Toys and games in ancient Rome

Marble relief (2nd century AD) of Roman children playing ball games: the girl at the far right is tossing a ball in the air (Louvre)

The ancient Romans had a variety of toys and games. Children used toys such as tops, marbles, wooden swords, kites, whips, seesaws, dolls, chariots, and swings. Gambling and betting were popular games in ancient Rome. Legislation heavily regulated gambling, however, these laws were likely not enforced. Tali, Terni lapilli, Duodecim Scripta, and Ludus Latrunculorum were all popular games in ancient Rome. They were similar to poker, tic-tac-toe, backgammon, and chess respectively. Nine men's morris may also have been a popular game in ancient Rome. Roman children also played games simulating historical battles and could pretend to be important government officials.

Gambling and betting

Ancient Roman bone dice found near Silchester

Gambling and betting were popular games in ancient Rome. Roman gaming tables frequently appear in the archaeological record; they are often found in public spaces, private buildings, and throughout urban areas. Finds of gambling-related materials are rarer in residential spaces than in public spaces. Possibly because gambling was a communal activity, therefore occurring primarily in social areas. Gambling tables are particularly common near military sites. The inscriptions found on military gaming tables often reference foul play or violence. One inscription reads "Get up! You know nothing about the game; make room for better players!" Two paintings discovered in Pompeii depict a brawl emerging between two players over a disagreement about the game; the brawl is interrupted by the innkeeper, who demands they exit the shop. Casino-like establishments existed in ancient Rome. Popinae, ancient Roman wine bars, often functioned as casinos for customers. Due to their connotations of prostitution and gambling, the Romans viewed popinae as centers of violence and crime. The Latin term "susceptor," meaning "entrepreneur" was used euphemistically to refer to the managers of gambling establishments. Gambling without a gaming board, exclusively using dice, was also common in ancient Rome.

One popular variety of gambling in ancient Rome involved the usage of nuts. Another version of this game, popular amongst children, consisted of building a pyramidal structure with a base of three nuts and a fourth nut placed on top. The players would then try and knock down the structure with another nut. In a different variation, chalk was used to draw a triangle broken into several subdivisions through lines parallel to the base. The players would try and throw the nut into the differing compartments, with winnings distributed according to the section the nut landed in. Emperor Gallienus is recorded as substituting the nuts for apples in these games. Another gambling game in ancient Rome involved the placement of the stakes inside a vase. The stakes were awarded to the player who first threw a chosen object into the jar. Lucius Verus is credited with inventing a variation of this game where the player was required to destroy the vase with a copper coin thrown from a distance.

1st-2nd century Roman dice from Cartagena, Spain.

The majority of ancient Roman dice were asymmetrical. Dice were sometimes stored in fritillus, a dice box shaped like a wooden tower containing a spiral. Fritilli may be identified with a type of Roman ware consisting of small pear or oval-shaped pots. Archaeological excavations in Bevagna unearthed pots of this type containing dice, indicating that the fritili and the pots may be synonymous. Fritilli were used to roll dice without player intervention, preventing cheating. The archeological finds of pots indicates that the exact methods by which a fritillus was used varied depending upon the structure. In some pots, the mouth is large enough to allow dice to be inserted easily. Other pots have significantly smaller mouths, ensuring only small dice could be inserted. It is also possible that the dice were placed on the funnel and then thrown. Fritilli disappeared from the archaeological record by the 4th century; by the 5th century scholars were limited to only hypothesizing about the charachteristics of a fritillus. The ancient Romans possibly thought that the results of dice games were determined by fate rather than mathematical probability.

Fresco depicting ancient Roman dice players

Although gambling was certainly extremely popular in ancient Rome, it was viewed as sinful and corrupt. According to Marcellinus, most members of the upper classes did not wish to identify themselves as gamblers, instead preferring the term tesserarii, which means "dicer." Aleator, the Latin term for an individual who regularly gambles, was viewed in at least a somewhat derogatory sense. Ammianus Marcellinus describes a "gambling mania" which was pervasive across all Roman social classes. Marcellinus argued that the decline of Rome itself was attributable to the pervasiveness of gambling; Marcellinus claimed that gambling obsession prevented "anything memorable or serious from being done in Rome." Similarly, Horace complained that "The young Roman is no longer devoted to the manly habits of riding and hunting; his skill seems to develop more in the games of chance forbidden by law." Paranoia over young men losing their money through gambling was widespread in ancient Rome, and likely motivated the legislation against the passtime. Gambling was associated with the lower social classes of ancient Rome; gamblers were viewed similarly to petty criminals. Connotations of low social status prompted the ancient Roman fear that, through gambling, an individual could become indebted to another of lower social status. Roman youth were expected to dedicate their leisure time to activities of self-betterment. Such concepts may have influenced the Roman legislation on gambling, including the exemption of elderly persons from these laws. Numerous Roman emperors, such as Augustus and Claudius were known for playing dice. Claudius wrote a now-lost book about playing dice. This book is speculated to have been titled De arte aleae, which translates to On the Art of Dice. Augustus is recorded to have offered sums of money to his guests to allow them to continue betting and gambling. Emperors such as Caligula, Nero, or Commodus were all depicted as either enthusiastic gamblers or full-on gambling addicts by ancient biographers. However, these descriptions were possibly part of a smear campaign to discredit these unpopular emperors.

The earliest known ancient Roman gambling law is the lex Talaria, or the lex Alearia; it is first referenced in a play by Plautus. The law most likely prohibited outlawed and dicing. Although gambling was heavily regulated, these laws were lifted during the holiday of Saturnalia. There is in any case little evidence that regulations against gambling were well-enforced. Sports-betting was exempt from Roman gambling laws, and it remained decriminalized even after the rise of Christianity. Sports-betting may have been viewed more favorably due to the lack of any large-scale industry centered around sports-betting, the tendency for sports-bets to occur between friends, and because such bets likely carried smaller stakes than other forms of gambling. Roman jurist Julius Paulus records three laws passed by Sulla regarding gambling: the lex Cornelia, the lex Titia, and the lex Publicia. According to Paulus, these laws exempted betting on "contests of manhood," specifically javelin-throwing, wrestling running, jumping, and ancient Olympic sports, from the prohibition on gambling. The criminalization of gambling prevented, in some circumstances, the collection of gambling debts. Under Roman law, a Pater Familias could demand the repayment of money any member of their household lost through gambling. The losers of the bets could demand the restoration of their wealth from the pater familias of the winner's family. Slave owners operated according to identical principles regarding their slaves and gambling. Roman gambling laws may have primarily existed for more symbolic reasons rather than any practical benefit derived from such legislation. These laws may have been used to portray the proponents as righteous citizens and the protectors of the “mos maiorum,” the customs and traditions of Ancient Rome.

Tali

Tali, also known as astragali or knucklebones was an ancient Roman dice game similar to poker. It used two kinds of dice. One kind was a large die with only four marks. It only had the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 6. Each player had four dice, and would throw them as part of the game. If all dice had landed on a different number, it was called a Venus or Royal. If all the dice had landed on the number one, then it was known as the dogs or four vultures. If the player threw a dogs then they would put materials in the pot. If they threw a Venus then they would claim all of the wagered material. In another version of this game, players would throw knucklebones into the air and try to catch them as they fell. The winner was the player who could catch the most.

Twelve Writings

Duodecim scripta board

One popular dice game was known as Twelve Lines, Twelve Signs, Twelve Points, Twelve Writings, and was similar to Backgammon. Rounded bone pieces were used to play this game. They could be a variety of colors. Such as blue, black, green, or red. Each player had 15 pieces and placed them on a playing table divided into three horizontal lines with 12 spaces. The playing tables, which were known as the alveolus, were usually made from limestone or marble, although they could be made from leather and possibly wood. Most boards consisted of 3 boxes by 12 boxes. Some boards used squares, letters, lines, circles, monograms, crescents, or crosses instead of boxes. It was also common for boxes to contain six-letter words. Players would roll dice and the number it landed on determined the movement of the pieces. They could use the points they rolled on multiple pieces or combine them and move one piece. Each piece moves clockwise. Pieces blocked from moving were known as intici. The goal of the game was to move all of one player's pieces from one side of the board to the other.

Others

Modern reconstruction of Ludus Latrunculorum

Another popular game was known as Ludus Latrunculorum or Robbers. It was similar to chess. In this game each counter had a different value and the goal was to capture the opponent's pieces. This game was especially popular with soldiers. Terni lapilli, or three pebbles, was an ancient Roman board game played on a board with a nine-square grid. It was similar to tic-tac-toe, but they used three stones instead of marks. Nine Men's Morris might have been played in ancient Rome. Ovid possibly describes the game in Ars Amatoria. Ovid wrote:

There is another game divided into as many parts as there are months in the year. A table has three pieces on either side; the winner must get all the pieces in a straight line. It is a bad thing for a woman not to know how to play, for love often comes into being during play.

Seneca the Younger describes young children pretending to be senators or other magistrates. Children were said to have played games simulating the Battle of Actium. The children used a nearby pond to simulate the Adriatic sea, and they took different sides and fought in the streets. Macrobius describes another popular ancient Roman children’s game called capita aut navim, in which the players tossed a coin in the air and predicted the side it would land on. The coin used in this game depicted the head of Janus on one side and a ship on the other side. According to Macrobius, this type of coin was designed by Janus, who marked the coin with a boat to commemorate the arrival of Saturn to Italy, which had been by boat.

Other archaeological items, such as tesserae lusoriae have been interpreted as games, even though their functionality is still unknown.

Fragmentary Roman doll carved from bone, late 3rd century AD (Getty Villa Roman Collection)

Toys

For most children, their toys were made by their parents. Children in wealthier families usually had toys made by skilled craftsmen.

Different age groups had different toys. Babies usually had charms, bells, and whistles shaped like animals, and rattles known as crepundia. They could be made from either wood, pottery, bone, or clay. Pebbles were sometimes placed inside these toys. Toddlers were given wooden carts to help them learn to walk.

Older male children had toy horses made from sticks. They could be accompanied by toy chariots. Wealthy children could have toy chariots large enough to be pulled by geese or goats. Children could have races between toy chariots driven by mice.

Ancient Roman toy horse

Dolls were popular toys for ancient Roman girls. They were usually made out of cloth and wax. It was common for them to have movable arms and legs.

Figures of gladiators, actors, soldiers, and slaves were popular toys. Other common toys included tops, marbles, wooden swords, kites, whips, seesaws, and swings. Wooden wheels and metal hoops were used as toys by ancient Roman children.

See also

• Bear games

References

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