PĪLA

( σφαῖρα ), a ball. The game at ball ( σφαιριστική ) was one of the most favourite gymnastic exercises of the Greeks and Romans, from the earliest times to the fall of the Roman empire. It is mentioned in the Ody ey, where it is played by the Phaeacian damsels to the sound of music, and also by two celebrated performers at the court of Alcinous in a most artistic manner accompanied with dancing. The various movements of the body required in the game of ball gave elasticity and grace to the figure; whence it was highly esteemed by the Greeks. The A then i ans set so high a value on it, that they conferred upon Aris tonic us of Carystus the right of citizenship on account of his skill in this game. It was equally esteemed by the other states of Greece; the young Spartans, when they were leaving the condition of ephebi, were called σφαιρεῖς , probably because their chief exercise was the game at ball. Every complete gymnasium had a room ( σφαιριστήριον , σφαίριστρα ) devoted to this exercise [ Gymnasium ], where a special teacher ( σφαιριστικός ) gave instruction in the art. Among the Romans the game at ball was generally played at by persons before taking the bath, in a room ( sphaeristerium ) attached to the baths for the purpose. Pila was used in a general sense for any kind of ball: but the balls among the Romans seem to have been of three kinds; the pila in its narrower sense, a small ball; the follis , a great ball filled with air; and the paganica , of which we know scarcely anything, but which appears to have been smaller than the follis and larger than the pila. The Harpastum (from ἁρπάζω ) seems to have been the name of a ball, which was thrown among the players, each of whom endeavoured to catch it. IMG:6459379820872971714_ill296.jpg: Pila, Game at Ball. (From the Baths of Titus.)