Greco-Roman Games

Greco-Roman Wrestling

• Wrestling was a common sport in both ancient Greece and Rome. Wrestling matches were held at sporting events such as the Olympic games to determine the best wrestler of a given area. Although the modern Greco-Roman wrestling style is modern and is said to have been invented by one of Napoleons men, it has its origins of style in the ancient wrestling styles of Greece and Rome.

Tesserae

• Tesserae was a Roman dice game. It was primarily a gambling game and would consist of betting on a certain number to be rolled or on a certain sequence of numbers. The players could place whatever stakes they wished on the dice. This game, along with other gambling games, were illegal in ancient Rome and so these type of games would be played in homes, brothels and bars.

Olympic Running Games

• The Olympic games in Greece hosted a number of running competitions. There were predominantly four types of races. The first type of race was known as the stadion in which runners ran the length of one stade (192 meters). The other races were a two-stade race and a long distance race of either seven or 24 stades. Finally there was the two to four stade race which involved running in a full suit of armor. This was a race developed to test and improve military endurance.

Pila

• Pila was a roman game played with four to ten players. These players would stand in a circle. The size of the circle would depend on the number of players. One player would stand in the middle as the others threw a ball between each other. The person in the middle had to intercept the ball and could tackle or knock other players over to get at the ball.