Peter A . Piccione
Address: Department of History
University of Charleston, SC, College of Charleston
66 George Street
Charleston, SC 29424 U.S.A.
University of Charleston, SC, College of Charleston
66 George Street
Charleston, SC 29424 U.S.A.
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The ancient pharaohs of Egypt played a children's game with their priests that displays remarkable similarity to modern baseball, both in its physical characteristics and cosmological implications. This game is first mentioned inside the pyramids of Egypt, 4,400 years ago, then portrayed on the walls of certain Egyptian temples since 3,400 years ago, where it was mentioned as a ritual in Egyptian religious texts. It also contained clear elements of the game of "pepper" and/or stickball. Named seker-hemat, "striking the ball," king and his priests played this game almost certainly in a public spectator setting. This is certainly not to say that the Egyptians invented Baseball, but they did originate the earliest archetype for any and all bat and ball games at least 4,400 years ago. The game of "catch" was first played by female dancers and acrobats as early as ca. 2,000 BC, perhaps the earliest know professional female ballplayers!