Greek/Roman Football History

Perhaps the closest relative to modern football are the games that were formed by the Greeks during the prime of their culture. They had numerous varieties of football style games, some of which required hands, some of which forbade hands.
In the end, after the Roman conquering of Greece, the game Harpastum is what modern football would be based from. This game, probably a modified version of the Greek's "Harpaston", which translates roughly to handball. While grossly misnamed, this game is what is considered to be one of the precursors to modern football.