BC2000c.1

"Egypt May Be the Birthplace" of Ballplaying

Salience	Noteworthy
Tags
Location
City/State/Country:	Egypt
Modern Address
Game	XenoballXenoball
Immediacy of Report	Retrospective
Age of Players	UnknownUnknown
Holiday
Notables
Text	"Recent excavations near Cairo, Egypt, have brought to light small balls of leather and others of wood obviously used in some outdoor sport, and probably dating back to at least 2000 years before Christ. These may be the oldest balls in existence. Hence Egypt maybe the birthplace of the original ball game whatever it was. We know, however that the Greeks and Romans played ball at a remote period. We do not know the exact nature of any of these ancient games, Egyptian, Greek, or Roman."
Sources	William S. Walsh, A Handy Book of Curious Information (J. B. Lippincott, Philadelphia, 1913), page 83. Available via Google Books search "to light small balls," 1/27/2010.
Warning
Comment	Edit with form to add a comment
Query	Does recent scholarship agree that these were balls, were used in sport, and date to 2000 BC? Is there further evidence about their role in Egyptian life? Edit with form to add a query
Source Image	[[Image:\|left\|thumb]]
External Number
Submitted by
Submission Note
Has Supplemental Text

Comments