Sports in Early

Civilizations

Mesopotamian Sports & Entertainment

HuntingBoxingWrestlingPoloBoomerangsThrow sticksRattlesBoard games

Mesopotamian Sports facts

• Individual Sports other from the royal hunt, sports were often ritualistic. Seals and sculpture show wrestling and boxing

matches between real and fake creatures. Ancient text where wrestlers, gymnasts, and jugglers performing in the temples.

Ancient Mesopotamian Sports Facts

• Little evidence relating to Mesopotamian sports has survived from the East. Clay and pottery balls have been excavated, but the rules for the games played with

them are not clear. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, King Gilgamesh wears out the

young men by playing a kind of human polo, riding on their backs while hitting a

puck with a stick.

Ancient Egyptian Sports & Entertainment

Wrestling Javelin throwing Archery SwimmingRowingAssortment of ball gamesLengthy foot racesChariot racing

Ancient Egyptian Sports Facts

The Ancient Egyptians played a variety of

different sports. Different sports have been

shown in various paintings and in ancient

documents gave great information about this

subject. Sporting artifacts have been found

in tombs.

Ancient Sports Facts

The Ancient Egyptians were known to likecompetitive sports and they were an excitingform of entertainment. The winners of sports

contests were given money and large collars called usekhs. It covered half of their bodies. Many of the competitive

Ancient Egyptian sports are still played in the Olympics.

Egyptian Sports Fun Facts

• Egypt is often described as a sportsman's paradise.

• Of the many games introduced into Egypt during the nineteenth century, football has become almost the national game.

Mesopotamian Sports Fun Facts

• Lion hunting by the king was a horrible event. Lions were put in wooden cages. Then, the lion was released to be attacked by dogs and beaters. The beaters would beat the lion with sticks and drive them to the king who killed it with a bow or spear.

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