E. Priymak - Mesoamerican ball game. Sports and ritual. “Death matches” of ancient football players (7 photos) Mayan ball court

The Olmecs are the inventors of the game. Almost all Mayan cities had ball courts. Archaeologists have discovered the ruins of “stadiums” in Tikal (Guatemala), Copan (Honduras), Chichen Itza (Yucatan Peninsula), Oaxaca (Southern Mexico) and other places. During periods of hostilities, the Indians arranged truces in order to play a sacred game.

It is believed that the game pok-ta-pok was invented by the Olmecs, the creators of the most ancient civilization, traces of which were found in Mexico. Two playing fields may have been located in the Olmec ritual center of La Venta, which existed in 1000-400 BC. BC. And from the Olmecs the ball game was learned throughout Central and Southern Mexico, as well as in the northern regions of Central America.

Game features. The game could involve two teams or two players. They took turns serving the ball so that the opponent could not return it without making a mistake. You could touch the ball with your hips, elbows, and buttocks. The players threw the ball from one end of the field to the other, trying to get into the hoop. The winner was the one who scored a certain number of points.

You could immediately win the game if you managed to throw the ball through the hoop, the hole of which was just a little small in size. more ball. The ring was attached vertically to the wall of the site at a height of about two meters from the ground, sometimes higher.

The game was of a ritual nature. The movement of the ball symbolized the movement of the sun and stars across the sky, and the opposing teams staged a symbolic struggle between day and night, the gods of Heaven and the Underworld (the kingdom of the dead).

Often the game ended with a beheading ritual, which is probably related to the cult of fertility. Some believe that the captain of the losing “team” turned into a victim, others - the captain of the winning “team”, since the gods had to give the best, including the strongest, most dexterous, beautiful people. Perhaps all the losers were beheaded. It is also suggested that the role of the victim could be played by prisoners of war who had the honor of participating in the game. It was believed that the sacrificed person, after winning the game, went to heaven, bypassing the horrors of the nine underworlds.

Balls and "tracksuits". The balls the Indians played with were different from modern ones. They were made of rubber and were not hollow inside and therefore weighed a lot - 2 kg, if not 3 kg. Often in Mayan reliefs and drawings the balls turn out to be very large in size - only two to three times smaller than the players themselves. So the Indians emphasized that the ball was the main “character” of the game.

The participant in the game had to use a helmet, knee pads, and put on a leather hip belt weighing 30 kg. The use of such defenses made the game even more difficult. In many Mayan cities, during excavations, clay figurines were found depicting players - massive men dressed in strong helmets, voluminous belts and other protective equipment reflecting a blow or throwing a ball.

Indian "stadiums". In shape they resembled the Latin letters I or T. They seemed to symbolize the Universe, pointing to the four parts of the world. The game itself took place in the longitudinal part of the structure. The “playing field” was enclosed by vertical or inclined walls, from which the ball bounced without hitting the spectators. As mentioned, there was a vertical stone ring in the middle of the wall. Sometimes a removable wooden ring was used. Spectators could be seated on platforms around the site.

“Stadiums” were part of ritual complexes. They included pyramids, temples (often mortuary ones), sites for human sacrifices, tzompantli - special structures where the skulls of those sacrificed were kept (sometimes called “walls of skulls” or “places of skulls”).

The location of the “stadiums” did not depend on the terrain or the placement of other buildings. For the Indians, it was important that the sites were oriented either along a north-south axis or along a west-east axis. In the first case, the platforms seemed to point to the north, where, according to the beliefs of some Indian peoples of the region, the kingdom of the dead was located. In the second case (east-west line), the orientation of the “stadiums” indicated the connection of the game with the solar cult.

The largest play area. Archaeologists have discovered a “stadium” in the ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza (Yucatan), which was built in 864. Tourists visiting the ruins of the ancient city are impressed by the size of this structure. The field is 146 m long and 36 m wide. It is bordered by two long walls. On the walls at a height of 10 m there are rings into which the players had to throw the ball. The playing field is oriented along a north-south line with a slight deviation to the east (to the sacred well of the Itza people). At the base of the walls there are low stone ledges. On the ledges there are relief images of human sacrifices. Ancient engravers showed two "teams" consisting of seven players each, with one player holding in his hand the head of an opponent from the other team.

Four churches were erected on the territory of the “sports” complex. Their walls were decorated with frescoes telling about the military glory of the Mayans. Some images were directly related to the game.

Experts draw attention to the unique feature of this complex of structures. Being in the so-called Northern Temple and Southern Temple, two people could talk to each other without straining their voices, and their conversation was not audible to other people except those who stood in close proximity to the talkers. The reasons for the occurrence of such an acoustic effect are unknown; it is impossible to say whether the Mayans created a “stone telephone” or the effect was a gift of nature.

Architectural complex in Guatemala. Particularly popular among tourists visiting Central America is the architectural complex of the ancient city of Zuculeu, whose inhabitants were conquered by the Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century. Like the Mayans, who settled in the Yucatan during the classical period, the inhabitants of Zuculeu decorated their “sports” court with images of the gods to whom the game was dedicated. Modern visitors to the Indian city find that the stadium in provincial Zuculeu was four times larger than the stadium in the older, more famous and more populous Mayan urban center of Tikal.

Apparently, the ritual complex in the small mountain town had special significance. Playground symbolized a narrow passage to the underworld, through which the sun disappears into the night. Rivals fought for the right to bring the sun out of the underworld. They acted in the same way as the heroes of the epic work of the Maya of Guatemala, the sacred book of the Popol Vuh.

An ancient game today. The favorite game of the Mayans and peoples close to them in culture can still be observed today. Some travel companies attract attention by promising visitors the opportunity to see this rare sight. True, these days no one performs the complex rituals that accompanied the competition in the past, and does not sacrifice players to the gods.

Dida S., Priymak E., Styuflyaev M. ::: Mesoamerican ball game: sport and ritual

Apparently, the Indians did not immediately begin to play ball games on special stone platforms. Initially, the competition probably took place in an open, marked area, then areas bordered by earthen embankments appeared (this is what the field in Paso de la Amada looks like) and even later, world-famous stone stadiums began to be built. Rings on the walls of the courts appear even later and are probably associated with the addition of a new rule to the game - players had to hit the ball directly into the ring, although this was quite difficult to do, since the diameter of the ring was often only slightly larger than the diameter of the ball.

There was no single standard for the size of a sports field; they varied from city to city. There were also differences in terms of the shape of stadiums, although not as noticeable (a large variety of shapes appears in the late classical period). E. Taladuar tried to classify venues in Mesoamerica and the southwestern United States based on the criteria of form and chronology; he distinguishes 13 types of stadiums with various options. The standard platform consists of a rectangular playing field, surrounded by high longitudinal walls. Structures were often added to the platforms around the playing area for use as comfort rooms by individual spectators. At each end of the playing alley there were additional open spaces, giving the courts the shape of the Latin letter I. In some regions, the playing field was divided into equal parts by three markers, which may also have been used for scoring. Sometimes, instead of three, they were limited to one marker in the center of the site. Particularly famous were the Mayan markers of the Classic period, which had the appearance of large round stones. Many of them can rightfully be considered works of art, as they were decorated with fine carvings and even hieroglyphic inscriptions. In Copan, the façade of the stadium is decorated with sculptures of bird-like creatures with macaw heads. Unfortunately, no full-fledged images of ball courts have yet been discovered either on ceramics or on Mayan monuments of the classical period; most often, ancient artists showed this sports competition taking place near a ladder or stepped platform. But on the pages of later Mixtec, Zapotec and Aztec pictographic manuscripts from Central Mexico, over 150 illustrations of stadiums have been preserved, and even ceramic models of ball courts are found in Western Mexico.

Thanks to ongoing archaeological excavations, which have become especially intense since the mid-twentieth century, researchers find dozens of new stadiums every year. Thus, if in 1981 632 sites were known in 518 settlements, then by 2000 their number increased to 1560 in 1275 settlements. The size of the stadiums varied greatly from city to city. For contrast, you can compare the playing areas of two sites in Mayan cities: the first in Chichen Itza, measuring 96.5 by 30 meters, and the second at the “Main Square” of Tikal - 16 by 5 meters. Almost every large or medium-sized city in Mesoamerica had at least one playground, and in a number of capitals over ten were built (Chichen Itza - 13, El Tajin - 18, Cantona - 24). Even in small villages stadiums are found, while at the same time, for reasons still unclear, they are completely absent in the great city of Teotihuacan and in the capitals of some influential Mayan kingdoms of the classical period (Bonampak, Tortuguero, Motul de San Jose). It can be assumed that a large number of sites indicates the degree of passion of the population of the city and surrounding area for this sport, however, their complete absence in any city does not mean that local residents did not play ball at all. For example, in the Valley of Mexico, where the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan was located, a small number of sites have been recorded, despite intensive archaeological research and the presence of historical records of Spanish chroniclers. This can be partly explained by the destruction of pre-Spanish structures during colonial times - by 1580, all playgrounds located in the territory under the control of the Spanish Crown were either destroyed or abandoned. In the case of the Maya of the classical period, of particular interest is the site of Motul de San José, in ancient times the capital of the kingdom Ik'a'. Although there is currently an archaeological project in the region, no stadium has yet been found in Motul de San José, despite the fact that the kings' pottery Ik'a' were depicted playing ball and, in addition, there was a playground in the small peripheral settlement of Trinidad de Nosotros, located only 2.6 kilometers southeast of the main square of Motul de San José and probably part of kingdom Ik'a'. It can be assumed that for some reason the kings Ik'a' they played ball and held meetings, feasts and rituals related to this action not in the capital, but in the small town of Trinidad de Nosotros.

In the Classical and Postclassical periods, ball games were clearly associated with power and high social status. Through the construction of the stadium, rulers strengthened their own authority and power over their subjects. Numerous examples show that when a particular kingdom gained strength, stadiums immediately appeared or were rebuilt in its capital. Perhaps the construction of small stadiums in unimportant cities is explained precisely by the desire of the local nobility to increase their power and authority. The ball game was often used to solve various difficult problems, disputes and interstate conflicts. Thus, the playing field turned into a kind of alternative to the battlefield. Over time, play could also become a means of resolving conflicts directly within society. Perhaps this explains the uneven distribution of stadiums across Mesoamerica - where the central government was strong, there were few stadiums, and on the contrary, their number increases in recently conquered territories or where, for some reason, there was a high intensity of conflict situations in society.

However, one should not assume that the game was intended only for members of the nobility and no one else played it. We judge the game by the significant stone structures that remain from it, which, of course, could only be built by those who were able to organize the joint work of a sufficient number of people. However, there is reason to agree with D. Anderson that the game of ball arose as a sports tradition in small communities, only later the ruling elite used it for their own political purposes. As mentioned above, the cessation of the construction of stadiums in the post-classical Yucatan does not at all indicate a complete abandonment of the ball game, which is mentioned by D. de Landa and is present in the Dresden Code.

Model of the stadium and the ball game as it took place in ancient times in the state of Nayarit(Photo: S.Wood, 2010)

The best preserved stone stadiums are found in the following ancient cities: Tikal, Yaxha, Copan, Uxmal, Chichen Itza, Yagul, Mixco Viejo, Saculeu, Ichimche, Monte Alban and Xochicalco.

The ruins of the once large city of Cantona, located 170 kilometers east of Mexico City, deserve special mention. Its heyday occurred in the late classical period. The city is famous primarily for the fact that on its territory scientists have found as many as 24 ball courts. Thus, Cantona can be considered the largest center of this sport in Northern Mexico. It is noteworthy that the stadiums are distributed very unevenly, nineteen of them are concentrated in the southern part of the city, its administrative and religious center, four more in the central part, and only one in the northern part.

The state of Morelos has several other stadiums for the ritual ball game. They date back to approximately 700-900 years and are located in Xochicalco. After the city was abandoned by its inhabitants, it was empty for some time, and then was reoccupied by the Nahua-speaking population. In Xochicalco, 3 courts were found at once (southern, northern and eastern), and the eastern complex of buildings seems to be entirely dedicated to the ball game and its rituals. Most likely, each of them served its own purposes. One is used as the main arena, the others are used for various ceremonies and ritual events. There are 20 round “altars” located on the western side of the southern stadium. Apparently, for each of the 20 days of the month.

As already mentioned, very few ball courts from the times of Aztec power have survived. One of the stadiums that has survived and is accessible to tourists today is located in the town of Coatetelco (Cuatetelco) in the state of Morelos. It dates from the Late Postclassic period (1350–1521), as do other buildings in this settlement. But archaeological excavations have shown that people settled here much earlier, and in its heyday (450-600 AD) Teotihuacan had a noticeable influence on Coatetelco. Elite burials were found under the stairs of the western platform of the tlachtli, in which they found a large number of different objects, such as ceramic vessels, obsidian, jadeite, bronze and copper objects, as well as stone tools for grinding grain.

In the Oaxaca Valley, the oldest known Zapotec stadium is located in Monte Alban. Its earliest version dates from the Late Preclassic. The stadium was rebuilt several times, and it acquired its final form in the 2nd-4th centuries. The later tradition of playing ball is associated with 11 stadiums in the site of El Tajin, located in the state of Veracruz. A few small venues are believed to date from the Middle Classical period, but stadium construction peaked in the 9th and 10th centuries. Largest stadium with a long and narrow (10.28 by 60.82 meters) platform and unusual longitudinal walls, which were part of the base of two city pyramids, is located in the southern part of El Tajin.

Coatetelco Plan (Lluvia Arras BySmith 2003)

Stadium V Coatetelko (photo: Fernando Gonzalez and Gonzalez)

In the stadiums, not only ball games were held, but also various ritual actions were performed, for example, burying sacrifices (as in Tenochtitlan - whistles, ocarinas, drums). In Western Mexico, and perhaps in Classic Mayan cities, stadiums became the venue for wrestling competitions, as evidenced by pottery depictions from the respective regions. Games were already an element of shows and various festivals, accompanied by playing musical instruments.

The iconography surrounding the ball game often features prisoners of war, which may be related to an important component of the stadium ritual - human sacrifice. The connection of the game or the stadium itself with human sacrifice appears relatively late - in the classical period. It is most clearly traced among the Indians of classical Veracruz and in the Mayan culture. Scenes of sacrifices are visible, for example, on the panels of the stadiums at El Tajin (850-1100) and Chichen Itza (9th century), as well as on the steles in the cultural site of the classical Veracruz Aparicio (700-900). It is also appropriate to recall the plot of the Mayan epic from mountainous Guatemala, the Popol Vuh, in which the ball game is associated with sacrifice.

In Chichen Itza and El Tajin, a scene of the beheading of a player can be seen in the stadiums, this suggests that the victim was the team captain, but how widespread this practice was remains unclear. Archaeologists have not yet discovered mass graves associated with the ball game, so it is likely that there were sacrifices, but they were sporadic, and speculation about the sacrifices of entire teams remains for the most part just unsupported assumptions.

We also note that in the late classical period and later, the motif of a severed head is often found in stadiums, which is also present in the Popol Vuh epic. This circumstance served as the basis for putting forward an unsubstantiated hypothesis that the Indians played with severed heads or skulls, which, of course, is simply impossible.

Some experts believe that it was not the game that was associated with the sacrifices, but the significant place where the stadium was located. Thus, David Stewart notes that most of the Mayan monumental inscriptions are of a dedicatory nature. The same applies to scenes of sacrifices captured in stadiums, which could be part of a large initiation ritual, dressed in the surroundings of the game, but related to the place, and not to the game itself. In this case, it is quite appropriate to ask the question, were sacrifices actually made during games in stadiums? Tokovinin A. Ball game among the peoples of Mesoamerica.

Tokovinin A. Ball game among the peoples of Mesoamerica.

Dida S., Priymak E., Styuflyaev M. ::: Mesoamerican ball game: sport and ritual

The Mayans played ball throughout their history, from at least the Middle Preclassic period until the Spanish conquest. It is quite natural that traditions could not remain unchanged for so long. for a long time, and if in the classical period of the Mayan civilization (III-X centuries) the game flourished in the lowlands, then by the 16th century it was preserved mainly in the southern mountainous region, in the kingdoms of the Quiché and Kaqchiquel. However, the very fact that it is a sport This competition was widely represented in different regions and experienced large-scale historical transformations, including the famous collapse of the civilization of the classical period, testifying to its enormous significance for Mayan culture.

As we already had to say, in the minds of the ancient Mayans, playing ball was not at all simple fun or a means of maintaining physical fitness . It had a very great ritual significance and was associated with the themes of death and resurrection. Unfortunately, although scenes of ball games are abundantly represented on ceremonial painted ceramics of the classical period, hieroglyphic texts describe both the game itself and the mythology associated with it extremely sparingly. Therefore, the key source that sheds light on the deep religious symbolism of the game currently remains the Maya-Kiche epic Popol Vuh, written down after the Conquest using the Latin alphabet. The mythological part of the epic tells how two brothers, Hun-Hunahpu and Vucub-Hunahpu, played ball on a court near the entrance to Xibalba (the underworld). The noise made by the game annoyed the lords of Xibalba, who decided to kill the players and take possession of their equipment - leather knee pads, collars, gloves, hats and masks. To do this, they sent their owl envoys to the brothers with an invitation to come to Xibalba to play ball. Hun-Hunahpu and Vucub-Hunahpu agreed to fulfill the will of the rulers, but before setting off on the journey to Xibalba, they returned home to say goodbye to their mother and hid their rubber ball in a recess in the roof of the house. Only after this did the brothers, together with the owls sent to them, go to Xibalba. There they were killed by the lords of the underworld and buried in a place called Pukbal Chah. The head of Hun-Hun-Ahpu was hung by the lords of Xibalba on a tree, which immediately became covered with pumpkin fruits. The daughter of one of the rulers named Shkik approached the tree and extended her hand to the skull of Hun-Hun-Ahpu. At that moment, the skull dropped a few drops of saliva directly into the girl’s palm, giving her its offspring in such a miraculous way. When the lords of Xibalba learned about the pregnancy, they wanted to execute Shqik for fornication, but the girl escaped death and found shelter in the house of her mother Hun-Hunahpu. Soon she gave birth to two twins, Hunahpu and Xbalanque. When the brothers grew up, they began to work in the corn field, but they did not want to be farmers at all. One day they discovered on the roof of the house the ball-playing equipment that Hunhunahpu and Vucub Hunahpu had hidden before going to Xibalba. The overjoyed brothers returned to the playground where their father and uncle were playing and began to play. Hearing the noise coming, the lords of Xibalba became worried and again ordered their messengers to go after the players and bring them to the kingdom of the dead. The twin heroes actually went to the underworld, and, having overcome numerous obstacles and trials there, played ball with the lords of Xibalba and defeated them. The angry lords of the underworld killed the brothers and threw their bones to the river bottom, but the young men miraculously resurrected. Returning to the court of the rulers in the guise of two wandering old magicians, they killed them all by deception and conquered Xibalba. Its inhabitants were no longer allowed to play ball, but instead had to spend their time making clay pots and pans and stones for grinding corn. Then the brothers found the bodies of their father and uncle in Pukbal Chah, resurrected them, and themselves ascended to heaven as the Sun and Moon.

Thus, in the Popol Vuh, the game of ball is presented as a competition between the forces of life and death, associated with the seasonal cycle of dying and resurrecting nature. It should immediately be noted that the question of whether its plot corresponds to the Mayan mythology of the classical period is quite complex. Although the Popol Vuh is often called the "Mayan Bible", it never had a general Mayan meaning, this book reflects primarily the myths and traditions of the Quiché people, it arose centuries after the collapse of the civilization of the classical period, in a completely different geographical region and in special historical conditions. However, in the inscriptions and iconography of the first millennium one can find numerous interesting parallels with the K'iche epic. In the classical period, the game was also perceived as a battle, as evidenced by the remarkable fact that the stadiums in Yaxchilan, Tonin and Copán were in ancient times called the “Site of Three Victories” in memory of the beheading of the three gods of the underworld, which supposedly took place on the same site in in the distant past, apparently after their defeat in the game. The most full version myth is preserved on hieroglyphic staircase 2 from Yaxchilan. On the three steps of this monument there are depicted successive successors on the throne of the “Sacred Pa'chansky Lord" Yashuun-Bahlam IV, his father Itzamkokaah-Bahlam III and grandfather Yashuun-Bahlam III. They play with balls, inside of which are depicted the bodies of bound captives. In this case, there is an obvious desire to connect the mythical story of victories over the deities of death with real military triumphs Pa'chan kings.

The above example clearly reflects the connection between the game of ball and war and human sacrifice. Markers at the stadium in Tonina are decorated with images of bound prisoners. The relief of the "Great Stadium" in Chichen Itza shows the scene of the beheading of a player. It has been suggested that the beginning or end of the game was accompanied by the sacrifice of enemies captured in the war. However, there is no evidence that the Mayans sacrificed the defeated participants in the match, as is often written about in popular literature and the media.

Classic Mayan hieroglyphs associated with the ball game:

Despite the popularity of the game, unfortunately, not a single description of it has yet been found in hieroglyphic inscriptions. Spanish authors report on the ball game, but their stories reflect the realities of the late era; in addition, they spoke about the Central Mexican version of the competition, which differed in a number of significant features from the Mayan version. Researchers can get some idea about the ball game of the Classic Maya thanks to numerous images on vases and stone monuments, as well as finds of figurines of players made of ceramics. Even such laconic sources can sometimes serve as the basis for putting forward interesting and unexpected hypotheses. For example, the famous American Mayanist M. Ko suggested that the Mayans of the classical period were aware of several varieties of the ball game. One is a standard team game, widespread throughout Mesoamerica, with a solid rubber ball on a special court shaped like the Latin letter I. Another version of the sport, Ko believes, is represented on painted Mayan pottery. There, the game often takes place not on a regular court, but opposite a ladder or perhaps a stepped platform. Moreover, in the images on the vessels Special attention attracted by a huge rubber ball, reaching a diameter of 80 cm or more. Since a solid projectile of this size would have been prohibitively heavy, Ko theorized that the Mayans played with hollow, inflatable rubber balls, similar to a modern volleyball.

If the hieroglyphic inscriptions say little about the course of the game itself, then they allow historians to trace the close connection of the ball game with politics, war and diplomacy much more clearly and fully than in the case of many other Mesoamerican cultures. During the Classic period, Mayan kings often included the epithet "ball player" in their titles, hence participation in the sacred game was one way of legitimizing their power. There are known cases when kings celebrated their military successes with the construction of new stadiums, for example, “The Holy Lord Popo'» K'inich-Baaknal-Chaakhk consecrated a ball court in Tonin after a series of victories over Baakalem(Palenque). Sometimes a powerful king, through a ritual ball game, provided magical support to the warring allies. So, on May 4, 627, the king TO’ antu’ (Karakol) ...n-O'hl-K'inich II defeated the army Ca’ ala(Naranjo) in the area Tsam. On the same day his overlord, "Sacred Kanulsky Lord” Tachoom-Uk’ab-K’ahk’, played ball on the “platform of three victories”. Considering the game's traditional association with war, this does not seem to be a mere coincidence. Apparently, it was believed that by holding a ritual-sports event, a powerful Kanulsky the king helped his ally win. On the other hand, joint participation in a ball game could serve as a tool for establishing diplomatic ties and strengthening allied relations. There are known cases when rulers competed with each other not on the battlefield, but on the sports field. For example, a colorful vessel (number K2803 in the D. Kerr database) that belonged to the ruler of the kingdom has survived to this day Hishwitz(Zapote-Bobal). It shows two teams of ball players, one of which is led by a king Ik'a'(Motul de San Jose). The motives for which one king ordered the play of another king to be depicted on his vessel are unclear. Perhaps the lord Ik'a' visited Hishwitz on a visit, during which he took part in the game. Be that as it may, hieroglyphic inscriptions record cases when such sports competitions vassals confirmed their loyalty to the overlord ruler. For example, the kings of Saknikte’(La Corona) often played ball with their overlords, the "Sacred Kanulsky Lords."

The most striking evidence of an elite version of the ball game are stadiums, and in Mayan cities archaeologists constantly find ruins of buildings of this type. In hieroglyphic writing, a special sign was used to designate the stadium, which looked like a court with a ball in the center between two walls. The capitals of most large and a number of medium-sized kingdoms had their own stadiums. Archaeologists have discovered the ruins of such structures in Tikal, Calakmul, Yaxchilan, Piedras Negras, Tonin, Copan and many other sites. Some stadiums have functioned and been rebuilt several times over many centuries. For example, in the site of Pakbitun (Belize), the stadium appeared in the Late Preclassic period and existed for about a thousand years. The stadium in Copan is well known, the construction of which dates back to the first quarter of the 5th century. It was rebuilt three times and used until the complete decline of the city in the first half of the 9th century. In many large cities, there were several ball courts at the same time. For example, two stadiums are known in Piedras Negras in the late classical period, and three in Tikal. They are located in different parts of the settlement, at a certain distance from each other. Sometimes it happened that some ambitious ruler was not satisfied with the modest size of the stadium in his capital. For example, at the turn of the 7th-8th centuries, a small site already existed in Tonin, but, as noted above, after a series of impressive military victories, the local ruler K'inich-Baaknal-Chaakhk increased his prestige with the construction of a new grandiose stadium. The connection between the growing political power of the kingdom and the construction of the stadium can also be traced in Ceibal. Until the 9th century, while Ceibal was in the shadow of the Southern Kukulya(Dos Pilas), there was no ball court there. But at the end of the classical period, local kings begin to claim the role of hegemons, and a stadium appears in the city.

Stadium in Copan

The so-called “Great Stadium” in Chichen Itza, the largest in Mesoamerica, deserves special mention. Its I-shaped playground is 138 meters long and 40 meters wide. Height vertical walls, in which stone rings were mounted, reached 8 meters. It is almost impossible to play on a court of this size, so it has been suggested that the “Grand Stadium” was created solely as a model of the world and was not used for sports matches, especially since at least twelve other ordinary courts are known in Chichen Itza alone.

“Big Stadium” in Chichen Itza (Photo: D. Ivanov, Yekaterinburg, 2014)

As mentioned above, in the Popol Vuh the stadiums are closely connected with the underworld: one site is located at the entrance to Xibalba, and the second in the kingdom of the dead itself. The facts available to researchers allow us to conclude that similar ideas were widespread in the classical period. In particular, it was noted that in many settlements the ball courts are located in the most lowest points cities. Some inscriptions mention a mythological ball game that took place in the area Ik’ ...cash(“Black hole”), identified with the underworld. The Mayans probably perceived the stadium as a kind of portal to the underworld, connecting the space of the living and the dead. This interpretation is supported, among other things, by the images of ball players on the walls of the cave at Nach Tunich, as well as the orientation of the “Great Stadium” at Chichen Itza to the sacred cenote (karst well). It should be recalled that in the ideas of the ancient Mayans, caves and cenotes were considered places leading to the underworld.

Central marker from the stadium at Copan, showing the local ruler Washaklahuun-Ubaah-K'aviil playing ball against the twin hero Huun-Ahab, the predecessor of Hunahpu of the Popol Vuh.

If you look at the game from this point of view, it becomes clear why in the classical period the Mayan kings and the highest nobility virtually monopolized the right to participate in this game. sports competition(at least when it comes to official games on large stadiums). By playing ball, the king, thereby becoming like the maize god Ishiim, defeated the forces of death hostile to man. Undoubtedly, such triumphs strengthened the sacred status of the king, the “ball player,” and increased his authority in the eyes of his subjects.

Let us add that, apparently, playing ball is not the only form of ritual and sports competition that was known to the ancient Mayans. Another popular, although little studied until recently, sport was ritual wrestling. The tradition of holding ritual fights timed to coincide with the beginning of the rainy season is well known in other regions of Mesoamerica and has even survived to this day. Modern researchers consider it to be one of the forms of the rain-making ceremony, in which the blows struck by fighters to each other are likened to thunder, and the spilled blood is like raindrops. Figures of fighting men wearing protective masks, gloves, breastplates and loincloths were found at the ancient Mayan site of Lubaantun (Belize). In addition, ritual duels are represented on several painted vases from the classical period. So, in the scene on the K700 vessel, two groups of fighters fought against each other in a fierce battle. They strike opponents with small round shell-like objects, knocking one participant to the ground and possibly killing them. Of particular interest is the alabaster bowl K7749, which depicts a duel between two men wearing only loincloths. They are armed with long and sharp bones, with which they try to wound their opponents, and from the side, two more men in exquisite suits are closely watching the battle, seemingly offering the “gladiators” new bones to continue the fight. Judging by the appearance of the fighters, these are prisoners captured in the war. In the owner's inscription on the vessel, the owner of the bowl is named as a ballplayer and the son of a ballplayer. Perhaps this is evidence of the close connection between both competitions; in some cases, ritual fights could be held in stadiums as one of the rituals accompanying the ball game. For more information about the ball game in the context of Mayan political history, see: Martin S., Grube N. Chronicle... P. 92, 130, 182, 205; Miller M., Martin S. Courtly Art of Ancient Maya. – London - New York: Thames and Hudson, 2004. – P. 91.

Tokovinin A. A. Ball game among the peoples of Mesoamerica.

Colas R., Voss A. A Game of Life and Death... P. 190.

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Olmecs - inventors of the game
Almost all Mayan cities had ball courts. Archaeologists have discovered the ruins of “stadiums” in Tikal (Guatemala), Copan (Honduras), Chichen Itza (Yucatan Peninsula), Oaxaca (Southern Mexico) and other places. During periods of hostilities, the Indians arranged truces in order to play a sacred game.

It is believed that the game was invented by the Olmecs, the creators of the most ancient civilization, traces of which were found in Mexico. Two playing fields may have been located in the Olmec ritual center of La Venta, which existed in 1000-400 BC. BC. And from the Olmecs the ball game was learned throughout Central and Southern Mexico, as well as in the northern regions of Central America.

Game Features
The game could involve two teams or two players. They took turns serving the ball so that the opponent could not return it without making a mistake. You could touch the ball with your hips, elbows, and buttocks. The players threw the ball from one end of the field to the other, trying to get into the hoop. The winner was the one who scored a certain number of points.

You could immediately win the game if you managed to throw the ball through the hoop, the hole of which was slightly larger than the ball. The ring was attached vertically to the wall of the site at a height of about two meters from the ground, sometimes higher.

The game was of a ritual nature. The movement of the ball symbolized the movement of the sun and stars across the sky, and the opposing teams staged a symbolic struggle between day and night, the gods of Heaven and the Underworld (the kingdom of the dead).

Often the game ended with a beheading ritual, which is probably related to the cult of fertility. Some believe that the captain of the losing “team” turned into a victim, others - the captain of the winning “team”, since the gods had to give the best, including the strongest, most dexterous, beautiful people. Perhaps all the losers were beheaded. It is also suggested that the role of the victim could be played by prisoners of war who had the honor of participating in the game. It was believed that the sacrificed person, after winning the game, went to heaven, bypassing the horrors of the nine underworlds.

Balls and "tracksuits"
The balls the Indians played with were different from modern ones. They were made of rubber and were not hollow inside and therefore weighed a lot - 2 kg, if not 3 kg. Often in Mayan reliefs and drawings the balls turn out to be very large in size - only two to three times smaller than the players themselves. So the Indians emphasized that the ball was the main “character” of the game.

The participant in the game had to use a helmet, knee pads, and put on a leather hip belt weighing 30 kg. The use of such defenses made the game even more difficult. In many Mayan cities, during excavations, clay figurines were found depicting players - massive men dressed in strong helmets, voluminous belts and other protective equipment reflecting a blow or throwing a ball.

Indian "stadiums"
In shape they resembled the Latin letters I or T. They seemed to symbolize the Universe, pointing to the four parts of the world. The game itself took place in the longitudinal part of the structure. The “playing field” was enclosed by vertical or inclined walls, from which the ball bounced without hitting the spectators. As mentioned, there was a vertical stone ring in the middle of the wall. Sometimes a removable wooden ring was used. Spectators could be seated on platforms around the site.

“Stadiums” were part of ritual complexes. They included pyramids, temples (often mortuary ones), sites for human sacrifices, tzompantli - special structures where the skulls of those sacrificed were kept (sometimes called “walls of skulls” or “places of skulls”).

The location of the “stadiums” did not depend on the terrain or the placement of other buildings. For the Indians, it was important that the sites were oriented either along a north-south axis or along a west-east axis. In the first case, the platforms seemed to point to the north, where, according to the beliefs of some Indian peoples of the region, the kingdom of the dead was located. In the second case (east-west line), the orientation of the “stadiums” indicated the connection of the game with the solar cult.

The largest play area
Archaeologists have discovered a “stadium” in the ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza (Yucatan), which was built in 864. Tourists visiting the ruins of the ancient city are impressed by the size of this structure. The field is 146 m long and 36 m wide. It is bordered by two long walls. On the walls at a height of 10 m there are rings into which the players had to throw the ball. The playing field is oriented along a north-south line with a slight deviation to the east (to the sacred well of the Itza people). At the base of the walls there are low stone ledges. On the ledges there are relief images of human sacrifices. Ancient engravers showed two "teams" consisting of seven players each, with one player holding in his hand the head of an opponent from the other team.

Four churches were erected on the territory of the “sports” complex. Their walls were decorated with frescoes telling about the military glory of the Mayans. Some images were directly related to the game.

Experts draw attention to the unique feature of this complex of structures. Being in the so-called Northern Temple and Southern Temple, two people could talk to each other without straining their voices, and their conversation was not audible to other people except those who stood in close proximity to the talkers. The reasons for the occurrence of such an acoustic effect are unknown; it is impossible to say whether the Mayans created a “stone telephone” or the effect was a gift of nature.

Architectural complex in Guatemala
Particularly popular among tourists visiting Central America is the architectural complex of the ancient city of Zuculeu, whose inhabitants were conquered by the Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century. Like the Mayans, who settled in the Yucatan during the classical period, the inhabitants of Zuculeu decorated their “sports” court with images of the gods to whom the game was dedicated. Modern visitors to the Indian city find that the stadium in provincial Zuculeu was four times larger than the stadium in the older, more famous and more populous Mayan urban center of Tikal.

Apparently, the ritual complex in the small mountain town had special significance. The playground symbolized a narrow passage into the underworld, through which the sun disappears into the night. Rivals fought for the right to bring the sun out of the underworld. They acted in the same way as the heroes of the epic work of the Maya of Guatemala, the sacred book of the Popol Vuh.

An ancient game today
The favorite game of the Mayans and peoples close to them in culture can still be observed today. Some travel companies attract attention by promising visitors the opportunity to see this rare sight. True, these days no one performs the complex rituals that accompanied the competition in the past, and does not sacrifice players to the gods.

It took millennia for football to acquire the rigor and tactical sophistication it has today. But its ancient species have not been forgotten. There are many who want to compete for the ball without constraining themselves in any way. Photo above: IMAGE FORUM/EAST NEWS

It's hard to believe that many of the simple things that surround us once did not exist and that someone invented them. A wheel, for example, or a ball. Nevertheless, it is so. Both the ball itself and the game of it were invented three and a half thousand years ago by the Olmecs, who lived in the territory of modern Mexico. In any case, we have no archaeological evidence indicating its earlier origin. Mexico became the birthplace of the game for the simple reason that it was there that the rubber plant, Castilla elastica, grew in abundance, and it was the local residents who were the first to learn how to impart elasticity to rubber, that is, to transform it into something like the current rubber from which God himself ordered to make balls.

The birth of the ball

The Olmecs began to add morning glory juice to rubber. It is a vine native to the same region. Nowadays it has become a fashionable ornamental plant. Its vines are strewn with large white flowers, for which the vine received the name “moon flower”.

The Olmecs freed the stem from leaves and flowers, rolled it into a ball and crushed it, squeezing out the juice. It was mixed with rubber in a ratio of approximately 1:15. When the mass thickened, it was shaped into a ball. Archaeologists find balls different sizes. But even the smallest ones, with a diameter of about 10 centimeters, weigh one and a half kilograms, and the 20-centimeter ones generally resemble a core.

You can kill with such a ball. Therefore, the ancient Mayans prepared for the game with all seriousness. The hips and knees were wrapped in leather belts, a wooden collar, very similar to a yoke for harnessing buffaloes, was put on the shoulders, and the “working” hand was protected with a wooden plank. The head was covered with a special leather bandage. All this harness, reminiscent of American football armor, did not guarantee against injuries and injuries. After the match, many players had to make cuts on different parts of their bodies to drain the blood from the bruises.

The rules of the game are known to us in the most general terms. Most likely it was something like rocketball or volleyball. Players tossed the ball with their hips and sometimes used their knees and elbows. There were options with rackets, special ground stones, and sticks. The main thing was to prevent the ball from touching the ground. In Chichen Itza, an ancient Mayan city, archaeologists discovered a field measuring 146x36 meters, which is surrounded by walls with bas-reliefs depicting episodes of the game. At the ends of the center line, at a height of six meters, a stone ring is built into the walls. If any lucky person managed to throw the ball into the hoop, his team was immediately awarded the victory. But this happened extremely rarely. Usually the team won by points, which were awarded when it somehow managed to move the ball beyond the far edge of the opponent's court. Hitting with prohibited parts of the body was punishable by penalty points. The game continued until sunset, if, of course, there was at least one person left on the court who could stand on his feet. The Spanish chronicler Diego Duran wrote that ball players are “bruised people, they walk around forever broken, and some even die during a match when they get hit in the face or stomach with a ball.”

The game literally had the character of a battle, to which a sacred meaning was attributed. The teams represented two hostile elements, such as fire and water. If the fire team won, it meant a drought was coming. Therefore, the captain of the losing water team must be sacrificed to the water god to appease him. The captain of the winners personally beheaded the victim. The progress of the game was monitored by referees, whose role was extremely important: after all, if it turns out that the sacrifice was made to the wrong god, the drought would be even worse or the flood would be even more destructive. The actions of the referees were closely watched by the public. Every word spoken on the field by players or referees was heard throughout the entire stadium. The secret of this acoustic effect has not been fully figured out. Favorite entertainment tourists visiting Chichen Itza - stand at opposite ends of a huge platform and whisper to each other - you can hear it as if the interlocutor is two steps away from you.

By the time the Spanish conquerors came to America, the Aztecs already treated the game of ball simply as a game - human sacrifices were a thing of the past. Spectators placed bets that could be quite significant, and the captain of the winning team had the right to take the capes and jewelry of the opposing team's fans. Therefore, it was considered the highest chic in Aztec society to come to the match in the best outfit and gold jewelry.

The Spaniards, who forcibly converted Indians to Christianity, ancient game banned because this tradition was associated with the cults of the gods of the Sun, Moon and Corn. Only in the state of Sinaloa in northwestern Mexico did Indian families, descended from famous players and fortune-telling priests, preserve the game of ulama. They make a rubber ball using ancient Olmec technology. More than ten professional teams, which, as in ancient times, when the results of the meeting were used to judge the prospects for the harvest, hold the championship in April.

Florentine kick

Football in almost all languages ​​is football, but the Italians call it in their own way: calcio, “kick”. And it came from the Florentine ball game, which was popular in Italy during the Renaissance and until the 18th century. In 1766, one of the matches in Livorno was honored by the presence of the British consul. “That’s how England became the birthplace of football,” Tuscans joke sadly today. What is silent, however, is that the Florentine game bears very little resemblance to modern football. And it’s unlikely that the medieval Florentines themselves came up with their calcio. Apparently, his distant ancestor was ancient greek game arpadzo (from Greek - “grab”, “rob”), which was adopted by the Romans. They called it “harpastum” (again from the Greek “arpaston” - a ball for playing arpazo) and was especially popular among legionnaires. So football could have been brought to the British Isles by the Roman conquerors.

Perhaps everyone would have forgotten about Florentine football long ago - you never know what they played four centuries ago - if it had not become a symbol of the last Florentine Republic. In 1530, the city was besieged by the troops of the German emperor, famine began, but the Florentines, in order to show their contempt for the enemy, on the last day of the carnival, February 17, staged Soccer game in Piazza Santa Croce. From the surrounding hills, the besiegers clearly saw everything that was happening and began to fire at the square with cannons. But the cannonballs flew past, which every time caused an explosion of fun and a hail of ridicule among the Florentines. On the five-hundredth anniversary of that match, in Mussolini’s far from democratic Italy, they decided to revive Florentine football. They play calcio according to ancient rules, which were recorded in 1580 by Count Giovanni de Bardi in his treatise. The field is a sand-strewn area of ​​100x50 meters. Teams have 27 people: three goalkeepers, four defenders, five midfielders and fifteen forwards. In Bardi we even find a diagram of the placement of players at the beginning of the match. The meeting lasts 50 minutes. The winning team receives a white Chianina heifer as a prize - the famous Florentine steak is prepared from the meat of cows of this breed.

The game is reminiscent of rugby or American football - you need to throw the ball over the boundary of the field from the opponent's side in any way. There are almost no prohibitions - it is even allowed to throw sand in the eyes of an opponent. You can't just hit him on the head and in the crotch. The referee throws the ball into play, but for the first few minutes no one pays attention to it - the opponents shower each other with insults, barely restraining themselves from using their fists. Finally someone throws the first blow and the fight begins. In 2006, in a match between the Whites and the Blues, the bitterness reached such an intensity that the match had to be stopped. On next year the game was not played. However, in 2008, the tradition was restored, only people over 40 years old, as well as those with a criminal record for serious crimes, were prohibited from participating in calcho. But still, after the end of the match, as a rule, a dozen and a half players remain lying on the blood-stained sand, unable to leave the court themselves. The rest touchingly kiss each other, though not at the behest of their hearts, but according to the rules of the game.

Following the gentlemen

Whatever people you take, almost everyone had some kind of group game with a ball or an object resembling it, from which football could grow. But England was still the birthplace of football.

Residents of English Derby consider football their invention. Allegedly, in the 3rd century, a local team defeated a team of Roman legionnaires from a fortification located here in the Roman game harpastum. Since then, the game has become popular here and, gradually evolving, has become modern football. But it is known that various kinds of games that can be classified as proto-football existed in the British Isles even before our era. Something similar happened on the mainland, so it cannot be ruled out that the ancestor of modern football came to the islands in the 11th century along with William the Conqueror. Nothing prevents us from recording the game that was popular in England during the 7th-9th centuries as the ancestors of football. They played village to village at the end of a fair or folk festival. The task was to deliver the ball (it could simply be a cobblestone) to the village square of the opposing side. There were no rules at all; even the number of players was not regulated in any way. The fun was so wild that residents of nearby houses had to tightly close their windows and doors.

The British, or rather the Scots, also consider women's football their brainchild. On the basis that in the Scottish city of Inveresk at the end of the 17th century, local representatives of the fairer sex played a kind of football-like game - a team of married men against a team of girls.

English proto-football in all its forms was such wild entertainment that the authorities eventually got tired of it. The Lord Mayor of London in 1314, by a special edict, banned the game within the city. But, apparently, people didn’t pay much attention to such decrees, because in more than 300 years after the first one was released, at least 30 more were issued. The game gradually changed, its popularity grew. Apparently, in the first half of the 15th century the word “football” itself came into use. It is found in one of the decrees of King Henry IV.

Proto-football was entertainment for the common people, but as the game changed, it gained popularity among the “pure public”, even among royalty. On the order list for King Henry VIII's wardrobe is an item: "leather football boots."

In the second half of the 16th century, football societies were established in the two largest universities in England - Cambridge and Oxford, but rules reminiscent of the current ones appeared only a century later. They were first recorded in his unfinished Book of Games by the English naturalist Francis Willoughby (1635–1672). In addition, he gave the dimensions of the court and goal, described the system of placing players and the tactics of the game.

But for another two centuries they continued to play football in the old fashioned way - as they please. The fate of football was decided by the fact that at the beginning of the 19th century, the opinion spread among teachers that it was extremely useful for the physical and even spiritual development of young people. As a result, the game became extremely popular and began to change rapidly, becoming less and less brutal. Number football clubs grew rapidly, which required the introduction of uniform rules. On October 26, 1863, representatives of all London clubs met in a tavern and founded the Football Association. Over the next two months, five more meetings took place, resulting in uniform rules based on those of the University of Cambridge. They established the dimensions of the field and goal, which have not changed since then, and most importantly, the ban on playing with hands, which at first even applied to goalkeepers. Since that time, classical football and rugby have finally separated, so 1863 is considered the year of birth of modern football.

Until the end of the 19th century, the English Football Association actively made various changes to the order of play: the size of the ball was determined and a corner kick was introduced (1872), from 1878 the referee began to use a whistle, from 1891 a net appeared on the goal and a penalty kick began to be awarded free kick (penalty). In 1875, the tape connecting the goal posts was replaced with a crossbar. A referee appeared on the football field in 1891. Then his assistants turned into line referees.

The history of international football matches begins with the match between the national teams of England and Scotland, which took place in 1870 (it ended in a 0:0 draw). In 1884, the first official international tournament with the participation of football players from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland (such tournaments are still held annually).

Classic football was doomed to become a world game. Firstly, in England for a long time it remained a sport of gentlemen, and it was flattering for everyone to be considered one of them, at least through the game. But unlike some tennis, football did not require either expensive equipment or special grounds. The rapid spread of the game was also facilitated by the fact that Britain owned colonies on all continents. In addition, in every capital, in every major trading city, there lived many English merchants and industrialists. They created their own teams, and, looking at them, the local public also became involved in the game. This is how football came to Russia, first to St. Petersburg. The first meeting of domestic teams took place in the capital in 1897 - the history of Russian football dates back to this year.