There were, of course, in the 1st cent. A.D. athletic sports and physical exercises in some of the large towns of the Holy Land. But these were so con- nected with Hellenic immorality that they were offensive to every pious Jew. "They were chiefly confined to the cities which liad a large heathen Ijopulation, and we cannot imagine a gymnasium at Nazareth or Hebron. At Jerusalem, during the high priesthood of Jason (B.C. 173), a gymnasium was set up, and ' the very priests forsook their service at the altar and tooK part in the games of the paln-stra' (Schiirer, I. i. 203; 2 Mac 4"""). Tiberias, Jericho, Tarich:ca had each a hippodrome or a .st.adium (Scliiirer, II. i. 33). Had the exercises for which these liuiUlings were erected commended themselves to the Jews, the older boys would soon have emulated their .adult countrymen as far as possible, just as English boys are cricketers and footballers because Englishmen are .so. But Judaism completelj' condemned the exei'cises in which Greeks and Romans delighted. By their history as well as by their surroundings and details these exercises were connected with heathenism and apostate Judaism (Jos. Ant. XV. viii. 1). No son of pious Jewish parents could copy even the innocent .side of these exercises (Brough, 76, 77). See art. Game.s.
An older hoy in districts like Upper Galilee or the hill country of Judsea would find much physical exertion called for by the contour of the country. Almost every journey implied hill-
climbing. Moreover, there were (and are) in many \ [larts of Palestine many minor field-sports prac- tisetl, such as the snaring of small birds, which I would form a pastime for older lads. Skill in .slinging (Jg 20'«, 1 S 17* 2 K 3», 1 Ch 12^ Job 4128(20)^ Pr 26" [AV, RVm], 1 Mac 6=') could he ob- tained only by early training and practice. The same remark applies to the archery so often men- tioned in the OT. That both these accomplish- ments were maintained in NT times may be believed from the many references to bowmen and slingers in Josephus (5.7, jKi.i.sim). But specific references to these arts as boyish exercises are apparently wanting.
Young Engli.sh children play at ' horses, ' ' school,' ' work,' ' mothers,' etc. , which we may call games of imitation. The Talmud alludes to these ; and our Lord noticed the little children playing at mar- riages and funerals (Mt ll'*", Lk 7^=). These would be played by youri// children of both sexes.
Lwd Jesiis 1, pseudo-Matthew 27, Thomas 11, AraMo Gospel of the Infancy 36 etc., in B. H. Coivper's Apocryphal Gospels). Some of these accounts describe our Lord's plai-mates as also modelling objects. While we reject the miraculous statements that our Lord endued these figures with life, we may accept the narratives as based on actual childish games. It is indeed said that Judaism would have shrunk from any representatio;
of the Law ; and even if the Judieo-Christian Apcwr^^phal ; absolutely wrong in describing this modelling as a ►f our Lord's play in childhood, the.v may be ri jht in an element in a picture of Palestinian infancy. Are the children of orthodox Jews now forbidden the use of dolls or wooden horses?
In PEFSt, April 1899, p. 99, is an account, mth illustrations, of three soft limestone slabs, reseniblini; draught-boards, founn in the excavations at Tell Zakari\a. One is complete, measur- ing 23 cm. x20cm. (about 4Un. x 4 in.) and 7 cm. thick. It is ruled (incised) so as to form 144 squares of irregular size. The other two are fnignients only. They belong to the Greek period. Such drau^ght-boarris have also been "found at Gezer andatTell-es-Safi. Some have fewer squares, and clearly there were various arrangements of the squares (PKi-'Sf, Oct. 1900, p. 321 ; Oct. 1903, p. 300). A collection of small waterworn pebbles, each about the size of an ordinary ivory card counter and three times as thick, was found in the lower Jewish stratum at Oezer. These were either diuught-nien, or counters for cal- culation (;'/•:;•», iirt. 11103, p. 3oo>
Txvo small drau-ht-iiien of green enamelled paste (possibly Egj-ptiaii), found ..I t:ezer, are described PEFSt, Oct. 1903, p. 213, and pi. ii., litis. 25, 26). Others of pottery of local manu- facture have also been discovered.
iii. School. — The majority of Jewish boys were as unable to study in the bith ha-Midra.th as the majority of our population are to procure a Uni- versity training (Ac 4", Jn 7"-", and, on the other hand, Ac 22' etc.). In any case this higher education belonged to an age beyond boyhood. Elementary schools, however, existed at least wherever there was a synagogue. In them read- ing was certainly taught ; and even if Scripture was the only text-book, the knowledge thus ac- quired would avail in other directions. Writing also was taught, probably as a help to the readin<' more than for its own sake (Jn 8*- « compared with 7" show that it was an 'elementary subject'). Arithmetic, etc., is not mentioned in our authori- ties, hut some acquaintance with it is, of course, a probable part of the course. It would be of more interest to know if Greek was ever taught in the synagogue schools of Palestine. It must have been so necessary in the many bilingual districts. It was the means of communication between the natives and the Roman authorities.