Trochus

“Trochus, a hoop. The Greek boys used to exercise themselves, like ours, with trundling a hoop. It was a bronze ring, and had sometimes bells attached to it. It was impelled by means of a hook with a wooden handle called a clavis. From the Greeks this custom passed to the Romans, who consequently adopted the Greek term. The hoop was used at the Gymnasia, and, therefore, on one of the gems in the Stosch collection at Berlin, which is engraved in the annexed wood-cut, it is accompanied by the jar of oil and the bay branch, the emblems of effort and of victory. On each side of this we have represented another gem from the same collection. Both of these exhibit youths trundling the hoop by means of the hook or key. These show the size of the hoop, which in the middle figure has also three small rings or bells on its circumference.” &mdash Smith; 1873

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