Harpastum, the “beautiful game”

The Ancient Greeks and Romans are known to have played many ball games, some of which involved the use of the feet. The Roman game Harpastum, also known as harpustum, is believed to have been adapted from a team game known as “Ἐπίσκυρος” (episkyros) or phaininda mentioned by Greek playwright, Antiphanes (388 - 311 BC) and later referred to by Clement of Alexandria. The game involved considerable speed, agility, and physical exertion but little is known about the exact rules. Harpastum appears to bear a remarkable resemblance to rugby, with sources indicating the game was a violent one where players often ended up on the ground. In Greece, for example, a spectator (of the Greek form of the game, phaininda) once had his leg broken when he got caught in the middle of play.

Romans also referred to harpastum as the “small ball game”, the ball being small and hard, probably about the size and solidity of a softball. The general impression from various descriptions is that harpastum was a team game although with a varying number of players (in a similar way to early football). It seems to have been played on a marked rectangular field, probably about the size used in field hockey. The playing surface is unknown, but reports suggest it was dirt or grass and not a formal court. Descriptions suggest a line was drawn in the dirt, and that the teams would endeavour to keep the ball behind their side of the line while preventing their 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 intercept the ball and “pass” it to another player on your team or somehow get it back over the line into your team's half.

From the available descriptions, the typical starting position is with perhaps 5 to 12 players on each side of a line. 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 must be why the player described by Athenaeus passed it while dodging an opponent - he was in danger of being tackled! Scoring might have been accomplished when the ball hit the ground in your own territory(?), which may explain why the ball was not allowed to hit the ground (cf. Isidor's quote). The other characteristics of the game, such as players or balls going out of bounds, are somewhat similar to the modern rules of football. And if all of that does not persuade you to play, perhaps an epigram by Martial to the dusty game of harpasta, will win the day:

“No hand-ball (pita), 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).”

So, anyone for football this season?