Summer 2022 · Torch: U.S. · THE HISTORY OF LUDI AND OLYMPIKA
16
THE HISTORY OF
Ludi
AND
Ludi
Olympika
Olympika
by Emma Canga
NJCL Editor 2021-2022
We’ve all heard about the origin of track and field events in the first Olympics in ancient Greece in 776 BC and the story of Phidippides’ run to Marathon, but where did the other Ludi and Olympika events we host at the national convention come from? Not every event originated in the ancient classical world but similar style games were nevertheless practiced in one way or another.
Some historians
believe that
swimming arose around 40,000 years ago, but archaeological records show the earliest evidence of swimming in Egypt around 2500 BC to 2400 BC. Since many civilizations were founded around rivers like the Nile and the Tiber, recreational and workout swimming arose. Most significantly, swimming was used in military training and operations. Diving also became popular at this time and was used in ancient naval battles, notably in the Peloponnesian War. During naval blockades, swimmers and divers would risk their lives swimming supplies to surrounded troops. To prevent such situations, the two would also strategically place underwater blockers to stop oncoming enemy ships. For the most part, swimming took place in natural bodies of water, but in the houses of the wealthy and in conjunction with some baths, there were swimming pools. The baths of ancient Rome were extensive and could span an entire room, but ancient swimming pools were only a few meters in length. Competitive swimming, as we see in the modern Olympics and our very own Ludi swimming, did not enter the spotlight until the 19th century AD, but the activity itself was nevertheless present in the classical world. Thus, there are not many literary accounts of swimming in ancient Rome, but there is a
significant passage that describes the activity in M. Manilius’ Astronomica Book 5.
“For just as the dolphin is propelled by its swift fins through the waters… whoever is born of it will speed through the sea. Now lifting one arm after the other to make slow sweeps he will catch the eye as he drives a furrow of foam through the sea and will sound afar as he thrashes the waters…”
SWIMMING
VOLLEYBALL
Volleyball is a
similarly modern
sport having been invented in the 19th century, but volleyball-like games can still be found in the ancient classical world. In the Torch: U.S. Spring Edition 2022, I discussed the ancient ball game urania. Some historians suspect that volleyball may just have
Ancient Mesopotamian carving depicting military swimmers and divers.
SWIMMING