Terracotta statuary

Polychromatic terracotta group depicting two young people playing the game of ephedrismos. Ephedrismos (riding piggyback) was a game that older children could play in groups. Pollux, an erudite scholar of the 2nd century AD, sets out the rules in his Onomasticon: a stone was placed on the ground and the players tried to hit it with a ball or other stones; the winner would be carried on the shoulders of the loser, until the latter, with his eyes closed, reached the stone.