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Knattleikr
' (English: 'ball-game') was an ancient ball game played by the Vikings of Iceland. The term is also applied to a modern sport created by re-enactors, and now played at a few United States institutions as a college club sport, based on what is known about the historical game. How the game was played The game was probably similar to early versions of the Irish sport of hurling, which also dates to antiquity. Today, no one knows the exact rules of ''Knattleikr'', but some information has survived from the Viking Age in Iceland (beginning around the 9th century). We know that players were divided into teams, each with a captain. The game demanded so much time that it was played from morning to night. It was a spectator game, with tournaments drawing huge crowds from all over Iceland. Game-play involved a hardball being hit by a stick, although players could also use their hands. Body contact was allowed in the fight for the ball where the strongest had the best chance to win. Thus, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Soule
', later ' (french: chôle), is a traditional team sport that originated in Normandy and Picardy. The ball, called a ', could be solid or hollow and made of either wood or leather. Leather balls would be filled with hay, bran, horse hair or moss. Sometimes the balls had woolen pompons. Early records It would appear that ball games such as la soule developed naturally as a pastime, if only tossing the ball around. Such a game would be played wherever crowds of people met, e.g., after church services on Sundays or on religious holidays. La soule was played chiefly on the Christian holidays of Easter, Christmas, or on occasion at weddings or the day of the patron saint of the parish. The play could be aggressive, sometimes violent. It involved getting a ball to the opponents’ goal, using hands, feet or sticks. It was not uncommon for participants to be injured, and broken limbs were often reported. The sport seems to have been a very important stress release for the common v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cuju
''Cuju'' or ''Ts'u-chü'' (蹴鞠) is an ancient Chinese football game. Cuju is the earliest known recorded game of football. It is a competitive game that involves kicking a ball through an opening into a net without the use of hands. Descriptions of the game date back to the Han dynasty, a Chinese military work from the 3rd–2nd century BC describes it as an exercise. It was also played in other Asian countries like Korea, Japan and Vietnam. History The first mention of ''Cuju'' in a historical text is in the Warring States era ''Zhan Guo Ce'', in the section describing the state of Qi. It is also described in Sima Qian's ''Records of the Grand Historian'' (under the Biography of Su Qin), written during the Han Dynasty.Riordan (1999), 32. A competitive form of ''cuju'' was used as fitness training for military cavaliers, while other forms were played for entertainment in wealthy cities like Linzi. During the Han Dynasty (206 BC – AD 220), the popularity of ''cuju'' sprea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vikings
Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9–22. They also voyaged as far as the Mediterranean, North Africa, Volga Bulgaria, the Middle East, and North America. In some of the countries they raided and settled in, this period is popularly known as the Viking Age, and the term "Viking" also commonly includes the inhabitants of the Scandinavian homelands as a collective whole. The Vikings had a profound impact on the early medieval history of Scandinavia, the British Isles, France, Estonia, and Kievan Rus'. Expert sailors and navigators aboard their characteristic longships, Vikings established Norse settlements and governments in the Viking activity in the British Isles, British Isles, the Faroe Islands, Settlement of Iceland, Icela ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Egils Saga
''Egill's Saga'' or ''Egil's saga'' ( non, Egils saga ; ) is an Icelandic saga (family saga) on the lives of the clan of Egill Skallagrímsson (Anglicised as Egill Skallagrimsson), an Icelandic farmer, viking and skald. The saga spans the years c. 850–1000 and traces the family's history from Egill's grandfather to his offspring. Its oldest manuscript (a fragment) dates back to 1240 AD, and comprises the sole source of information on the exploits of Egill, whose life is not historically recorded. Stylistic and other similarities between ''Egill's Saga'' and ''Heimskringla'' have led many scholars to believe that they were the work of the same author, Snorri Sturluson. The work is generally referred to as ''Egla'' by Icelandic scholars. Synopsis The saga begins in Norway around 850, with the life of Egill's grandfather Ulf (Kveldulf Bjalfason, Úlfr) aka Kveldulf or "Evening Wolf", and his two sons Thorolf (Þórólfr) and Skallagrim (Skalla-Grímr). Strife with the royal h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
History Of Physical Training And Fitness
Physical training has been present in human societies throughout history. Usually, it was performed for the purposes of preparing for physical competition or display, improving physical, emotional and mental health, and looking attractive. It took a variety of different forms but quick dynamic exercises were favoured over slow or more static ones. For example, running, jumping, wrestling, gymnastics and throwing heavy stones are mentioned frequently in historical sources and emphasised as being highly effective training methods. Notably, they are also forms of exercise which are readily achievable for most people to some extent or another. Physical training was widely practiced by the athletes of Ancient Greece. However, after the original Olympic Games were banned by the Romans in 394, such culturally significant athletic competitions were not held again until the 19th Century. In 1896, the Olympic Games were reintroduced after a gap of some 1500 years. In the years in betwee ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shinty
Shinty ( gd, camanachd, iomain) is a team game played with sticks and a ball. Shinty is now played mainly in the Scottish Highlands and amongst Highland migrants to the big cities of Scotland, but it was formerly more widespread in Scotland, and was even played in northern England into the second half of the 20th century and other areas in the world where Scottish Highlanders migrated. While comparisons are often made with field hockey the two games have several important differences. In shinty a player is allowed to play the ball in the air and is allowed to use both sides of the stick, called a ''caman'', which is wooden and slanted on both sides. The stick may also be used to block and to tackle, although a player may not come down on an opponent's stick, a practice called hacking. Players may also tackle using the body as long as it is shoulder-to-shoulder. The game was derived from the same root as the Irish game of hurling and the Welsh game of bando, but has developed un ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hurling
Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of players and much terminology. The same game played by women is called camogie ('), which shares a common Gaelic root. The objective of the game is for players to use an ash wood stick called a hurley (in Irish a ', pronounced or ) to hit a small ball called a ' between the opponent's goalposts either over the crossbar for one point or under the crossbar into a net guarded by a goalkeeper for three points. The ' can be caught in the hand and carried for not more than four steps, struck in the air or struck on the ground with the hurley. It can be kicked, or slapped with an open hand (the hand pass), for short-range passing. A player who wants to carry the ball for more than four steps has to bounce or balance the ' on the end of the stick ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trigon (game)
Trigon was a ball game played by the ancient Romans. The name derives from the Greek (, "three-cornered, triangular"), and may have been a romanized version of a Greek game called (). It was a type of juggling game, probably involved three players standing in a triangle (hence the name) and passing a hard ball back and forth, catching with the right and throwing with the left hand. Besides the three players, called ''trigonali'', there were also assistants called ''pilecripi'', who kept score and retrieved runaway balls. Description in the ''Satyricon'' Petronius's ''Satyricon'' has a description of a ball game usually assumed to be trigon, although its name is never mentioned. The bald old man Trimalchio is playing with a couple of young curly-haired slave boys. Trimalchio is obviously not a serious trigon player because he plays in his sandals, and he never stoops to retrieve the ball but instead has a servant replace it with a fresh ball from a big sack. When he snapped his fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harpastum
, also known as , 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 , , or football-sized ball) and hard, probably about the size and solidity of a softball and was stuffed with feathers. The word is the latinisation of the Greek (), the neuter of (), "carried away", from the verb (), "to seize, to snatch". This game was apparently a Romanized version of a Greek game called (Greek: ), or of another Greek game called (Greek: ). It involved considerable speed, agility and physical exertion. The two teams needed to keep the ball on their side of the field as long as they could. 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. Writings related to ''harpastum'' Athena ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Episkyros
''Episkyros'', or ''Episcyrus'', (, ; also , , literally 'upon the public') was an Ancient Greek ball game. The game was typically played between two teams of 12 to 14 players each, being highly teamwork-oriented. The game allowed full contact and usage of the hands. While it was typically men who played, women also occasionally participated. Although it was a ball game, it was quite violent (at least in Sparta). The game is comparable to Rugby, American Football, or ''Calcio Fiorentino'', at least in concept. The two teams would attempt to throw the ball over the heads of the other team. There was a white line called the () between the teams, and another white line behind each team. The teams would change possession of the ball often, until one of the team was forced behind their line. In Sparta, a form of ''Episkyros'' was played during an annual city festival that included five teams of 14 players. The Greek game of ''Episkyros'', or a similar game called () was later ad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Broomball
Broomball is a both a recreational and organized competitive winter team sport played on ice or snow and is played either indoors or outdoors, depending on climate and location. It is a ball sport and is most popularly played in Canada and the United States. Unlike most winter team sports played on ice, organized broomball does not use ice skates. Player footwear for formal play consists of shoes created specifically for broomball which are designed to improve a player's traction on the ice. Though the sport can be played outdoors on snow, organized broomball in the 21st century is primarily played on an ice hockey rink. Players hit a ball around the ice or snow with a stick. Regardless of whether the broomball stick used by players is a literal broom or a conventional broomball stick with a molded paddle-shaped end, the stick is simply called a "broom." The broom may have a wooden or aluminum shaft and has a rubber-molded triangular head similar in shape to that of a regu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period of Roman occupation. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duchy of Brittany, duchy before being Union of Brittany and France, united with the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a provinces of France, province governed as a separate nation under the crown. Brittany has also been referred to as Little Britain (as opposed to Great Britain, with which it shares an etymology). It is bordered by the English Channel to the north, Normandy to the northeast, eastern Pays de la Loire to the southeast, the Bay of Biscay to the south, and the Celtic Sea and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Its land area is 34,023 km2 . Brittany is the site of some of the world's oldest standing architecture, ho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
