it is this ovrt aknowldgmnt o th militaryusulnss o all sports that stimulats th gratr prstig and soialvisiility o lit all-playrs within th Madonian amps and inSparta a prstig and visiility that might hav nouragd thAthnians to dpit Alxandrs sphairistes, Aristonius, as a all-playrin an of ially santiond statu, or th Spartans to an owards rompartiipating among th sphaireis (Xn. Const. Lac. 9.5) and to displaystelailrating th winning tams osphaireis within th gographial

and politial hart o Sparta itsl.

Ball sports and Panhellenic victors

It must strssd hr that th distintion ing osrvd, twnth Madonian and Spartan promotion o all-play on th on handand th mor gnral Grk rtin aout suh gams, is on omphasis only. It is not ing argud that all sports wr asnt in

othrpoleis suh as Athns, nor vn that th nfits o all-play oryoung mn ngagd in thir military training wnt unrognizd; it ispossil, or xampl, that th dsription o episkyros as an phigam (s aov) holds good or Athns, and it has also n suggstdthat on o th panls o a marl Athnian as (c. 510 bce, urrntlyhld in th Athns National Musum) may vn rprsnt a group oyouths playing just this gam.30 Th dirn is on o dgr. Evni Athnian ephebes playd this gam, thr ar no indiations that

gams vr attaind th prstig o th Spartan sphairomachia, nor anyindiation that thy attaind ormalizd rognition as agones withinivi stivals;31 th asn o andots linking prominnt Athniansto th playing o all gams, suh as w hav or Alxandr th Grat,mirrors this. Th playing o all gams sms to hav takn pla at apurly rrational lvl, dvoid o soial aht.

30 S aov, n. 7; illustration onvnintly in Millr (n. 14), 173, fig. 255.31 Athnian youth did, o ours, ngag in a orm o prstigious and vigorous armd daning

whih, with its mphasis on laping, sms not ar rmovd rom th Thrmaustris that Critiasdtails or Sparta; th pyrrhi dan at th Panathnaa dos not, howvr, sm to havinludd all-play. On suh armd daning not Plato Leg. 796; E. K. Borthwik, Two Notson Athna as Prottrss, Hermes 97 (1969), 3856; and th most omprhnsiv tratmnt, yP. Carlli, La pirrica nell antichit Greco-romana. Studi sulla danza armata (Pisa, 1998).


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This dirn in attitud toward all sport may loatd withinroadr ultural distintions, distintions that may also rfltd indivrgnt attituds to anothr atgory o sporting lit, namly th

vitors o th ontsts at th grat Panhllni gams. Th ultural tistwn omptition at th grat Panhllni stivals notaly thOlympi, Isthmian, Nman and Pythian gams and military onflitar wll doumntd and rquntly osrvd. Th vry idologyo Panhllni omptition was dply militaristi, with a ommonvoaulary (most ovious is th trm agon32) uniting ontst in sportand ontst in war. In addition to th li that th training aorddy th gymnasium might mak or ttr soldirs in gnral, rownd

Panhllni vitors appar to hav attaind an almost talismani statusthat might hav srvd an army wll on th attlfild; onvrsly,sussul gnrals might ast as athlti vitors.33 Th link twnwar and Panhllni omptition may wll hav xistd rom th vryginnings o th ontsts thmslvs, or th mrgn o th pr-minnt gams (thos o Olympia) took pla at a santuary whosinitial rnown was in orals onrning war, and som sholars wouldvn posit a ausal rlationship twn th historial ris o hoplitwarar and th mrgn o th gams.34

At a pratial lvl, howvr, th lit modl o th rowndPanhllni vitor as a paradigm or atual warar o th lassial andHllnisti ags was nssarily prolmati, a lration o individualxlln whr suss in hoplit and phalanx attl dmanddolltiv ohsivnss; littl surpris, thn, that team pursuits (suhas rlay ras) wr in at assoiatd in many poleis with th philass.35 But it may not ntirly oinidntal that it is at Sparta andin Madon, two o th gratst military suprpowrs o lassial

32 Th paralll voaulary is th point o th story o th sr Tisamnus: Hdt. 9.335.33 Th staging o athlti ontsts on ampaign suggsts a link twn physial prowss in

attl and on th athlti fild: Thu. 5.80.3; Xn. An. 1.2.10, 5.5.5. For Panhllni vitorsaompanying armis into attl, s Plut. Quaest. conv. 2.5.2; Plut. Vit. Lyc. 22.4; Diod. Si.12.9.56 (with L. Kurk, Th Eonomy o Kudos, in C. Doughrty and L. Kurk [ds.],Cultural Poetics in Archaic Greece [Oxord, 1993], 1337, pointing out that th us o rowndvitors in attl was not atually prdiatd on th li that athlti prowss translatd tophysial apaity on th fild o war, ut rathr rlid on th talismani qualitis livd toprtain to thm). For vitorious gnrals dsrid in athlti trms, s Plut. Vit. Cim. 13;. Thu. 7.122 (and aov, p. 18). On might not in passing too th vrdit o Quintilian(5.12.21) on Polylitus Doryphorus as ing a modl suitd oth to war and to athltis.

34

M. Goldn, Sport and Society in Ancient Greece (Camridg, 1998), 256, with litraturitd thr.35 On Grk tam sports, s in gnral N. B. Crowthr, Tam Sports in Anint Gr:

Som Osrvations, International Journal of the History of Sport12 (1995), 12736 (rprintdwith additional matrial in th olltd volum o Crowthr [n. 26], 2004, 35160, 373). Tam


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and Hllnisti tims, that w sm to find th gratst rognitiono th partiular valu o all sports suh as sphairomachia.36 It may suggstd, thror, that this appriation o th pratial nfits

o all sports in ths partiular rgions finds a ountrpart in somindiations o tnsions around th status o Panhllni hampions inths sam soitis. For Sparta, a possil amivaln in attitudsto athlti vitors and a distintion twn th rgard or suhvitors thr ompard to othr Grk poleis ar implid y Aristotl(Pol. 1338913), y whom th Spartans ar said to hav avoiddth onntration on athlti training that provd dtrimntal to thodily dvlopmnt o hildrn lswhr in th Grk world. Again,

it is worth strssing that w ar not daling hr in asoluts.37

Thxllnt analysis o Spartan agonisti ultur y Hodkinson highlightsth amiguitis in Spartan attituds; h ontrasts th prolmatizationo thos agones in Spartan soity with th indiations that, althoughSpartas prominn in athlti vnts dlind atr th arhai ag,th Spartans nonthlss rtaind an nthusiasm or th qustrianontsts o th sard Panhllni agones wll into th lassial priod.38But whil rownd vitors might lad th Spartan army orth alongsidth Spartan kings (Plut. Quaest. conv. 2.5.2; Plut. Vit. Lyc. 22.4),

and whil th Spartan Olympi vitor Larats sms to hav ndistinguishd with spial honour (alongsid th polemarchs) amongthos Spartans slain at Athns in 403,39 Spartans would also havn amiliar with th impliit warning in Tyrtaus (r. 12.19) thatathlti prowss nd not automatially translat into attlfild skill.Morovr, Hllnisti sours asrid to th Spartans (in th vry

ontsts, many o thm trial and som involving ephebes, appar or xampl in th Panathnaa,as witnssd y surviving priz lists: s, or xampl, IGii2 2311.

36 S. Hodkinson, An Agonisti Cultur? Athlti Comptition in Arhai and ClassialSpartan Soity, in S. Hodkinson and A. Powll (ds.), Sparta. New Perspectives (London, 1999),148, inluds th sphairomachia as on xampl o Spartas idiosynrati pursuit o tam gams.Elmr (n. 26), 4202, maks prtinnt ommnts aout th tam natur o episkyros and thintgration o th ephebes into th hoplit ranks.

37 Similarly, it must notd that th xprssion o rsrvations aout th ral ivi nfito Panhllni vitors is not onfind to Sparta. A amous ragmnt o EuripidsAutolycus (r.282 TGF, a ragmnt modlld on a passag o Xnophans o Colophon) hallngs th utilityo th vitorious athlt: Thr ar thousands o vils throughout Gr, ut th worst is thra o athltsWhat good wrstlr, what swit-ootd man has hlpd his ity y winning awrath, hoisting th disus or smartly striking somons jaw? Will thy fight with th nmy ordriv out thir anstral o y striking through th shilds with thir hands? (So Ath. 10.413

, as translatd y Goldn [n. 34], 28.) For intrprtation o th passags y Euripids andXnophans, s J. P. Harris, Rvng o th Nrds: Xnophans, Euripids, and Sorats vs.Olympi Vitors,AJPh 130 (2009), 15794, sp. 15866.

38 Hodkinson (n. 36).39 Xn. Hell. 2.4.33, with Hodkinson (n. 36), 16970.


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priod or whih w hav vidn o Spartas phi sphairomachia)th viw that dath in attl rankd wll aov Olympi vitory.40

A similar tnsion may disrnd in th Madonian ontxt, and

at just th sam priod in whih our vidn or Madonian all-playing is lustrd. Th Argad monarhs did not ignor th politialimportan o th Panhllni gams, nor dny th kudos that attahdto Panhllni vitory. In th fith ntury thy might it thirhistory o omptition at th gams as proo o thir Grk linag,and Philip II susquntly mad muh o his own status as hariotvitor;41 Alxandr th Grat, whil nvr himsl a omptitor at thgams,42 nonthlss rtaind and avourd th rownd panratiast

Dioxippus o Athns within his own ntourag.43

Howvr, whil thsoial and politial aht o th Panhllni agones was rognizd inMadonian irls, thr ar tras o a hallng to th supposdlink twn athlti and military prowss in Alxandrs ourt.Plutarh, or xampl, has Alxandr aknowldging ut dridingth Panhllni/military nxus whn, upon inspting th status opast Olympi and Pythian vitors at Miltus, h asks: Whr wrths lusty llows whn th ararians assaultd your ity? (Reg.et Imp. Apophth. 180a). Mor notal still is th staging o a dirt

ontst twn military and Panhllni might in Alxandrs ampat Maraanda, whn Dioxippus was hallngd to omat y a rank-and-fil Madonian inantryman, Corrhagus. In Curtius aount othis pisod, som among th Madonians impugnd th militaryf ay o th Panhllni vitor: thy

increpabant per seria et ludumcum ipsi proelium inirent, oleo madentem praeparare ventrem

epulis. (Curt. 9.7.16)

would mak utting rmarks aout [Dioxippus], partly in jst, partly in arnst, sayingthatwhil thy wnt into attl, h was dripping with oil and prparing his lly or

a anqut.44

40 Plut.Apophth. Lacon. 236, s also 233.41 Evidn or th involvmnt and intrst o Philip in Panhllni ontsts is disussd

y D. G. Kyl, Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World(Maldn, MA and Oxord, 2007), 2315.42 A amous ut proaly aporyphal andot maks Alxandr disdainul o Olympi

omptition (Plut. Vit. Alex. 4.5; . Plut. Reg. et Imp. Apophth. 179d).43

Among th Diadochoi, Dmtrius Poliorts similarly rtaind Panhllni vitors in hisrtinu. A Milsian panratiast, Antnor (vitor at Olympia in 308 bce), aturs among a groupo Antigonid suordinats rognizd at Athns in 306/5 bce (SEG21.335).

44 Th translation is that o J. Yardly, Quintus Curtius Rufus. Th History o Alxandr, WithIntroduction and Notes by W. Heckel(Harmondsworth, 1984), 229.


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To th immns marrassmnt and diplomati dif ulty oAlxandr and his ourt, Dioxippus inflitd a rushing dat on thhaplss Corrhagus; his win dos not, howvr, dtrat rom th at that

th military rlvan o th rownd Panhllni vitor was apparntlyan issu or hallng and ngotiation. Th individual hampion mightnot njoy automati aptan as mor than a mr talisman amonga military unit whr olltiv ohsion was undamntal to suss.For th inulation o military skills, othr physial ativitis mightprov ttr an osrvation still urrnt among th Romans andxpoundd in Galns short tratis De parvae pilae exercitu, in whihth physiian sts orth th halth nfits assoiatd with all-playing

and rommnds suh sport in partiular or its utility or militarytraining.45 Ball-play tahs a man how to kp what h has or torovr what has n takn rom him; it sharpns hand skills andtrains th y. Galns judgmnt is that all gams surpass athltindavours in th nfits that thy or th soldir, and h draws aavoural ontrast with oxing and panration oth pursuits that,h laims (in a ashion strongly rminisnt o th disgruntld soldirsat Maraanda), rndr thir prossional xponnts at, lthargi, andtotally unfit or military srvi.46

Some concluding remarks

It is somtims maintaind that an lvation in th soial prominno all-playing ought numrd among th many hangs wroughty Alxandr th Grat.47 It is indd th as that th mrgn oth sphairisterion, a spa dsignatd to th ondut o all gams, am

in th wak o Alxandr; it is tru too that, whil all gams wouldrtain thir assoiations with rotiism as a litrary topos, all-playingsms to hav n soially aptal as a pastim among all hlonso Roman soity to an xtnt unprdntd in th world o mostlassial Grkpoleis.48 Howvr, to asri a dirt ausal onntion

45 Compar Ci. Sen. 16.58, whr old ag looks to di as a suital pastim, whras youthprrs th spar, shild, and all.

46 Galns stan may, howvr, hav a polmial slant, givn his mor gnral onrn withinhis writings to lvat th status o th dotor ovr that o th athlti trainr. For this agonisti

thm in Galns writing, s J. Knig,Athletics and Literature in the Roman Empire (Camridgand Nw York, 2005), 254300, sp. 26873.47 Harris (n. 22), 834.48 Suh luminaris as Cato (Plut. Vit. Cat. Min. 50.1) and vn Augustus (Sut. Aug. 83)

playd all or rlaxation; it is prsumaly to ap suh lit haits that Trimalhio plays all


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to Alxandr xds th strit rmit o th availal vidn, andth awarnss within Spartan irls o th nfits o all gams mayhav n part o a mor widsprad trnd a trnd that oupld a

gradual dvaluing o th athlti pursuits o th Panhllni iruitwith a rvision in soial attituds to othr, lss individualisti, ormso omptition suh as all sports. But i th nds o military trainingdid, as hr suggstd, xrt a strong ormativ influn, it mayprhaps postulatd that th suss o th Spartan hoplits andmor partiularly o th Madonian phalanx, along with th prsonalxampl st y Alxandr himsl as sphairistes, may indd havnouragd a ris in th kudos aordd to all gams in antiquity.

LARA OSULLIVAN

[email protected]

or athing at Ptron. Sat. 27.3 .

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Playing Ball in Greek Antiquity