How American Football developed from Ancient Games
Pigskin Dispatch's Part 1 in the Series on American Football History
Where did football come from?
The game we call football in America is undisputedly a spin-off of rugby. The main influence of rugby is soccer, or football as it is called in the old world. So in order to find the ancient roots of the US gridiron game one needs to dive into the shared ancient history of rugby and soccer.
Historians tell us that the ancient Greeks developed and played a game called harpaston. Harpaston is mentioned frequently in classical Greek literature, where it is often referred to as a “very rough and brutal game“. The rules of this ancient sport were pretty simple. There were two teams and each would have a line to protect. The objective of the game was to score points which were awarded when a player would cross the protected line of his opponents by one of a few ways; kicking the ball, running with it across the goal line, or throwing it across the line to another player on his team. The other team’s objective was simply to stop them by any means possible. There were no real rules to this game. There was no specific field length, no side line boundaries, and no specified number of players on each team. 
Documented Early Greek Football game?
The Greek game of harpaston is often referred to in ancient Greek literature as a “very rough and brutal game“. The Greek epic "Odyssea" of Homer tells the story about a character named Odysseus. In one part of the story, Odysseus arrived on the island of Faiaken after being shipwrecked. Nausikaa, the daughter of King Alkinoos, found him on the beach when she was playing a ball game with her servants. Thereafter, King's sons, Laodamas and Halios, started to play in honor of Odysseus. The first one threw with both hands a giant purple ball while the second caught it in air. There are beliefs of many Greek historians that this game along with a close counterpart game called "Episkyros", also known as "Ephebike", were training for warriors in Greece as long ago as 800 BC. The games helped to develop agility, stamina and strength into potential soldiers by the games physical and strenuous exercise.
The military leaders had developed their troop training regiment into sport, that not only kept the soldiers in tip top shape but also kept their minds sharp in strategy and working as a unit to complete tasks against an opposing force. This Greek war game was not for the faint of heart, it was dangerous not only for participants but also others. In one account of a game, a spectator once had his leg broken when he got caught in the middle of play. Now that is a rough sport when fans even share the pain! The game changed drastically to even becoming more physical when the Greeks were conquered by the Roman Empire.
The series will dive into the Roman influence of the game of American football in part 2 of Pigskin Dispatch’s journey through football history titled, “Roman Roots of the Gridiron Game.”
