History of juggling

The art of juggling has existed in various cultures throughout history. The beginning is uncertain. The first deciptions was found in ancient Egypt, China, Greece, and Rome, as well as medieval and modern societies.

The earliest record of toss juggling is a painting on the wall of Tomb 15 in Egypt's Beni Hasan cemetery complex. This tomb belonged to Baqet III, a provincial governor of Menat-Khufu (present day Minya) during the later years of the Eleventh Dynasty of Egypt. It depicts female dancers and acrobats juggling up to three balls, and one of the girls is juggling with her arms crossed.

In another Beni Hasan painting, four girls are playing a juggling game in which two girls throw and catch a ball while being carried on the backs of the others. Arthur Watson, in his 1907 article for The Reliquary and Illustrated Archaeologist, suggests that if a player dropped the ball in this game, it became that player’s turn to become the bearer.

Brooklyn Museum associate curator Dr. Robert Bianchi suggests that the appearance of jugglers in the Beni Hassan tomb may be "an analogy between balls and circular mirrors, as round things were used to represent solar objects, birth and death."

References to jugglers in Chinese literature from the Spring and Autumn period indicate that toss juggling was a well-developed form of ancient Chinese art.

Xiong Yiliao (Chinese: 熊宜僚; pinyin: Xióng Yiliáo), was a Chu warrior who fought under King Zhuang of Chu (ruled 613-591 BC) during the Spring and Autumn period of Chinese history. Ancient Chinese annals state that he practiced nòngwán, "throwing multiple objects up and down without dropping". During a battle in about 603 BC between the states of Chu and Song, Xiong Yiliao stepped out between the armies and juggled nine balls, which so amazed the Song troops that all five hundred of them turned and fled, allowing the Chu army to win a complete victory. As Xu Wugui recounts in Chapter 24 of the Zhuangzi, “Yiliao of Shinan juggled balls, and the conflict between the two states was ended.”

...
Wikipedia