What are the ancient origins of the Medicine Ball?
Upvote:2
I am not able to give a full answer, but I wanted to offer a partial one, I stumbled upon: My guess would be, that some of this can be traced back to Galen's "The Exercise With The Small Ball"[^1] ("galeni de parvae pilae exercitio"). I think this could be the origin of the ancient medicine ball, because Vivian Nutton, a british historian of medicine, who wrote a book in which he states as regards to Galen's text:
"But if one wished to exercise oneself Galen recommended using a small medicine ball to tone up the body."[^2]
The exercise/sport to which Galen refers to here seems to be Harpastum. This in turn was a romanized version of the ancient greek game Episkyros. I could definitely see how some people would refer to the devices used for those games and exercises as medicine balls.
[^1]: Singer, Peter: "Galen. Selected Works", pp. 299-304
[^2]: Vivian Nutton: "Ancient medicine", p. 242
More post
- 📝 How was body temperature checked before thermometers?
- 📝 Identify the circa 1920 uniform in this photo
- 📝 How old was Bagoas when he met Alexander the Great?
- 📝 What does "two ells within the selvages" mean in the Magna Carta?
- 📝 Did any carriage manufacturers make the transition to automobile building?
- 📝 Are there any reliable documented records of members or operations of the French Resistance during World War 2?
- 📝 Was Col. John K. Waters (Gen. Patton's son-in-law) wounded in the buttocks or the stomach during Patton's raid on Oflag XIII-B near Hammelburg?
- 📝 Why did United States choose conflict with Japan over China?
- 📝 Are there any documented cases where a society was capable of large scale selflessness for the benefit of future generations?
- 📝 What is the equivalent buying power of one 1945 Reichsmark in 2016 Euros?
- 📝 What was the main role of alcoholic drinks in ancient to medieval times?
- 📝 How successful (or not) was the Civil Rights Act of 1964 concerning employment discrimination?
- 📝 Is the claim that Hitler came to power democratically justified?
- 📝 Why did ancient Egyptian sculpture Thutmose abandon his masterpiece Nefertiti bust?
- 📝 Why was the Deutschland so ineffective compared to the Admiral Graf Spee and the Admiral Scheer?
- 📝 Do most of today's democratic nations with two-party system exhibit a civil war in recent past?
- 📝 When did FDR announce he was running a 3rd time, and was there any outrage?
- 📝 Were commandos brought in to break the Grand Mosque siege French or Pakistani?
- 📝 Did a submarine ever torpedo and sink a destroyer?
- 📝 Did medieval commanders exchange words before battle?
- 📝 What made India pull out troops and return the captured territory at the end of 1971 Indo-Pak war?
- 📝 How were FDR's economic policies as Governor of New York contradictory?
- 📝 What evidence support the theory that the killing of unwanted children was practiced in ancient Athens?
- 📝 Did George Washington ride sidesaddle?
- 📝 Why did the Balfour Declaration of 1926 and Statute of Westminster (1931) only deal with Dominions?
- 📝 Why did Pausanias travel to Greece?
- 📝 Why did Hitler not invade Sweden?
- 📝 Korean Traditional Clothes for each Dynasty
- 📝 Did Ben-Gurion attend a lecture by Trotsky in New York in 1917?
- 📝 Why was the Titles of Nobility Amendment proposed?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What are the ancient origins of the Medicine Ball?
- 📝 What are the most comprehensive historical references for ancient India?
- 📝 What are the origins of Pakistani laws on "blasphemy?"
- 📝 What are the origins of sizing a squad in modern foot drill?
- 📝 What are the origins of knife and fork language etiquette?
- 📝 What are the origins of the "News Reel Voice"?
- 📝 What are the origins of the Shinto religion?
- 📝 What are the origins of organized crime?
- 📝 What rules of the ancient Roman game 'Harpastum' are known?
- 📝 What are the origins of this pendant?
- 📝 What are the origins of Satanism as a religion?
- 📝 What are the origins and history of shaking, trembling, jerking, contorting, collapsing, fainting and similar manifestations in Christianity?
- 📝 What are the Ancient Egyptian words for these concepts?
- 📝 What are the origins of the "totalitarian genes" theory?
- 📝 What is the primary source evidence for the theory that the African Ancient Egyptians are not black Africans whose origin is sub-Saharan Africa?
- 📝 What are the factors that caused the new world civilizations to be less technologically advanced than the old world?
- 📝 Aside from the Pyramids, what is the tallest man-made structure still standing in Europe & the Near East from ancient times?
- 📝 Are modern Greeks related to the ancient Greeks?
- 📝 What is the difference between the Ancient Greek religion and the Ancient Roman religion?
- 📝 Are there any documented examples of wooden ships which were in active service for 100 years or more? If not, what is the longest?
- 📝 What are the text and subtext of this 1949 Soviet cartoon?
- 📝 What is the significance of barley as opposed to wheat in Ancient Rome?
- 📝 What is the evidence to claim that political order in ancient Rome was sufficiently different under "kingdom", "republic" and "empire"?
- 📝 What are some Chinese sources testifying the extreme weather events of 535-536 CE?
- 📝 What was the legal framework in Ancient India?
- 📝 Who are the three men standing and what are they holding at this University of Paris Doctors' Meeting?
- 📝 What names did the ancient Egyptians give to different stages of their history?
- 📝 What are the primary sources for the Mongol sack of Baghdad?
- 📝 What is the layout of Ancient Egyptian pyramid shafts?
- 📝 What are the hay effigies in this Japanese movie?