Ancient Games: A History of Sports and Gaming

Did you know that in Ancient Egypt, spectators watched people in rowing boats water jousting on the Nile? Or that the Aztecs had an annual pole-climbing competition, where athletes raced each other up a 15 metre tall pole made from a tree truck, grabbing prizes as they went?

Ancient Egyptian, Mesoamerican, Ancient Greek and Roman, East Asian and Viking cultures are all explored in this fabulously illustrated book along with specific sports stars from ancient history. For example, The Lady of Yue, who lived in China at approximately 400 BCE, was one of the greatest sword experts of all time, and was appointed by King Goujian to train his soldiers.

As ever with Flying Eye titles, the illustration and lovely book production means that this is a special treasure of a book that kids will adore – it’s also a great way to get sports-mad kids into history. This would be useful for a school project about ancient Greece, Rome or Viking cultures often studied at primary school and a really lovely focus for looking at sport across a number of world cultures.