I’m taking a small break from posting Montessori physical education lessons to use at home to bring you some information on the fascinating history of Ancient Babylonian Polo. If your students are studying Mesopotamia, especially Ancient Babylon, this history of the game goes along perfectly with the study of the people. For everyone in the US, I hope you take some time to remember those who served and sacrificed. Without further ado, some interesting history of Ancient Babylonian Polo.
When we think of polo, we usually think of people riding on horses swinging mallets at a ball, or hitting a ball with a mallet through a ring like croquet. People all over the world (especially with access to horses) have played a version of polo for thousands of years. It was an effective way of training the military for horsemanship and riding prowess. However, the Ancient Babylonians played polo in a very different way. Instead of using horses, one polo player would piggyback on a human!
The epic of Gilgamesh begins and ends with the “ball game,” which is represents the transition of Gilgamesh into a wise and mortal king. This game also foreshadowed the coming of Enkidu, who was initially the anti-hero of the epic, but then becomes the companion of Gilgamesh to defeat Tiamut. The ball game had military implications, whether it had to do as a training tool or a way for soldiers to prove themselves. In the Sumerian/Akkadian texts, battle and play were almost synonymous, both literally as the words for ball and mallet could be interpreted as weapons of war, but also in the imagery of the war god Ishtar making wars ebb and flow similar to a jump rope (which some argue should be translated to whipping rope). There were gruesome passages describing how Ishtar bragged about sending heads rolling like heavy playing balls and her skipping rope speckled with blood.
In the epic of Gilgamesh, the hammer and ball were made out of the cosmic tree. The roots were wound up to make the ball, and the main branch was made into the mallet. This gave these instruments supernatural powers; the ball would often pull players into the netherworld. Gilgamesh forced his male subjects to play this game for hours on end. Gilgamesh would sit on them piggyback style, which was seen as torturous because of Gilgamesh’s enormous size. When the women complained about Gilgamesh (and his unwanted advances), the gods sent his instruments to the netherworld, so Enkidu went to fetch them, and he got trapped. However, his ghost was able to escape and still communicate with Gilgamesh. In this way, the ball specifically has supernatural powers of opening a portal to the netherworld and facilitating communication with inhabitants from the Earth and the underworld.
The game also had symbolism associated with the divinity of being the king. The two main images established in the game are the “rod and ring,” which in the game could be thought of as the mallet and the target. These playing tools would represent the king; the rod as a scepter, staff, or divine weapon, and the ring represented as a literal ring worn by the king, but metaphorically it could be the bond between subject and master. The symbolism of the rod and ring would be continued throughout the Assyrian kingdoms, most notably Sargon the Great. According to the Arabic version of the Alexander Romance, these symbols were again used when the Persian king Darius sent Alexander three gifts to establish their peace treaty: a ball, a mallet, and a bushel of sesame seeds. The ball and mallet were used to play a version of polo, which was an important game for princes to play. The winner of the game was lifted on the shoulders of the other players, which may be a nod to the Ancient Babylonian version where players literally played on the shoulders of others. It is interesting to account that the Greeks had a similar version of the game, complete with the loser having to serve the winner, often having to carry that person as a “donkey.”
However, the ball and mallet were also a warning; use the ball and mallet as toys and not as a conquering king, or Darius would destroy him because his soldiers were as numerous as the grains of sesame. Alexander was not intimidated, and saw it as a good omen for his rule because he would use the mallet to conquer the ball (or the world). Alexander saw the bent head of the stick (or the mallet), as the kings of the world bending their heads to him. With this part of the story, connections to Ancient Greece could also be made depending on the lesson being taught by the instructor.
For a link to the lesson plan for this game, you can click here. I will admit this game will be hard to play in our current time of social distancing, but in the future this game will be lots of fun for your students.
Bibliography:
Annus. A., Sarv. M. (2015). The Ball Game Motif in the Gilgamesh Tradition and International Folklore. Academia. Retrieved April 13th, 2020 from https://www.academia.edu/10303165/The_Ball_Game_Motif_in_the_Gilgamesh_Tradition_and_International_Folklore
George. A.R. (2003). The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic: Introduction, Critical Edition, and Cuneiform Texts. Oxford University Press. Retrieved April 13th, 2020 from https://books.google.com/books?id=u4iUlBhxQRQC&pg=PA899&dq=babylonian+ball+game&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjLhY7WwdzoAhUXop4KHauMBtYQ6AEwAHoECAEQAg#v=onepage&q=babylonian%20ball%20game&f=false