The term ἀπόῤῥαξις was given to a certain ancient game at ball in which the ball was thrown to the ground with great force and continually struck back with the hand, as it rebounded. The number of times the ball was forced to the ground was counted. The victor was called king and could order the others about. The loser was called donkey (ὄνος). In another form of the game the point was to keep tossing the ball up into the air as long as possible with the open hand.
According to Oribasios, Antyllos at a later period reduced ball-playing to a system, from a dietetic point of view. He made four divisions according to the size and kind of ball used, and which he described in detail. Galen also wrote exhaustively on the ball games, which he considered of great importance on account of the benefit which they imparted to the mental and physical powers.
In connection with these various ball games, they practised a peculiar gymnastic exercise with the κώρυκος, a leathern sack that must have resembled the modern punching bag on which pugilists try their fists. In form it resembled a ball, but in size and weight far surpassed the largest and heaviest ball. The κώρυκος was filled with fig seeds, meal or sand, and its size varied according to the age and strength of the individual. It hung from the ceiling so as to reach to about the middle of the player’s body. The bag was to be kept in increasingly rapid motion by swinging it to and fro with the breast and hands. The game is alluded to by Plautus (Rud. iii, 4, 16). This sport cannot properly be styled a ball game, although it resembled one in some respects. Athletes also engaged in this game, and the ancient physicians regarded this exercise as very beneficial, because it not only strengthened the muscles and nerves, but also tended to prevent corpulency.
There are no records in classical literature to show that the Greeks and Romans used the bat or racquet in any of their games.
At the early age of seven, the Spartan child was initiated into disciplinary exercises of a severe character. At that age he came under the charge of the παιδονόμος; this official was, in conformance with the direction of Lykourgos, one of the best citizens; he was expected to discipline the youth in all the exercises that were so nicely adapted to develop the Spartan citizen, and to teach him all the cunning and courage that would afterwards be required in his service of the state.
In Attica a far different pedagogical scheme presents itself. When children reached a proper age, the training of mothers and nurses was succeeded by that of the school; hither they were conducted each day by the παιδαγωγός, a special slave whose duty it was not only to conduct the children to and from school, but also to supervise their deportment.
In the Athenian school, gymnastics (γυμναστική) was not by any means the sole course of training. The curriculum in fact included three distinct courses:
(1) γραμματική.
(2) μουσική.