Following on from our previous list Top 10 Ancient
Inventions You Think Are Modern, we have put
together this list. It includes items that were omitted from the first but are
still fascinating. Most of the things found here are considered by most to have
come from the modern world (or the medieval world at the earliest) but all
pre-date the birth of Christ. Feel free to mention others you might know in the
comments.
10
Football
The Ancient Greeks and Romans are known to have played
many ball games, some of which involved the use of the feet. The Roman game
harpastum is believed to have been adapted from a team game known as episkyros.
The Roman politician Cicero (106-43 BC) describes the case of a man who was
killed whilst having a shave when a ball was kicked into a barber’s shop. These
games appear to have resembled rugby football. Also, documented evidence of an
activity resembling football can be found in the Chinese military manual Zhan
Guo Ce compiled between the 3rd century and 1st century BC. It describes a
practice known as cuju (literally “kick ball”), which originally involved
kicking a leather ball through a small hole in a piece of silk cloth which was
fixed on bamboo canes.
9
Toothbrushes
A variety of oral hygiene measures have been used
since before recorded history. This has been verified by various excavations
done all over the world, in which chewsticks, tree twigs, bird feathers, animal
bones and porcupine quills were recovered. Many people used different forms of
toothbrushes. Indian medicine (Ayurveda) has used the neem tree (a.k.a. daatun)
and its products to create toothbrushes and similar products for millennia. A
person chews one end of the neem twig until it somewhat resembles the bristles
of a toothbrush, and then uses it to brush the teeth. In the Muslim world, the
miswak, or siwak, made from a twig or root with antiseptic properties has been
widely used since the Islamic Golden Age.
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