Ludus latrunculorum
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''Ludus latrunculorum'', ''latrunculi'', or simply ''latrones'' ("the game of
brigands Brigandage is the life and practice of highway robbery and plunder. It is practiced by a brigand, a person who usually lives in a gang and lives by pillage and robbery. Oxford English Dictionary second edition, 1989. "Brigand.2" first recorded us ...
", or "the game of soldiers" from ''latrunculus'',
diminutive A diminutive is a root word that has been modified to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment. A ( abbreviated ) is a word-form ...
of ''latro'',
mercenary A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any ...
or
highwayman A highwayman was a robber who stole from travellers. This type of thief usually travelled and robbed by horse as compared to a footpad who travelled and robbed on foot; mounted highwaymen were widely considered to be socially superior to footp ...
) was a two-player
strategy Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the "art ...
board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a comp ...
played throughout the
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. It is said to resemble
chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...
or
draughts Checkers (American English), also known as draughts (; British English), is a group of strategy board games for two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform game pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over opponent pieces. Checkers ...
, but is generally accepted to be a game of
military tactics Military tactics encompasses the art of organizing and employing fighting forces on or near the battlefield. They involve the application of four battlefield functions which are closely related – kinetic or firepower, Mobility (military), mobil ...
. Because of the scarcity of sources, reconstruction of the game's rules and basic structure is difficult, and therefore there are multiple interpretations of the available evidence.


History


Sources

The game of ''latrunculi'' is believed to be a variant of earlier Greek games known variously as '' Petteia'', ''pessoí'', ''psêphoi'', ''poleis'' and '' pente grammaí'', to which references are found as early as
Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
's time. In Plato's ''Republic'', Socrates' opponents are compared to "bad Petteia players, who are finally cornered and made unable to move." In the '' Phaedrus'',
Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
writes that these games come from Egypt, and a draughts-like game called Seega is known to have been played in ancient Egypt. In his ''Onomasticon'', the Greek writer
Julius Pollux Julius Pollux ( el, Ἰούλιος Πολυδεύκης, ''Ioulios Polydeukes''; fl. 2nd century) was a Greek scholar and rhetorician from Naucratis, Ancient Egypt.Andrew Dalby, ''Food in the Ancient World: From A to Z'', p.265, Routledge, 2003 E ...
describes ''Poleis'' as follows:
The game played with many pieces is a board with spaces disposed among lines: the board is called the "city" and each piece is called a "dog;" the pieces are of two colors, and the art of the game consists in taking a piece of one color by enclosing it between two of the other color.
Among the Romans, the first mention of ''latrunculi'' is found in the Roman
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Varro Marcus Terentius Varro (; 116–27 BC) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Vergil and Cicero). He is sometimes calle ...
(116–27 BC), in the tenth book of his ''De Lingua Latina'' ("On the Latin Language"), where he mentions the game in passing, comparing the grid on which it is played to the grid used for presenting
declension In linguistics, declension (verb: ''to decline'') is the changing of the form of a word, generally to express its syntactic function in the sentence, by way of some inflection. Declensions may apply to nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, and ar ...
s. An account of a game of ''latrunculi'' is given in the 1st-century AD ''
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'':
When you are weary with the weight of your studies, if perhaps you are pleased not to be inactive but to start games of skill, in a more clever way you vary the moves of your counters on the open board, and wars are fought out by a soldiery of glass, so that at one time a white counter traps blacks, and at another a black traps whites. Yet what counter has not fled from you? What counter gave way when you were its leader? What counter f yoursthough doomed to die has not destroyed its foe? Your battle line joins combat in a thousand ways: that counter, flying from a pursuer, itself makes a capture; another, which stood at a vantage point, comes from a position far retired; this one dares to trust itself to the struggle, and deceives an enemy advancing on its prey; that one risks dangerous traps, and, apparently entrapped itself, counter traps two opponents; this one is advanced to greater things, so that when the formation is broken, it may quickly burst into the columns, and so that, when the rampart is overthrown, it may devastate the closed walls. Meanwhile, however keenly the battle rages with cut-up soldiers, you conquer with a formation that is full, or bereft of only a few soldiers, and each of your hands rattles with its band of captives.
Allusions to the game are found in the works of such writers as
Martial Marcus Valerius Martialis (known in English as Martial ; March, between 38 and 41 AD – between 102 and 104 AD) was a Roman poet from Hispania (modern Spain) best known for his twelve books of ''Epigrams'', published in Rome between AD 86 and ...
and
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 ...
and they provide ideal evidence as to the method of capture used in the game with passages such as: ''unus cum gemino calculus hoste perit'', Ov. ''
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 ...
'' 3.358 ("when one counter perishes by a twin foe"); ''cum medius gemino calculus hoste perit'', Ov. ''Tristia'' 2.478 ("when a counter perishes in the midst by a twin foe"); and ''calculus hae (sc. tabula) gemino discolor hoste perit'', Mart. 14.17.2 ("a counter of differing colour perishes on this oardwith a twin enemy"). Ovid also writes about the efforts to rescue an isolated piece away from the others: "how the different colored soldier marches forth in a straight line; when a piece caught between two adversaries is imperiled, how one advancing may be skilful to attack and rescue a piece moved forward, and retreating may move safely, not uncovered" (Tristia II 477–480). According to Ulrich Schädler, this indicates that the pieces in the game only moved one space per turn, instead of using the Rook's move, otherwise an isolated piece's escape would have been relatively easy.Schädler, Ulrich; Latrunculi, A forgotten Roman game of strategy reconstructed; in Homo Ludens. Der spielende Mensch IV, 1994, 47-66. http://history.chess.free.fr/papers/Schadler%202001.pdf Schädler also deduces from this that pieces were able to jump over other pieces into an empty square beyond, otherwise a rescuing piece could end up blocking the other piece needing rescue. The last mention of ''latrunculi'' that survives from the Roman period is in the ''Saturnalia'' of
Macrobius Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius, usually referred to as Macrobius (fl. AD 400), was a Roman provincial who lived during the early fifth century, during late antiquity, the period of time corresponding to the Later Roman Empire, and when Latin was ...
. For a long time, it was thought that the eighteenth book of
Isidore of Seville Isidore of Seville ( la, Isidorus Hispalensis; c. 560 – 4 April 636) was a Spanish scholar, theologian, and archbishop of Seville. He is widely regarded, in the words of 19th-century historian Montalembert, as "the last scholar of ...
's ''
Etymologiae ''Etymologiae'' (Latin for "The Etymologies"), also known as the ''Origines'' ("Origins") and usually abbreviated ''Orig.'', is an etymological encyclopedia compiled by Isidore of Seville (c. 560–636) towards the end of his life. Isidore was ...
'' contains a reference to ''latrunculi'', and this was used to argue that the pieces on either side were of different powers and classes like the pieces in chess. R. G. Austin has argued, however, that the passage from Isidore on which this belief was based refers to an early form of
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 * ...
. :''DE CALCULORUM MOTU. Calculi partim ordine moventur, partim vage: ideo alios ordinarios, alios vagos appellant; at vero qui moveri omnino non possunt, incitos dicunt. Unde et egentes homines inciti vocantur, quibus spes ultra procedendi nulla restat.'' :ON THE MOVEMENT OF STONES. Some stones move in rows, some freely; thus, some are called ordinary, others free; and truly those that cannot be moved at all are said to be ''inciti''. From which even acting men for whom no hope of proceeding further remains are called ''inciti''. The Stanway game, excavated near Colchester, has been identified by scholars such as
David Parlett David Parlett (born 18 May 1939 in London) is a games scholar, historian, and translator from South London, who has studied both card games and board games. He is the president of the British Skat Association. His published works include many pop ...
as possibly being an example of ''latrunculi''. If this is true then it is possible there was a second piece other than the soldiers used in the game, and this has been interpreted by some reconstructions as a piece representing a "
Dux ''Dux'' (; plural: ''ducēs'') is Latin for "leader" (from the noun ''dux, ducis'', "leader, general") and later for duke and its variant forms (doge, duce, etc.). During the Roman Republic and for the first centuries of the Roman Empire, '' ...
" (leader) or " Aquila" (eagle). However, Ulrich Schädler suggests the game may instead be an example of a
tafl Tafl games (pronounced avl also known as hnefatafl games) are a family of ancient Nordic and Celtic strategy board games played on a checkered or latticed gameboard with two armies of uneven numbers. Most probably they are based upon the Rom ...
game, such as fidhcheall or gwyddbwyll, since there is no evidence for an extra piece other than the ''latrones'' or ''pessoi'' in any of the ancient Greek and Roman games.


Chess

''Latrunculi'' as well as ''latrones'' is mentioned many times in
Ruy López de Segura Rodrigo "Ruy" López de Segura (c. 1530 – c. 1580) was a Spanish chess player, author, and Catholic priest whose 1561 treatise '' Libro de la invención liberal y Arte del juego del Axedrez'' was one of the first books about modern chess in ...
's classic 1561 work ''
Libro de la invencion liberal y arte del juego del axedrez ''Libro de la invencion liberal y arte del juego del axedrez'' (translation: "Book of the liberal invention and art of the game of chess") is one of the first books published about modern chess in Europe, after Pedro Damiano's 1512 book. It was ...
'', also referring to mentions in
Jacobus de Cessolis Jacobus de Cessolis ( it, Jacopo da Cessole; c. 1250 – c. 1322) was an Italian author of the most famous morality book on chess in the Middle Ages. In the second half of the 13th century, Jacobus de Cessolis, a Dominican friar in Cessole ( ...
's sermons on the theme of chess in the later thirteenth century. Latrunculi is mentioned on the first page of
Philidor Philidor (''Filidor'') or Danican Philidor was a family of musicians that served as court musicians to the French kings. The original name of the family was Danican (D'Anican) and was of Scottish origin (Duncan). Philidor was a later addition to t ...
's classic 1774 work "Analysis of the Game of Chess." Myron J. Samsin and
Yuri Averbakh Yuri Lvovich Averbakh (russian: Ю́рий Льво́вич Аверба́х; 8 February 1922 – 7 May 2022) was a Russian chess grandmaster and author. He was chairman of the USSR Chess Federation from 1973 to 1978. He was the first centenaria ...
have both supported the theory that ''Petteia'' may have had an influence on the historical development of early Chess, particularly the movement of the pawns. ''Petteia'' games could have certainly been brought to central Asia and northern India during the rule of the
Greco-Bactrian Kingdom The Bactrian Kingdom, known to historians as the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom or simply Greco-Bactria, was a Hellenistic period, Hellenistic-era Hellenistic Greece, Greek state, and along with the Indo-Greek Kingdom, the easternmost part of the Helleni ...
and
Indo-Greek Kingdom The Indo-Greek Kingdom, or Graeco-Indian Kingdom, also known historically as the Yavana Kingdom (Yavanarajya), was a Hellenistic-era Greek kingdom covering various parts of Afghanistan and the northwestern regions of the Indian subcontinent ( ...
which were known to combine Indian and Greek elements in their art, coinage, and religious practices. When
chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...
came to
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, the chess terms for "chess" and "
check Check or cheque, may refer to: Places * Check, Virginia Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Check'' (film), a 2021 Indian Telugu-language film * ''The Checks'' (episode), a 1996 TV episode of ''Seinfeld'' Games and sports * Check (chess), a thr ...
" (which had originated in
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) entered the
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as ''Schach''. But ''Schach'' was already a native German word for
robbery Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...
. As a result, ''ludus latrunculorum'' was often used as a
medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. In this region it served as the primary written language, though local languages were also written to varying degrees. Latin functioned ...
name for chess.


Board geometry

Since, in archaeological excavations, it is usually hard to tell what game a gridded board was used for, it is hard to determine the size of the board on which ''latrunculi'' was played. R. C. Bell, writing in 1960, mentioned boards of 7×8, 8×8, and 9×10 squares as common in Roman Britain. W. J. Kowalski refers to the " Stanway Game", an archeological find of 1996 in Stanway, Essex, England, and believes the game was played on a board of 8×12 squares; the same size that was used a thousand years later for
courier chess Courier chess is a chess variant that dates from the 12th century and was popular for at least 600 years. It was a part of the slow evolution towards modern chess from Medieval Chess. Medieval rules Courier chess is played on an 8x12 board (i. ...
. He later allowed a board of 10×11 squares. The rules may have varied much across the width 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 ...
and through time.


Game rule reconstructions


Ulrich Schädler's reconstruction (2001)

Use a normal checkerboard with 8×8 squares. The two players agree about the number of pieces, at least 16, but not more than 24 for each player. If the board is larger, then the number of pieces increases too. Use pieces such as coins or hemispheres with different sides that can be flipped. # The players take turns to place one piece on any vacant square. According to Bishop
Isidore of Sevilla Isidore of Seville ( la, Isidorus Hispalensis; c. 560 – 4 April 636) was a Spanish scholar, theologian, and archbishop of Seville. He is widely regarded, in the words of 19th-century historian Montalembert, as "the last scholar of ...
(Origines, chapter 64; 7th century) these pieces were called ''vagi''. In this phase no captures are made. # When all the pieces have been placed, the players take turns to move pieces on the board. The pieces can be moved orthogonally to any adjacent square. Isidore called these pieces ''ordinarii''. A piece can leap over any single piece of either color, if the square behind is unoccupied. Several leaps in one turn are possible (as in draughts). # If a player can trap an enemy piece between two friendly pieces, the enemy piece is blocked and cannot be moved. Such a piece is called ''alligatus'' or, according to Isidore, ''incitus''. To make it clear that a piece is an ''alligatus'', it is turned upside down. # In his next turn, instead of moving a piece, the player can capture the trapped piece by removing it from the board, provided his own two surrounding pieces are still free. The trapped piece is immediately free if one of its two enemies is itself surrounded. # A player can move a piece between two enemies ("suicide") only if by this move one of the two is trapped. # A player reduced to only one piece left on the board has lost the game.


R.C. Bell's reconstruction (1960–1969)

# Using an 8×7 (or presumably 8×8) board each player has 17 pieces, one blue, the others either white or black. The white and black pieces are placed two at a time by alternate turns of play anywhere on this board. During this first phase no captures are made. # When the 32 pieces are in position each player adds his blue piece, the
Dux ''Dux'' (; plural: ''ducēs'') is Latin for "leader" (from the noun ''dux, ducis'', "leader, general") and later for duke and its variant forms (doge, duce, etc.). During the Roman Republic and for the first centuries of the Roman Empire, '' ...
. # The pieces move forwards or backwards or sideways one square at a time. There is no diagonal movement. # A piece is captured when the opponent brackets it orthogonally between two of the opponent's pieces, or between an opponent piece and a corner (but not side) square. The
Dux ''Dux'' (; plural: ''ducēs'') is Latin for "leader" (from the noun ''dux, ducis'', "leader, general") and later for duke and its variant forms (doge, duce, etc.). During the Roman Republic and for the first centuries of the Roman Empire, '' ...
is captured like any other piece. A piece that makes a capture gains an immediate second move. # The Dux can move like the rest of the pieces, or can jump over an enemy piece that is in an adjacent square. The jumped piece is not captured by the move. Of course, the move can have as consequence the capture of another piece. # If a piece is moved voluntarily between two enemy pieces, it is not captured. # A player who loses all his pieces loses the game. If no captures are made in thirty moves, the game is ended, and the player with more pieces on the board wins.


W. J. Kowalski's reconstruction

# The board has eight ranks and twelve files. Each player has twelve men and a dux, black on one side and white on the other. In the starting array the men fill the first rank and the dux stands on the second, on the square just to the right of the center line (from each player's point of view). On the board of ten squares by eleven, the dux starts in the center of the back row, flanked by five men on each side. Black moves first. # Each piece may move any unobstructed distance along a rank or file (like the rook in chess). # A man is captured if the enemy places a piece adjacent to it on each side in an orthogonal line. Multiple men in a line can be captured together (Kowalski later abandoned this feature). # If a piece is moved voluntarily between two enemy pieces, it is not captured, but the player so moving should point out the fact, to avoid later disputes. # A man in a corner is captured if the opponent places his men on the two squares adjacent to the corner. # Repeating sequences of moves are not allowed: if the same position occurs three times, with the same player to move, he must vary his attack. # The dux cannot be captured. It is immobilized if blocked on all four sides. A player who immobilizes the enemy's dux wins the game, even if some of the obstruction is by the dux's own men. If the game cannot be won by immobilizing either dux, the player who has more men left on the board wins. (Kowalski later changed this to say that play continues until one player cannot move, and so loses.)


Edward Falkener's reconstruction (1892)

# Game played on a board having 144 cells or squares. # Each player has five rows of pieces, beginning at the left hand corner they are placed alternately. # The pieces move and take in all directions, perpendicularly, horizontally, diagonally, forwards and backwards. # Pieces attack each other when in contiguous cells, and when another piece comes up on the opposite side the intermediate piece is taken off. # A piece can go between two adverse pieces without being taken. # When one side is hopelessly beaten or locks himself in the game is lost.The Canadian Checker player, volume II January to December 1908, page 90


Museum Quintana reconstruction

These are the rules from the in
Künzing Künzing () is a municipality in the district of Deggendorf, Bavaria, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, an ...
(pictured above): # Two players have sixteen pieces each, which are arranged in two rows facing each other. The goal of the game is to capture all of the opponent's pieces. # The pieces move orthogonally any unobstructed distance. A piece is captured when it is caught between two opposing pieces on adjacent squares in a rank or file. The captured piece is removed from the board. Victory is by capturing more pieces than one's opponent, or by hemming in the opponent's pieces so that movement is impossible.


Similar games

In China the various board games in the family of Fang Qi have similar rules. Typically board size varies from 4×4 in Korea (Gonu) to 17×17 in Tibet. Most varieties have the initial "Placing Stone" phase, followed by the "Removing Stone" phase (if any), and then finally the "Capturing Stone" phase.


References


External links


Ludus latrunculorum:
Latin game rule by Gudrun Eger-Harsch 1985
The Doctor's Game
Dr. Ulrich Schädler argues that the Stanway game was neither ''latrunculi'' nor played on an 8×12 board.

at
The Latin Library The Latin Library is a website that collects public domain Latin texts. It is run by William L. Carey, adjunct professor of Latin and Roman Law at George Mason University. The texts have been drawn from different sources, are not intended for rese ...

The ''Laus Pisonis''
at
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The ''Laus Pisonis''
at
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고누
Gonu, 팔꼰자, a traditional
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