Juggling history.

Juggling numbers may be economics professor Arthur Lewbel's first love, but juggling airborne objects is probably a very close second.

Professor Lewbel teaches at Brandeis University, in Waltham, Massachusetts. He has spent many hours collecting bits of information about the ancient art of juggling. Professor Lewbel is particularly interested in the history of juggling. The facts below are just a few examples of what this Massachusetts educator has learned.

* The earliest known picture of toss juggling was painted on the walls of an ancient Egyptian tomb built for an unknown prince about 4,000 years ago.

* The Chinese Book of Lie Zi, writter more than 2,300 years ago, describes a warrior juggling seven swords.

* The tombstone of Roman juggler Tagatus Ursus, engraved more than 2,000 years ago, claims that he was the first to juggle glass balls.

* Legendary Irish hero Cuchulainn supposedly juggled nine apples sometime during the fifth century A.D.--about 1,500 years ago.

* One thousand years later in Ireland, jugglers must have been dangerous. They were required by law to pay any audience member harmed by a juggling mistake.

* Norse mythology from between the years 1179 and 1241 A.D. includes stories of juggling.

* In 1528, historian Christopher Weiditz made drawings of Aztec jugglers.

* Young girls on the island of Tonga juggled limes, gourds, and nuts in 1774.