Roman Game of 12 Lines Board - Aphrodisias

Ludus duodecim scriptorum, or XII scripta, was a board game popular during the time of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...

. The name translates as "game of twelve markings", probably referring to the three rows of 12 markings each found on most surviving boards. The game

tabula Tabula may refer to: *Tabula (company), a semiconductor company *Tabula (game), a game thought to be the predecessor to backgammon * ''Tabula'' (magazine), a magazine published in Tbilisi, Georgia *Tabula ansata, a tablet with handles See also * ...

is thought to be a descendant of this game, and both are

tables games Tables games are a class of board game that includes backgammon and which are played on a tables board, typically with two rows of 12 vertical markings called points. Players roll dice to determine the movement of pieces. Tables games are among ...

as is modern

backgammon Backgammon is a two-player board game played with counters and dice on tables boards. It is the most widespread Western member of the large family of tables games, whose ancestors date back nearly 5,000 years to the regions of Mesopotamia and Pe ...

.Austin, Roland G. "Roman Board Games. I", ''Greece & Rome'' 4:10, October 1934. pp. 24-34. It has been speculated that XII scripta is related to the

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

ian game

senet Senet or senat ( egy, znt, translation=passing; cf. Coptic language, Coptic ⲥⲓⲛⲉ /sinə/ "passing, afternoon") is a board game from ancient Egypt. The earliest representation of senet is dated to E from the Mastaba of Hesy-Re, while sim ...

, but some consider this doubtful because, with the exception of limited superficial similarities between the appearance of the boards, and the use of dice, there is no known evidence linking the games. Another factor casting doubt on this link is that the latest known classical senet board is over half of a millennium older than the earliest known XII scripta board. Very little information about specific gameplay has survived. The game was played using three cubic

dice Dice (singular die or dice) are small, throwable objects with marked sides that can rest in multiple positions. They are used for generating random values, commonly as part of tabletop games, including dice games, board games, role-playing g ...

, and each player had 15 pieces. A possible "beginners' board", having spaces marked with letters, has suggested a possible path for the movement of pieces. The earliest known mention of the game is in

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

's ''

Ars Amatoria The ''Ars amatoria'' ( en, The Art of Love) is an instructional elegy series in three books by the ancient Roman poet Ovid. It was written in 2 AD. Background Book one of ''Ars amatoria'' was written to show a man how to find a woman. In book two ...

'' (''The Art of Love'') (written between 1 BC and 8 AD). An ancient example of the game was excavated at the archaeological site of Kibyra in southern Turkey.

References

External links

Duodecim scipta:
Latin game rules by Caelestis Eichenseer 1985

which may be related to XII scripta Ancient Roman leisure Historical tables games Latin words and phrases {{board-game-stub