For how many millennia has a human being picked up a stone or a fruit and
tossed it from one hand to the other?

  I believe this is such a basic and simple operation, that for as long
as there have been humans there have been jugglers, whether that
included manipulation of large scale objects or simply tossing an
object from hand to hand.

  What we do know is that the earliest recorded evidence of juggling
is Egyptian, and was found in the 15th Beni Hassan Tomb of an
unknown prince, dating from the middle kingdom period, between
1994BC & 1781BC.

  So we have an earliest recording at around 4000 years ago, after this we can trace juggling through legends in China, Ireland, India, Persia & Europe! A lot of these are mythical type figures who manipulate up to nine objects, this is of course not impossible, I know I have thrown 9 myself! Whether true or not, what we can gain from these stories is the fact that there must have been jugglers around practising their craft in order to inspire the writers.

  There can also be found reference to indigenous juggling in the pacific islands, with historical descriptions of young girls juggling fruit & nuts in a shower pattern, this was provided in 1774 by George Foster, who sailed with Captain cook on his 2nd pacific voyage.

  Now by fast forwarding we get to the early part of the twentieth century when jugglers filled theaters & stages with precision juggling.
  One of the greatest of these being Enrico Rastelli, the only juggler in the last 100 years to receive a state funeral!
  If we move on we come to the contemporary jugglers who have pushed the limits with world records sitting at: 14 rings, 12 balls & 9 clubs! Along with the high numbers, a massive number of new patterns have and are being continually created with 3/4/5 & more objects! Juggling has also become increasingly accessible to the general public, with numerous programs & circus schools which teach the ancient art of juggling.

 

 Thanks to:
"Research in Juggling history" - Arthur Lewbel
"A History of Juggling" - Andrew Conway