4 ms·

I really wish ancient sports would make a comeback. I would give an arm and leg to spectate at an ancient sports demo event. Sort of Renaissance fair meets Olym

I really wish ancient sports would make a comeback. I would give an arm and leg to spectate at an ancient sports demo event. Sort of Renaissance fair meets Olympics vibe.

koolba 3y ago
The incessant commercialization is a limiting factor as well. Getting rid of uniform logos and going back to the days where all the competitors were naked and covered in oil would certainly boost interest.
- Wowfunhappy 3y ago
  It sounds like they had uniforms. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Ballgame https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Ballgame > The usual dress for players is known from iconographic and figural findings. These show leather protection mainly at the hips and the chest, but sometimes also at the knees and the arms, though very seldom at the feet. The clothing was used to protect against the impact of the ball. The protected parts of the body were used to strike the ball. Some players would wear head dresses (like deer heads) for ritual reasons.
  - Wowfunhappy 3y ago
    ...oh, but looking at some visual depictions, it looks like those uniforms didn't cover a whole lot! (Sorry, I was past the edit window.)
- Ekaros 3y ago
  I have been thinking that having the competitors being naked would solve lot of issues related to equipment and equality. Specially in sports like field, swimming and why not in football either.
dwighttk 3y ago
For an arm and a leg we’ll let you fight the gladiator!
- simple10 3y ago
  As long as there are lions in the pit.
dmn322 3y ago
Saw some little youtube documentary about a group in mexico trying to resurrect the ball game. I have a feeling it would be tough to weigh where to keep things to 100% to what we know vs. filling in the blanks to make it more entertaining. Seems to have been going on during the olmec period too which would indicate at least around 3000 years of play... lots of different variations over that time. Tough to decide which one to pick.
- b112 3y ago
  Tough to decide which one to pick. This is what makes me very sad, for those trying to recover their culture. For example, there are many Native Canadians trying to recover their culture and language, their history. And I wish them all success! But at the same time, I often see such discussions talking as if that culture was static. Unchangeable. "This is how we did it", from elders, which barely remember anything other than the fading memories of ther great grandparents. Instead, I hope that such culture can be brought back, but with an understanding of "what if such culture was not wiped out, but instead, stayed alive and existed through change to modern times". An example would be food, and dance, and music, and stories. All of these would transition to modern mediums, and tools, and yet, still stem from the past, while simultaneously being influenced by the widening world, and expanded trade, and so on. I think the greatest loss is not the way things were, past culture, because everyone loses that, humans always change, regardless of technology. Instead, the greatest loss is what could have been today. And I would love to see what could have been.
  - dmn322 3y ago
    I agree but unfortunately those things are lost and such a revival is impossible. The best we can do is try to deeply understand what was lost and why they were lost and how to prevent similar loss in the future. Unfortunately we just repeat the same patterns because it's logically impossible for it to ever be a pressing problem for those with power and representation, so they're never motivated to solve it.
tragomaskhalos 3y ago
They used to flood the Colisseum and re-enact naval battles - would pay good money to see that tbf.
raddan 3y ago
Agreed, and more generally, I would love to know what life was like for these people. We have an advanced civilization that was almost totally wiped out. Millions of people living their lives independently of western civilization. I’ve toyed with the idea of plotting the era and location of popular TV and movie narratives. I think you’d find that most of them are very narrowly focused on a handful of places and times. This may not be a recipe for successful TV, but I would love to watch a TV show about the Maya or the Olmec or the Inca (or really any of the pre-Colombian indigenous people of the Americas). Like all people, I’m sure that these people had dramatic lives, but it would be all the more interesting because it would be a totally different culture. When you think about what modern civilization has inherited from these people—-agriculture especially—-it’s a shame that we don’t know more about them.
- mdiesel 3y ago
  I guess it's more difficult to make characters with radically different lives and concerns be relatable. I wouldn't say it's impossible, but not many series are going for high effort right now when it's so easy to make money shipping a rehash of a formula proven to make money.
- jchallis 3y ago
  Both Maya and the Three and Elena of Avalor had long subplots on Aztec, Maya and Inca characters (human and god).
jgtrosh 3y ago
This specific type of ball game is widely known and advertised in Mexico, to the point that the following type of events is organised: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKvQjgC9sIY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKvQjgC9sIY But as said in another comment, it's just an interpretation, it's really hard to tell if it's anything like the original intent of the sport/ritual. --- Here's an optimistic video about a different modern approach to what is known of the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYJxng6i4NQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYJxng6i4NQ
- sdenton4 3y ago
  And in a thousand years historians will look back at baseball, a well-known sports game with ritual overtones. The team known roughly as 'the bloody foot-mittens' is known to have been cursed by the gods for over half a century.
AndrewOMartin 3y ago
You might like The Moche Toss. An ancient Peruvian sport/ceremony in which participants use atlatls and darts to launch feathered objects into the air, and then try to ensnare them before they hit the ground. It has been filmed in slow motion in this beautiful video. https://youtube.com/watch?v=k99dR1UTqPM https://youtube.com/watch?v=k99dR1UTqPM
- simple10 3y ago
  Cool! Reminds me of the "most dangerous game" of the 80's, Lawn Darts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khHzGqgO2Bw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khHzGqgO2Bw
waihtis 3y ago
I've had visiting a calcio storico event in my bucket list for awhile: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcio_Fiorentino https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcio_Fiorentino

I really wish ancient sports would make a comeback. I would give an arm and leg to spectate at an ancient sports demo event. Sort of Renaissance fair meets Olympics vibe.

koolba 3y ago

The incessant commercialization is a limiting factor as well. Getting rid of uniform logos and going back to the days where all the competitors were naked and covered in oil would certainly boost interest.

Wowfunhappy 3y ago
It sounds like they had uniforms. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Ballgame https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Ballgame > The usual dress for players is known from iconographic and figural findings. These show leather protection mainly at the hips and the chest, but sometimes also at the knees and the arms, though very seldom at the feet. The clothing was used to protect against the impact of the ball. The protected parts of the body were used to strike the ball. Some players would wear head dresses (like deer heads) for ritual reasons.
- Wowfunhappy 3y ago
  ...oh, but looking at some visual depictions, it looks like those uniforms didn't cover a whole lot! (Sorry, I was past the edit window.)
Ekaros 3y ago
I have been thinking that having the competitors being naked would solve lot of issues related to equipment and equality. Specially in sports like field, swimming and why not in football either.

dwighttk 3y ago

For an arm and a leg we’ll let you fight the gladiator!

simple10 3y ago
As long as there are lions in the pit.

dmn322 3y ago

Saw some little youtube documentary about a group in mexico trying to resurrect the ball game. I have a feeling it would be tough to weigh where to keep things to 100% to what we know vs. filling in the blanks to make it more entertaining. Seems to have been going on during the olmec period too which would indicate at least around 3000 years of play... lots of different variations over that time. Tough to decide which one to pick.

b112 3y ago
Tough to decide which one to pick. This is what makes me very sad, for those trying to recover their culture. For example, there are many Native Canadians trying to recover their culture and language, their history. And I wish them all success! But at the same time, I often see such discussions talking as if that culture was static. Unchangeable. "This is how we did it", from elders, which barely remember anything other than the fading memories of ther great grandparents. Instead, I hope that such culture can be brought back, but with an understanding of "what if such culture was not wiped out, but instead, stayed alive and existed through change to modern times". An example would be food, and dance, and music, and stories. All of these would transition to modern mediums, and tools, and yet, still stem from the past, while simultaneously being influenced by the widening world, and expanded trade, and so on. I think the greatest loss is not the way things were, past culture, because everyone loses that, humans always change, regardless of technology. Instead, the greatest loss is what could have been today. And I would love to see what could have been.
- dmn322 3y ago
  I agree but unfortunately those things are lost and such a revival is impossible. The best we can do is try to deeply understand what was lost and why they were lost and how to prevent similar loss in the future. Unfortunately we just repeat the same patterns because it's logically impossible for it to ever be a pressing problem for those with power and representation, so they're never motivated to solve it.

tragomaskhalos 3y ago

They used to flood the Colisseum and re-enact naval battles - would pay good money to see that tbf.

raddan 3y ago

Agreed, and more generally, I would love to know what life was like for these people. We have an advanced civilization that was almost totally wiped out. Millions of people living their lives independently of western civilization. I’ve toyed with the idea of plotting the era and location of popular TV and movie narratives. I think you’d find that most of them are very narrowly focused on a handful of places and times. This may not be a recipe for successful TV, but I would love to watch a TV show about the Maya or the Olmec or the Inca (or really any of the pre-Colombian indigenous people of the Americas). Like all people, I’m sure that these people had dramatic lives, but it would be all the more interesting because it would be a totally different culture. When you think about what modern civilization has inherited from these people—-agriculture especially—-it’s a shame that we don’t know more about them.

mdiesel 3y ago
I guess it's more difficult to make characters with radically different lives and concerns be relatable. I wouldn't say it's impossible, but not many series are going for high effort right now when it's so easy to make money shipping a rehash of a formula proven to make money.
jchallis 3y ago
Both Maya and the Three and Elena of Avalor had long subplots on Aztec, Maya and Inca characters (human and god).

jgtrosh 3y ago

This specific type of ball game is widely known and advertised in Mexico, to the point that the following type of events is organised: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKvQjgC9sIY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKvQjgC9sIY But as said in another comment, it's just an interpretation, it's really hard to tell if it's anything like the original intent of the sport/ritual. --- Here's an optimistic video about a different modern approach to what is known of the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYJxng6i4NQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYJxng6i4NQ

sdenton4 3y ago
And in a thousand years historians will look back at baseball, a well-known sports game with ritual overtones. The team known roughly as 'the bloody foot-mittens' is known to have been cursed by the gods for over half a century.

AndrewOMartin 3y ago

You might like The Moche Toss. An ancient Peruvian sport/ceremony in which participants use atlatls and darts to launch feathered objects into the air, and then try to ensnare them before they hit the ground. It has been filmed in slow motion in this beautiful video. https://youtube.com/watch?v=k99dR1UTqPM https://youtube.com/watch?v=k99dR1UTqPM

simple10 3y ago
Cool! Reminds me of the "most dangerous game" of the 80's, Lawn Darts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khHzGqgO2Bw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khHzGqgO2Bw

waihtis 3y ago

I've had visiting a calcio storico event in my bucket list for awhile: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcio_Fiorentino https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcio_Fiorentino