8-12-03

As you will discover from the book you are holding in your hands, Lysis and Timarete are two children who lived and grew up in ancient Athens. They went to school, exercised in the gymnasium and read their books, and of course they played. Games held a very special place in their daily life. Their toys and the games they played with their friends were very similar to the ones you play and enjoy today. They just had different names. Dolls, tops, yo-yos, ball-games and knuckle-bones are a few of the toys and games played by Lysis and his friends. And there were group games, such as blind-man's-buff, hopscotch, hide-and-seek and statues.
At the beginning of this book, the games that Lysis and Timarete played are brought to life with illustrations. When you've read about them and learned the rules, you can play them with your friends.
I'm sure you're wondering how we know the names of these ancient games, what they were like, and how they were played. Ancient writers such as Homer, Hesiod, Plutarch, and others, often describe games and tell us their names and the rules. Archaeologists, too, find actual toys, like tops, clay dolls, and rattles in children's graves. Sometimes toys like these are found in sanctuaries, where they were dedicated to goddesses and gods. Typical scenes from games were also painted on ancient vases, rather like modern photographs, and give us valuable information about them.
In the final pages of this book you'll find pictures of actual games and toys from ancient Greece. There are also vase-paintings connected with the story of Lysis and Timarete and some information about the books written by ancient authors that describe them. And there's a list of other books that you can read.