Did the Ancient Greeks play football? Dip into the Holy Grail of Classics encyclopedias, the Neue Pauly Enzyklopädie der Antike, and you will find an entry for ἀποπουδοβαλία (“the striking-from-the-foot game”). There’s even mention of Achilles Tacticus (Achilles the Tactician?), whose fragmentary Gymnastika (“Naked games”?) apparently spo
