Hellenic Board Games?

Vandemonian

Regular Member
Messages
66
Reaction score
11
Points
0
Here's a question: What was there to do at the symposion besides drink and ogle the dancers? (Please don't answer "have philosophical conversation" because we're already drunk.)

Egyptians had senet. Romans had ludus latrunculorum. Persians had shatranj. Vikings had hnefatafl. What did the Greeks have?

Well they didn't have any of those games, but Duckduckgo tells me the Greeks played a game called Petteia. According to a few vase paintings, it was pretty engaging:

1052


It looks like Petteia was probably an early form of ludus latrunculorum (so of you're looking for some music for background while you try it, Qntal isn't a bad choice). People around the Net refer to Petteia as the Game of Soldiers, and claim that Plato compared Socrates victims to “bad Petteia players, who are finally cornered and made unable to move;” and attributes this quote to Aristotle: “A citizen without a state may be compared to an isolated piece in a game of Petteia.”

The reconstructed rules are of dubious accuracy, but simple to try out: Eight black stones are arrayed along one edge of a classic 8x8 board, with 8 white stones opposite. Players take turns moving stones like chess rooks, but using custodial capture - this means a warrior surrounded by two enemies on opposite sides is slain. When one side is left with only one piece, or, all of that side's pieces are trapped and unable to move, the game is over.

juegos4-300x233.jpg

Without having tried it, it seems like an unsophisticated version of Hnefatafl, but I could believe that after the krater had been emptied a time or two, it could get interesting.

So play this game! It's very simple! Use a checker board and checkers! Or draw squares on a piece of paper and then use rocks! Then post replies to tell me if it was fun! And one last thing: remember while playing to mix your wine with water - only barbarians drink it straight.
 
there are many games,
the most beautyfull board is the Minoan game,
with stairs, corridors etc

ancient-game-600.jpg
 
Very interesting, thanks for sharing. I recall reading an article a few years ago about a number of Hellenic Board Games.
 
I only knew about the Olympic Games, so the article is very interesting. Greece, by the way, is one of the first ancient countries where gambling began. I think you need to be more interested in culture and take an example of game activity from them.
 
Last edited:

This thread has been viewed 6081 times.

Back
Top