Ancient Greeks believed that the gods invented dance. They thought dance first appeared on the island of Crete. Ancient Greeks believed dance was created by the Curetes of Crete when Zeus was born. Apollo was the god of dance and the goddess of dance was known as Terpsichore.

Tradition has it that Crete, home of the Minoan civilization, is the birthplace of Greek dance. Minoan art and culture had a great impact on the Mycenaean civilization and the Cycladic people, and these three together cradled what is known today as the classical Greek, or Hellenic, culture.

Athens

Among the most famous dance forms were those associated with the worship of Dionysus, the god of wine. In early times, participants in frenzied worship rituals performed wild rhythmic dances. Greeks also incorporated dancing into education and military training.

There are over 10,000 traditional dances that come from all regions of Greece. There are also pan-Hellenic dances, which have been adopted throughout the Greek world. These include specifically the Syrtos, Kalamatianos, Pyrrhichios, Ballos and hasapiko.

Micheal Jackson is known as the King of dance.

The origins of the Greek dance date back to the 2nd millennium BCE. Tradition has it that Crete, home of the Minoan civilization, is the birthplace of Greek dance.

Origins of the practice are murky, but it may have begun in ancient Greece, and is said to have brought about the idea of kefi, which translates to good spirits and fun. Some also believe that breaking plates can ward off evil spirits or, at a wedding reception, bring good luck.

Dance and a mythology lesson, all in one! Epilinios: dancers of epilionos danced atop vats of grapes. They crushed the grapes with their feet as they danced, making wine in the process.

Balls were usually made of linen, and for better bouncing sometimes they were made of animal sinew. Around 2000 BC, in ancient Greece, a game of ball called Episkyros (also known as Phaindina) was invented. The game was played predominantly by men but also women took part in it sometimes. They all played naked.

Ball Size, Shape and Weight Comparison

The Spanish were the first Europeans to see the bouncing rubber balls (although solid and not inflated) which were employed most notably in the Mesoamerican ballgame.

It requires extreme accuracy in setting up the ball for stable bouncing whereas a uniformly circular ball like the basketball will bounce evenly if casually tossed down. So the reason round balls are round is primarily so that the ball gives a uniform response from any direction.

A sphere (from Greek σφαῖρα—sphaira, “globe, ball”) is a geometrical object in three-dimensional space that is the surface of a ball (viz., analogous to the circular objects in two dimensions, where a “circle” circumscribes its “disk”).

What you likely find is that most team sports use balls because it serves as a central point of focus in games with many people. Trying to organize a sport with large teams playing against each other usually results in lots of smaller matches within the central game.

A football is a prolate spheroid, and it’s shaped that way because that’s also the shape of an inflated pig’s bladder, which is what the first footballs were made of. Soccer balls were also made of pig’s bladders, but as soon as technology permitted, those balls got rounder, which made them easier to kick.

The rugby ball has an oval shape, four panels and a weight of about 400 grams. It is often confused with some balls of similar dimensions used in American, Canadian and Australian football.

College decided to stick with what it always used. The NFL used an all-white ball for a time, then switched to a white ball with black stripes for better visibility during night games. The paint used for the stripes made the ball slick, so the NFL eventually removed the stripes altogether.

Until the 1860, football, soccer and rugby were all played with a plum or pear shaped ball made of leather, encasing an inflated animal bladder. In Europe the first proper football invented is attributed to two shoemakers: Richard Lindon and William Gilbert who invented round and oval shaped balls.

Britain

Early Footballs – Pig Bladder to Inner Tubes It seems bizarre to think about nowadays, but originally both rugby balls and footballs were more round in appearance than anything else. That was because they were made from pig’s bladders, giving them a somewhat distinctive plum-like shape.

H.J. Lindon

England

Diego Maradona

Ironically, though they are still called “pigskins,” nowadays all pro and collegiate footballs are actually made with cowhide leather. Recreational and youth footballs, on the other hand, are often made with synthetic material or vulcanized rubber. All Big Game footballs are made of handcrafted cowhide leather.

3,000 cows

In overall circumference, college footballs can be up to 1 1/4 inches smaller than NFL footballs. At the widest point of the ball, the circumference is 27 3/4 inches to 28 1/2 inches in college and 28 inches to 28 1/2 inches in the NFL.

It turns out the original footballs were made using a pig’s bladder. “But it’s more likely that the football was made from a pig’s bladder.” The bladder was used to help inflate the ball, but the nickname pigskin endured.