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| Mexico's Gold Medal Soccer Team at 2012 Olympic Games |
Cambridge University classicist Nigel Spivey (The Ancient Olympics) argues that the Olympics were invented as preparation for war. For the young men of Ancient Greece, the quadrennial sporting tribute to the god Zeus was also rehearsal for armed conflict. The games equipped young men with a spirit of self-sacrifice and the stamina that underpinned Greek supremacy in battle.
Nor can commercial aspects of the modern Olympic Games be
ignored. Updates of construction costs (jobs!) and revenues attributable to the
Games appear regularly in the press.
None of this would have seemed strange to Mesoamerica’s early ruling elites. Ball games were spectacles enjoyed by all social classes. The economics of ball games included long-distance trade of the
rubber balls prized for play. Not infrequently ball games involved high-stakes gambling—perhaps one way that power was negotiated between rival factions, since it was
believed that the winner was chosen by the gods.
Ball games demanded skill and endurance from players and, yes, they also involved sacrifice. Natural forces were spiritualized in Mesoamerica. Civic life was deeply religious: official ceremonies conveyed symbolic, religious meanings.
Ball Game Played with Rubber Ball
Games of 'foot on ball' were played in England and Northern France in the eighth and ninth centuries. In England, players kicked around an inflated pig's bladder.
The rubber ball comes from Mexico and Central
America. Rubber balls didn't arrive in Europe
until the late sixteenth century—most likely introduced to Europe by the Spanish sometime after Hernán Cortés defeated the Aztecs in 1521.
The Olmec culture on the Gulf of Mexico in modern-day Veracruz State is the foundation culture of the cultures of Mesoamerica. In the Nahua language spoken by the Aztecs, Olmec means "people of the rubber". The Maya used rubber to develop weapons with handles, such as hammers or hatchets; the Aztecs developed medicinal uses for rubber; and both the Aztecs and the Maya used rubber to waterproof clothing.
The best rubber comes from tropical gum (rubber) trees that grow at elevations lower than 600-700 meters (2,000-2,300'), which makes it obvious that the oldest ball court found to date is located in the region of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, southern Mexico, on the Pacific Coast.
Its symbolic and practical values made rubber a valuable Isthmian product for trade into the highlands (Central Mexico). The Aztec rulers in Tenochtitlán demanded an annual tribute of 16,000 rubber balls.
The Olmec culture on the Gulf of Mexico in modern-day Veracruz State is the foundation culture of the cultures of Mesoamerica. In the Nahua language spoken by the Aztecs, Olmec means "people of the rubber". The Maya used rubber to develop weapons with handles, such as hammers or hatchets; the Aztecs developed medicinal uses for rubber; and both the Aztecs and the Maya used rubber to waterproof clothing.
The best rubber comes from tropical gum (rubber) trees that grow at elevations lower than 600-700 meters (2,000-2,300'), which makes it obvious that the oldest ball court found to date is located in the region of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, southern Mexico, on the Pacific Coast.
Its symbolic and practical values made rubber a valuable Isthmian product for trade into the highlands (Central Mexico). The Aztec rulers in Tenochtitlán demanded an annual tribute of 16,000 rubber balls.
Ball Courts
The earliest ball court found so far is located on the Isthmus of Tehuántepec at Paso de la Amada, which flourished from 1800 to 1000 BCE. Its ball court was 80 meters long and 7 meters wide (260' x 23'), bounded by long parallel platforms about 2 meters (about 7') high.
The earliest ball court found so far is located on the Isthmus of Tehuántepec at Paso de la Amada, which flourished from 1800 to 1000 BCE. Its ball court was 80 meters long and 7 meters wide (260' x 23'), bounded by long parallel platforms about 2 meters (about 7') high.
The first ball court we saw is located at Tingambatu, Michoacán, in the hills between Lake Pátzcuaro and the mid-sized city of Uruapán. Tingambatu is of Chichimeca origin and means "Hill of Mild Climate".
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| Ball court at Tingambato, Michoacán Photo: Reed |
Chichimeca is the Nahua name for semi-nomadic tribes from the north and carries the same connotation as 'barbarian' in Europe. Over two hundred Mesoamerican ball courts have been found in the Southwest United States! This excellent description of ball courts has a photograph of the circular Wupatki ball court north of Flagstaff, Arizona.
Formal ball courts were long rectangles, averaging about 40 meters (130') long, though many were less than 20 meters (66') long. The Grand Court at Chichén Itzá was 150 meters (about 490').
Ball courts were oriented to the heavens, often in ways that marked the equinoxes or solstices.
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| Grand Court at Chichén Itzá on the Yucatán Peninsula Photo: Reed |
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| "I"-shaped Ball Court at Uxmal, Yucatán Photo: Reed |
Formal ball courts were enclosed by sloping walls, but pick-up games could be played on any level surface.
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| Ball Court at Monte Albán, Oaxaca, with sloping walls and "I" end zones. Photo: Reed |
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| Ball Court at El Tajín, Veracruz—one of seventeen ball courts at the site! Photo: Reed |
How the Ball Game was Played
Two teams of one to seven players moved a rubber ball around a court. The action was somewhat like soccer. Players wore body protectors made of leather and wood. We know about these body protectors mostly from representations carved in stone found in the Gulf lowlands (Veracruz). Today's archaeologists call these items yugos ("yokes"), which weighed about 30 pounds (13 kilos) and fit snugly around the hips.
Other paraphernalia, also represented in stone, were hachas ("axes") and palmas ("palm stones"), so-called because of their shapes. Palmas were hand-held and may have been used to put the ball in play.
The ball game was played in many ways. In the most common variant, players kept the ball aloft by hitting it with their hips and
scored if the ball touched the ground of the opposing team's end of the court. Some courts featured rings embedded in the walls at the center line.
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| Goal Ring at Chichén Itzá's Grand Court Photo: Wikipedia Free Library |
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| Ball Game Ring in the Garden at the Frida Kahlo Museum, Coyoacán. Photo: Reed |
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| El Tajín: Ball Player (left) receiving Staff of Honor for superior play Photo: Reed |
Why the Ballgame?
Trying to understand the Mesoamerican ballgame highlights an interesting cultural phenomenon: the appearance of something seemingly familiar in a totally new cultural context introduces meanings so different that the familiar becomes distinctly unfamiliar. The Mesoamerican ballgame is a good example: it carried meanings far more finely nuanced than any modern game of soccer.
Formal ballgames were religious and political occasions, recreating sacred events related to the fertility of the earth, while at the same time providing an opportunity for lavish feasts intended to demonstrate a ruler's wealth and power in ways that made it possible to cement political alliances.
Mythic Meanings
Early Mesoamerican peoples believed that spiritual forces inhabited both physical geography and biota (flora and fauna). They revered things that exhibited the constant movement that signified the Life-force—reflecting mirrors (obsidian), feather-work banners that ruffled in the breeze, shining metal that cast glints of brilliance.
In this context, latex (rubber) was valued not merely for its practical qualities (medicinal applications, waterproofing clothing), but for its sacred essence as well. The flow of latex from gum trees was associated with the flow of blood, which was held to be the single most important offering that humans could make to the gods. In both Aztec and Maya creation myths, the gods sacrifice themselves by shedding their own blood to create humanity.
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| El Tajín: Ball Player performs an act of bloodletting; his stream of blood feeds the Fish God (bottom left). Click to enlarge. Photo: Reed |
In Nahua, the word olli means rubber, and the Nahua word ollín means motion or movement—the movement that represents the Life-force itself. When put into play or motion, the rubber ball would have represented the vital Life-force inherent in all things that move.
The ball court in Mesoamerican cosmology assumed symbolic functions. The alley represented the sun’s path; specifically, its nightly travel through the Underworld. Round markers in alleys of Maya courts frequently bear a quatrefoil cartuche, representing an opening to the Underworld.
In the Maya Popol Vuh, the mythic Hero Twins descend to the Underworld to play ball against gods of the Underworld. The game becomes the metaphor of Life, Death, and Regeneration, as the Twins resurrect their father, now reborn as the Maize God, from the court of death.
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| Yaxchtitlán, Chiapas: On the entry stairs to the Great Temple is this depiction of the mythical Ball Game; dwarfs from the Underworld play with Lord Bird Jaguar IV (at left). Stairs have liminal value as places between This World and the Other World. Click to enlarge. Photo: Reed |
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| Detail: Behind (left) Lord Bird Jaguar IV, the ball rolls down the stairs, which symbolize passage through the liminal zone—the zone that exists between chaos (world of nature, which ends in death) and cosmos (world of gods, which is endless movement, ollín, Life-force). Photo: Reed |
The two teams respectively personified the forces of light and darkness that conflict at dawn and at dusk. It was believed that time elapsed only with human activity, so it was through the ritual of the ball game that individual ties were established with the cosmic order.
Ritual ballgames were carried out to ensure the continuity of the natural cycles—first and foremost, the sun’s daily cycle: sunset, death and rebirth at dawn. But the ballgame ritual was also carried out to ensure continuity and success of the annual agricultural cycle, which was based not only on the daily regeneration of the sun but the seasonal regeneration of the corn, maize, as well.
- Spring Equinox: Ballgames were part of the ceremonies related to the burning of fields and other activities connected with the approaching end of the annual dry season and preparation for planting.
- Summer Solstice: Ball games announced the arrival of the rainy season.
- Autumn Equinox: Ball games celebrated the harvest.
- Winter Solstice: Ball games held at the beginning of the dry season signaled the start of trade to distant territories and preparations for war.
Sacrifice
In Mesoamerica's difficult geography (Mexico and Central America), prosperity was attributed to the spiritual efficacy of rulers (god-kings) charged with mediating on behalf of their people with the powerful ‘otherworld’. Ball game imagery is filled with themes of fertility, including sacrifice in the service of fertility.
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| Ball Court at El Tajín: The bare spot in the grass is in front of the wall where visitors have stopped to study images of the ball game ritual carved into the stone (see below). Click to enlarge. Photo: Reed |
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| El Tajín: At left, Ball Player receives charge from Priest, with symbol of ollín (Life-force; intertwined ribbons) at their feet. At right are a Jaguar God and God of Death. Click to enlarge. Photo: Reed |
Representations of the sacrifice of individuals in association with the ball game have given rise to the notion that losers were ritually dispatched at the end of each game. This would certainly have been the case in official ball games, which had symbolic value. At the end of the game, the losers—and apparently sometimes, the winners—were killed with the obsidian knife highly sharpened to assure a clean cut.
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| El Tajín: The Ball Game ritual reenacted the sacred battle between the cosmic forces of creation and destruction. The God of Death presides (left margin) over sacrifice of Ball Player (loser and possibly the winner). Click to enlarge. Photo: Reed |
Negotiation of Power / Conflict Resolution
The ball game also provided political rivals an arena for resolving conflicts. Players representing rival factions contested on the ball court at auspicious dates on the ancient calendar. It was assumed that the gods chose the winner and the loser, who was sacrificed at the conclusion of the contest.
Archaeologists analyzing the number of ball courts in the Central Highlands of Mexico and in the Valley of Oaxaca have concluded that many early communities had ball courts during periods of political fragmentation, when the need to resolve conflicts was presumably high. Conversely, during periods of political centralization, ball courts were found only in the larger capitals.
The appearance of the massive ball court at Chichén may have been one of the means by which the Itzá rulers indicated their larger goals of making their capital the premier political center on the northern Yucatán Peninsula. Conversely, the absence (to date) of a ball court at Teotihuácan may be an indicator of their ability to control by other means, such as by means of their extensive trade routes.
Ball Games as Spectacles and as Demonstrations of Economic Power
The ball game was a spectacle enjoyed by commoners and aristocrats. Aztec kings ranked the ball game high as a leisure activity. It is known that some kings sometimes played. Certainly they watched the action of the game and gambled on the outcome. Kings wagered valuables like jewelry, slaves, land and houses, and quantities of cacao beans.
Aztec rulers also understood the entertainment value of the ball game and staged such events when:
Hence the ball court can provide a clue to chiefly power. Abandonment of the ball court at Paso de la Amada, for example, is taken to be an important indicator of the decline of the ruler's power.
Summary
The ball game also provided political rivals an arena for resolving conflicts. Players representing rival factions contested on the ball court at auspicious dates on the ancient calendar. It was assumed that the gods chose the winner and the loser, who was sacrificed at the conclusion of the contest.
Archaeologists analyzing the number of ball courts in the Central Highlands of Mexico and in the Valley of Oaxaca have concluded that many early communities had ball courts during periods of political fragmentation, when the need to resolve conflicts was presumably high. Conversely, during periods of political centralization, ball courts were found only in the larger capitals.
The appearance of the massive ball court at Chichén may have been one of the means by which the Itzá rulers indicated their larger goals of making their capital the premier political center on the northern Yucatán Peninsula. Conversely, the absence (to date) of a ball court at Teotihuácan may be an indicator of their ability to control by other means, such as by means of their extensive trade routes.
Ball Games as Spectacles and as Demonstrations of Economic Power
The ball game was a spectacle enjoyed by commoners and aristocrats. Aztec kings ranked the ball game high as a leisure activity. It is known that some kings sometimes played. Certainly they watched the action of the game and gambled on the outcome. Kings wagered valuables like jewelry, slaves, land and houses, and quantities of cacao beans.
Aztec rulers also understood the entertainment value of the ball game and staged such events when:
'the common folk and vassals were very fretful ... [in order] to animate the people and divert them. He commanded the majordomos to take out the rubber ball, and the girdles, and the leather hip guards, and the leather gloves with which the ruler's ball players were dressed' (Sahagún 1979 [1569]: 58).
Note: Bernardo de Sahagún (1499-1590) was the first anthropologist in the Western Hemisphere. A Franciscan friar, he spent fifty years interviewing the priestly and educated Aztec elite in order to record their culture. The evangelical intent was to replace ancient rites and rituals with Christian devotional activities, but Sahagún's work is widely respected today as a primary ethnography of Aztec culture.Like today's Olympics, ball games not only provided entertainment but they also served to reinforce the economic power of rulers. Bumper crops, dependent on adequate rainfall, impressed both potential followers and rival factions. The annual arrival of the rains was arguably the ruler's most basic demonstration of spiritual efficacy, followed closely by command of resources (closely related to surpluses arising from bumper crops) for the construction and maintenance of ball courts and for hosting ballgames accompanied by lavish feasts.
Hence the ball court can provide a clue to chiefly power. Abandonment of the ball court at Paso de la Amada, for example, is taken to be an important indicator of the decline of the ruler's power.
Summary
Throughout Mesoamerican culture history, the ball game played not only a key role in community life,
but was also a crucial social tool for mediating relations between communities.
Still Curious?
This post is indebted to two classic archaeological works:
Wikipedia:
Mike Schepker's highly readable paper on Mesoamerican Ball Game has interesting material.
New York Times: The Greater Meaning of the Olympic Games Can Depend on Where You Live.
but was also a crucial social tool for mediating relations between communities.
Still Curious?
This post is indebted to two classic archaeological works:
- Susan Toby Evans encyclopedic work Ancient Mexico & Central America: Archaeology and Culture History, which was written originally to be a college textbook.
- Mary Miller and Karl Taube's An Illustrated Dictionary of The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya--what Reed and I call "the god book"!
- Guadalajara and Jalisco includes a brief description of Guachimontones;
- El Tajin I: Beauty and Mystery includes photos of some of El Tajín's seventeen (!) ball courts, by far the most found at any other site.
Wikipedia:
- Mesoamerican Ballcourt;
- Paso de la Amada is the site of the earliest Ball Court found to date;
- Short history of Medieval Football in Northern Europe.
Mike Schepker's highly readable paper on Mesoamerican Ball Game has interesting material.
New York Times: The Greater Meaning of the Olympic Games Can Depend on Where You Live.
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