SERIES: Pictorial History of the Sports and Pastimes of All Nations
SCENES: Gladiators, chariot racing, discus throwing, embroidering
SIZE: 3" x 5"
ARTIST: Not signed, but reportedly Frances Brundage
DATE: 1893
LITHOGRAPHER: Kaufman & Strauss
CONDITION: Very good+, I'd say. This card is lightly soiled with slightly worn edges and corners. There's a tiny crease across the upper right corner. (Please see scans.)
MULTIPLE ITEM SHIPPING DISCOUNT: I will ship up to 4 cards for the single base shipping charge shown. For purchases of more than 4 cards, the shipping charge will increase by just a small increment for every 4 additional cards.
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REVERSE TEXT: ROME.
OF ALL the nations prior to modern times, none has so filled the pages of history as imperial Rome. Time was indeed, when "to be a Roman was greater than a king." And before their fall for many centuries Romans were kingly men, broad in intellect, wise in debate, fearless in war. In some respects, their manly sports resembled those of the Greeks, the aim being to develope to the highest the physical possibilities of their young men.
The Circensian games were among the earliest and most popular festivals. They were at first especially designed for chariot-racing. The circus was a long narrow enclosure generally situated in a suitably shaped valley, where the slope could serve for spectators. The old race-course of the Circus Maximus was nearly one-half mile long. A race consisted of a number of rounds. At one end were the pens whence the chariots started. A low wall along the centre divided the space into parallel courses. In later days the four-horse chariot-race was by all odds the favorite.
Wrestling, the sport in which one person tries to throw another to the ground, was a great Roman favorite. It formed a part of the Circensian games and later on was also adopted in the Amphitheatre, as also were boxing, foot-racing, the evolutions of companies of trained horses, animal hunts and gladiatorial combats. In the Amphitheatre, theatrical performances were also given.
The Roman ladies were great embroiderers. Embroidery work was much esteemed, and a visit to the home of any thrifty Roman matron during the hours when drudgery was completed, would discover that lady and her handmaidens, at work that would be a credit to our modern housewives.
Throwing the discus, the Roman quoit was practised by most young Romans. The discus had no hole in it, but was solid like a plate.
