Egyptology | Physical Sports
Sports in Ancient Egypt
The Egyptian Concept of Physical Sports
They spoke truly when they said "a sound mind in a sound body." Thus the soundness of the Egyptian mind interacted with the soundness of the Egyptian body, to produce for us this creativity whose witnesses the land of Egypt sees.
It was not possible for the body to be sound without attention to public health, to balanced nutrition, and consequently to physical sports. Although the ancient Egyptian did not know in his language a word meaning "physical sports," he was aware of the importance of physical sports and of achieving mental and physical fitness, so that he might perform his role successfully in his society.
When the Egyptian wished to express the sport of hunting birds and fish, which was dear to him for worldly and religious reasons, he used certain expressions such as:
sekhakh ib, that is: "he makes the heart glad."
segay her, that is: "he enjoys himself."
Some researchers have seen in the word heb, which is written with the determinative of the bird and the fish, something that means: "sport or game."
They described the goddess Sekhmet as "Mistress of the Marshes," which some have translated as: "Mistress of the Sport or the Game."
And here is the prince Djehutyhotep, the owner of the famous tomb at El-Bersha, describing himself as: "the man of sport," or: "the athletic man."
If ancient Egypt preceded others in many fields of life, physical sports were also among them.
If the Greeks pride themselves that athletic games began from Mount Olympus with which the Olympiad is associated, the scenes recorded on the walls of the Egyptian monuments bear witness to the priority of the Egyptians in this field and to their precedence over many of the peoples of the earth. Before we refer to the types of sports that the ancient Egyptian practised, and to the means, tools and places of their practice, we wish to cast light on the aims of physical sports.
Aims of Physical Sports
The Egyptian aimed from his practice of sport and from depicting it upon his monuments at several aims, among them:
1. Enjoyment and recreation of the self.
2. The linking of certain of the games that he practised with particular religious rituals – which appears clearly in the hunting of animals, birds and fish, and in the rituals of the Sed festival which confirm the physical fitness of the ruling king, and which we see recorded on the monuments from the reign of King Djoser.
3. The educational dimension, since sport plays its role in the education of the self.
The historian Diodorus of Sicily relates that King Senusret III (one of the kings of Dynasty 12) was brought up with the youths of his age from among the sons of the people, and that they used to train in such a way that none of them was allowed to take his food before he had run a distance of 180 stadia (the stadium being a unit of measurement of length or distance).
Types of Sport
The ancient Egyptian practised numerous types of sport. The practice of sport was not restricted to men, although they monopolised the violent sports such as wrestling, boxing and weight-lifting, while the ladies practised fitness sports, jumping and playing with the ball, etc.
Among the most important sports that the ancient Egyptian practised are:
| Sport | Description | Monuments & Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Wrestling | It was among the sports beloved of Egyptian man, because it requires a sound body and a sound mind. The Egyptian practised it from the beginning of his history. The positions of the game in one of the tombs reached 219 positions. | Tomb of Ptahhotep of the Fifth Dynasty at Saqqara (oldest scene); tombs of Beni Hasan in Minya (Khnumhotep II, Amenemhat, Khety and Baqet); temple of Medinet Habu; Saqqara. |
| Boxing | The Egyptian monuments have recorded for us a rare number of scenes that can express scenes of boxing; they have also clearly recorded for us humorous scenes of a cat and a mouse boxing. | Various Egyptian monuments. |
| Long jump (or high jump) | This sport used to be practised through two men sitting opposite each other, extending their legs and their hands forward and raised; then a third person jumps high over their hands. | Depicted on Egyptian monuments. |
| Weight-lifting | One of the tombs of the Middle Kingdom has recorded for us a scene representing three men, one of whom is trying to lift a sack filled with sand upwards and to keep it in a semi-vertical position. | Middle Kingdom tomb. |
| Fencing with sticks | This is a sport that has been repeated many times on the Egyptian monuments, in which two persons fence with a stick in the right hand of each of them, and in the left hand a stick for their protection. | Tombs of Mereruka and Ptahhotep at Saqqara; tomb of Kheruef at Qurna (west of Luxor). |
| Running and rowing | Texts and scenes concerning this type of sport are rare. King Amenhotep II mentions on his famous stela at Giza that there was no one who could equal him in running; he was also able to row alone with an oar twenty cubits in length a distance of four miles in the Falcon Boat, while his competitors were unable to equal him after half a mile and turned back. | Stela of King Amenhotep II at Giza. |
| Swimming | We can deduce from certain scenes and texts the extent of the Egyptian's interest in the sport of swimming. The prince Khety (one of the governors of Assiut in the Middle Kingdom) mentions that the king permitted him to receive lessons in swimming in his palace. From the scenes of the battles of Kadesh it becomes clear that the Egyptians who fell into the river while crossing it were skilled in swimming. The scenes of duck-hunting abound with persons swimming in the river and collecting the birds that fell into the water during the hunt. | Fifth Dynasty scenes at Saqqara; Dynasty 12 scenes at Beni Hasan; scenes of the battles of Kadesh; duck-hunting scenes. |
| Archery | Perhaps the most famous scene of archery is that which represents King Amenhotep II on his famous stela at Karnak, driving his war chariot and casting his arrows at a metal target. It is clear from the number of the arrows that stuck in the target how skilled the king was in this sport. | Stela of King Amenhotep II at Karnak; tombs of Ptahhotep and Mereruka at Saqqara. |
In addition to these sports there are certain mental sports and certain games that take place for amusement in free time, such as the game of "Senet," which resembles the game of draughts or chess, and another game that resembles certain of the games that are still practised in the countryside, such as "even or odd," or "heads or tails."
There is a group of games in which the ball is used in their practice, such as throwing the ball, in which the competition is between two individuals or two teams, and the game of the balls and the vessels – perhaps the balls in this case are used to knock down the vessels. There is also a sport that resembles the sport of hockey, or "al-haksha," which is practised in some of our villages until now.
And another sport that can be compared with yoga, in which the practitioner settles upon his head with his body extended upwards for some time.
And a group of balance sports, in which a person is raised upwards with the body extended upon the hands of the persons, and others connected with physical fitness, which the Egyptian was keen upon, such as dancing and rhythmic dancing.
Places of the Practice of Sport
Sport used to be practised as happens even now in some of our towns and villages, whether individual or limited collective, inside the houses or in the open spaces that used to be in front of the houses; it also used to take place in the streets and the alleys and in the fields. In the places of study – "the schools" – sport used to be practised in an organised manner, despite the warnings of the teachers to certain of the pupils who spend more time than is necessary in the practice of sport. Here is a teacher advising his pupil and saying: "Do not turn your mind to the playground, and leave the throwing and the casting, and spend your day writing with your fingers, and read in the evening."
And another teacher says to his pupil, reproaching him: "What I teach you is not in your mind … rather you are always in the playground like the chick that walks behind its mother."
In addition to the schools and the places that I have mentioned, there must have been open spaces in which collective sports of large numbers were practised – multi-purpose open spaces whose use was not restricted to sport alone, but which were used on many occasions as happens in our countryside until now.
Thus the Egyptian realised from the beginning of his existence upon the land of Egypt that physical sports are an influential factor in the building of the individual and consequently in the building of the entity of the nation.
Module Key Takeaways
- Holistic Foundation: The ancient Egyptian practised a wide variety of physical sports — wrestling, boxing, swimming, archery, and ball games — rooted in the principle of "a sound mind in a sound body," serving recreation, religious ritual, and self-education.
- Historical Priority: Egyptian monuments record athletic scenes from the Fifth Dynasty through the New Kingdom, confirming the Egyptians' precedence in organised sports long before the Greek Olympiad.
- Widespread Practice: Sports took place in homes, open spaces, streets, fields, and schools — though teachers warned pupils against excessive time in the playground — reflecting sport's integral role in building both the individual and the nation.