harpastum

Latinization of Ancient Greek ἁρπαστόν (harpastón).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /harˈpas.tum/, [härˈpäs̠t̪ʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /arˈpas.tum/, [ärˈpäst̪um]

harpastum n (genitive harpastī); second declension

1. a heavy hand ball, handball
2. a handball sport of antiquity played in ancient Rome

The general impression scholars have received from writers of antiquity is that harpastum was a game quite similar to rugby. Additional descriptions suggest a line was drawn in the dirt, and that the teams would endeavor to keep the ball behind their side of the line and prevent the opponents from reaching it. This seems rather like an "inverted" form of American football. If the opponents had the ball on their side of the line, the objective would seem to be to get in and "pass" it to another player, or somehow get it back over the line. The ancient accounts of the game are not precise enough to enable the reconstruction the rules in any coherent detail.

Second-declension noun (neuter).

• “harpastum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• harpastum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “harpastum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “harpastum”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin