Digital

Ludeme
Project
Modelling the Evolution First Workshop on Digital Archaeoludology
of Traditional Games Schloss Dagstuhl, Saarbrücken, 10–12 April 2019

Ludus Latrunculorum
Eddie Duggan
University of Suffolk
<e.duggan@uos.ac.uk>
A distressing paucity of fact
“The study of classical board
games offers a most fertile field
for conjecture, yet at the same
time yields a distressing paucity
of certain fact.” Image: Mural, Salvius’s tavern, Pompeii. Board
game in progess [Latrunculi?] (C1st AD) National
Archaeological Museum, Naples. Cat. 111482.
Austin (1934) “Roman Board Games I”
What we know
• Ludus Latrunculorum, Latrunculi, or Latrones is a strategy
game that was played in the Roman Empire.
• The game disappeared with the fall of the Roman Empire.
• References in classical literature and archaeological evidence
provide tantalising fragmentary glimpses of the game.
• The current interest in board games has seen some recon-
structions of this ancient game, both physical and digital.
• Some are based on research, others are entirely speculative.
I was robbed
• The name “ludus
latrunculorum”
means something
along the lines of
“game of brigands”,
“game of robbers”
or “game of
mercenaries”
• (latro = bandit)
Game scholarship: a selection of sources
• Falkener (1890) Games Ancient & Oriental
• Austin (1934 & 1935) “Roman Board Games”, Greece & Rome.
• Murray (1952) A History of Boardgames Other Than Chess
• Bell (1979) Board and Table Games from Many Civilisations
• Schädler various, but NB esp. (1994) “Latrunculi—ein verlorenes
strategisches Brettspiel der Römer" in Homo Ludens: Der spielende
Mensch IV. Salzburg. Institut für Spielforschung und Spielpädagogik
• Parlett (1999) Oxford History of Board Games
• Crist, Dunn-Vaturi & de Voogt (2016) Ancient Egyptians at Play
Falkener (1890)
• Dover reprint (1961).
• Asserts Ludus Latrunculorum is Egyptian
in origin, and equates it with the game Tau.
• Presents key classical references (pp. 46–48)
and translation of a passage from Laus Pisonis,
an anonymous C1st panegyric praising Piso.
• Austin (1934) dismisses Falkener’s
reconstruction as “fanciful”
• Crist, Dunn-Vaturi and de Voogt (2016) identify
various shortcomings in Falkener’s analysis
and interpretation.
Austin (1934)
• Worth consulting, despite age, for considered
approach and discussion of sources.
• Refers to classical authors and reasons “latro”,
in the sense of “soldier”, means the game is
more akin to a battle than a blockade.
• Considers literary and archaeological evidence.
• Austin discuss references to the game pieces
in Ovid and Laus Pisonis that suggest how
pieces move, capture and block.
Austin (1934)
• Austin notes Murray’s suggestion that the
pieces may move like the rook in chess,
observing “no shorter move will make a
playable game” (p. 27)
• Considers the term “mandra”† (animal pen,
or a drove of beasts): discounts suggestions
the term refers to a different type of game
piece, and reasons that the term refers to a
block or barrier.
† Martial, Epigrams VII lxxii 8: “Mandris”
Murray (1952)
• Essentially summarizing Austin, Murray adds
the observation that the game disappears
with the fall of the Roman empire, and the
last references are C4th & C5th sources.
• Murray refers to different size boards and
notes no source specifies number of pieces.
• Murray interprets the term “mandra” to
imply the game was played with many
pieces, perhaps two or three rows each.
Bell (1979)
• Bell sees similarity between latrunculi and
Seega in Laus Pisonis, with pieces placed on
the “open board” in a placement phase.
• Bell suggests the games Seega (or sija) and
High Jump may be survivals of latrunculi.
• In Bell’s suggested version, each player places
16 pieces and a dux in the first phase, then
move one space at a time in the second phase.
• Capturing a piece confers another move. Dux
is captured like other pieces, but it can “jump”.
Schädler (1994)
• Revisits classical sources to find “a reasonably
vivid picture” (p. 48) which, when read in
combination with archaeological evidence,
allows for the reconstruction of “a
functioning game”.
• Reviews earlier accounts of games scholars
(Falkener, Murray, Bell, inter alia), along with
commercially-produced latrunculi-style
games, and finds them lacking in various
ways.
Schädler (1994)
• Schädler interprets the reference to “the
open board” (tabula aperta) in Laus Pisonis
to suggest pieces are placed on the board in
a set-up phase, “similar to Mill, Go and
Reversi” (p. 55).
• Consideration of references to movement
and tactics in Ovid and Laus Pisonis lead
Schädler to conclude that pieces must be
able to jump, although the literature doesn’t
clearly support this interpretation.
Parlett (1999)
• Latrunculi is Roman equivalent of petteia.
• Notes lack of literary and archaeological
evidence to support use of the dux piece.
• Observes that only Schädler and Bell advocate
a placement phase, suggesting “open board”
may be a literary flourish in Laus Pisonis.
• Describes Schädler’s jump move as “unusual”.
• The jump is also found in Falkener.
Crist, Dunn-Vaturi & de Voogt (2016)

• Dismiss Falkener’s suggestion latrunculi was

played by ancient Egyptians.
• Situate Falkener within a tradition that ascribes
Egyptian origin to non-Egyptian games.
• They also observe, citing Schädler (2013), “the
Greek game πόλιϛ [polis], which is also played
on a grid with pieces of two colours and
without dice, is understood to be largely the
same as the Roman game latrunculi” (p. 138).
Known and unknown unknowns
• We know the size of the board is not fixed.
• We know the number of pieces per player is unknown.
• We don’t know if there are differentiated pieces (eg dux).
• We don’t know if pieces move like a chess king, or a rook.
• We don’t know when or if pieces can jump.
• We don’t know what else we don’t know.
Group of figures playing a board game.
(Polis?). Terracotta. Athens C 1st AD
National Archaeological Museum,
Athens NAM4200. The accompanying
diagram shows games pieces are
placed both on lines and in spaces.
Mercenary
• Schädler notes a letter from Seneca implies a
captured piece is not removed from the
board immediately, but on a subsequent
move.
• This two-part “alligatus” capture mechanic is
implemented in a version of the game
developed by the School of Engineering at
Neuchatel in consultation with the Swiss
Museum of Games (available as “Mercenary”
on Android).
• This game includes optional dux pieces.
Classical sources
• A selection of extracts from classical
sources, together with translations, are
included on the following slides.
• The extracts may be useful for prompting
some discussion of the way game scholars
have interpreted ancient sources as well as
illustrating the nature of the task facing the
archaeoludologist.

Drawing of a terracotta game board from Fayum,

Egypt, now in the Petrie Museum London. UC59258.
Source: Crist, Dunn-Vaturi & de Voogt (2016) p. 139.
 Martial, Epigrams Book VII, Epigram lxxii
Gratus sic tibi, Paule, sit December,
Nec vani triplices brevesque mappae
Nec turis veniant leves selibrae,
Sed lances ferat et scyphos avorum
5 Aut grandis reus aut potens amicus,
Seu quod te potius iuvat capitque;
Sic vincas Noviumque Publiumque
Mandris et vitreo latrone clusos;
Sic palmam tibi de trigone nudo
10 Unctae det favor arbiter coronae,
Nec laudet Polybi magis sinistras:
Si quisquam mea dixerit malignus
Atro carmina quae madent veneno,
Ut vocem mihi commodes patronam
15 Et quantum poteris, sed usque, clames:
'Non scripsit meus ista Martialis.'

http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi1294.phi002.perseus-lat1:7.72
 Martial, Epigrams Book VII, Epigram lxxii
So may December be pleasing to you, Paulas,
and so may there come to you neither valueless tablets,
nor table-cloths too short,
nor half-pounds of incense light in weight:
5 but may some influential client, or powerful friend,
bring you chargers or goblets that belonged to his ancestors, or whatever delights & fascinates you;
so may you beat Novius and Publius at chess,
shutting up their glass men in their squares;
so may the impartial judgment of the well-oiled crowd of athletes award you the palm
10 in the warm triangular game at ball,
and not bestow greater praise on the left-handed strokes of Polybus:
as, if any malignant person shall pronounce verses
dripping with black venom to be mine,
you lend your voice in my favour,
15 and maintain, with all your might and without remission,
"my friend Martial did not write those."
http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/martial_epigrams_book07.htm
Martial, Epigrams Book 14, Epigram xvii
• XVII Tabula lusoria
Hac mihi bis seno numeratur tessera puncto;
Calculus hac gemino discolor hoste perit.
http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi1294.phi002.perseus-lat1:14.17

• XVII A Gaming Table

Here dice, with their twice six spots, are counted;
here the party-coloured man is captured by his double foe.
http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/martial_epigrams_book14.htm
Martial, Epigrams Book 14, Epigram xviii
• XVIII Calculi
Insidiosorum si ludis bella latronum,
Gemmeus iste tibi miles et hostis erit.
http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi1294.phi002.perseus-lat1:14.18

• XX [sic] The Game of Robbers

If your game be the warfare of insidious robbers
you have here in gems both your soldiers and your enemy.
http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/martial_epigrams_book14.htm
Ovid, Ars Amatoria Book 2, 203–208
Seu ludet, numerosque manu iactabit eburnos,
Tu male iactato, tu male iacta dato:
Seu iacies talos, victam ne poena sequatur,
Damnosi facito stent tibi saepe canes:
Sive latrocinii sub imagine calculus ibit,
Fac pereat vitreo miles ab hoste tuus.
If she be gaming, and throwing with her hand the ivory dice, do you throw amiss and
move your throws amiss; or if it is the large dice you are throwing, let no forfeit follow
if she lose; see that the ruinous dogs often fall to you; or if the piece be marching
under the semblance of a robbers' band, let your warrior fall before his glassy foe.
Ovid, The Art of Love Loeb Classical Library (1929)
Translated by J H Mozley. London. Heinemann.
https://archive.org/details/OvidTheArtOfLoveAndOtherPoems/page/n46
Ovid, Ars Amatoria Book 3, 357–360
Cautaque non stulte latronum proelia ludat,
Unus cum gemino calculus hoste perit,
Bellatorque sua prensus sine compare bellat,
Aemulus et coeptum saepe recurrit iter.
Let her cautiously and not foolishly play the battle of the brigands, when
one piece falls before his double foe, and the warrior caught without his
mate fights on, and the enemy retraces many a time the path he has begun.

Ovid, The Art of Love Loeb Classical Library (1929)

Translated by J H Mozley. London. Heinemann.
https://archive.org/details/OvidTheArtOfLoveAndOtherPoems/page/n77
 Anon., Laus Pisonsis, 190–208
te si forte iuvat studiorum pondere fessum
non languere tamen lususque movere per artem,
callidiore modo tabula variatur aperta
calculus et vitreo peraguntur milite bella,
ut niveos nigros, nunc et niger alliget albos.
sed tibi quis non terga dedit? quis te duce cessit
calculus? aut quis non periturus perdidit hostem?
mille modis acies tua dimicat: ille petentem, dum
fugit, ipse rapit; longo venit ille recessu,
qui stetit in speculis; hic se committere rixae
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Laus_Pisonis/text*.html
audet et in praedam venientem decipit hostem;
ancipites subit ille moras similisque ligato
obligat ipse duos; hic ad maiora movetur,
ut citus ecfracta prorumpat in agmina mandra
clausaque deiecto populetur moenia vallo.
interea sectis quamvis acerrima surgant
proelia militibus, plena tamen ipse phalange
aut etiam pauco spoliata milite vincis,
et tibi captiva resonat manus utraque turba.
 Anon., Laus Pisonsis, 190–208
If mayhap you please, when weary with the weight of studies, to be nevertheless not inactive but to
play games of skill, then on the open board25 in more cunning fashion a piece is moved into
different positions and the contest is waged to a finish with glass soldiers, so that white checks the
black pieces, and black checks white. But what player has not retreated before you? What piece is
lost when you are its player? Or what piece before capture has not reduced the enemy? In
a thousand ways your army fights: one piece, as it retreats, itself captures its pursuer: a reserve
piece, standing on the alert, comes from its distant retreat — this one dares to join the fray and
cheats the enemy coming for his spoil. Another piece submits to risky delays26 and, seemingly
checked, itself checks two more: this one moves towards higher results, so that, quickly played and
breaking the opponent's defensive line,27 it may burst out on his forces and, when the rampart is
down, devastate the enclosed city.28 Meanwhile, however fierce rises the conflict among the men in
their divided ranks, still you win with your phalanx intact or deprived of only a few men, and both
your hands rattle with the crowd of pieces you have taken.
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Laus_Pisonis/text*.html#209
 Anon., Laus Pisonsis, 190–208
If mayhap you please, when weary with the weight of studies, to be nevertheless not inactive but to
play games of skill, then on the open board25 in more cunning fashion a piece is moved into
different positions and the contest is waged to a finish with glass soldiers, so that white checks the
black pieces, and black checks white. But what player has not retreated before you? What piece is
lost when you are its player? Or what piece before capture has not reduced the enemy? In
a thousand ways your army fights: one piece, as it retreats, itself captures its pursuer: a reserve
piece, standing on the alert, comes from its distant retreat — this one dares to join the fray and
cheats the enemy coming for his spoil. Another piece submits to risky delays26 and, seemingly
checked, itself checks two more: this one moves towards higher results, so that, quickly played and
breaking the opponent's defensive line,27 it may burst out on his forces and, when the rampart is
down, devastate the enclosed city.28 Meanwhile, however fierce rises the conflict among the men in
their divided ranks, still you win with your phalanx intact or deprived of only a few men, and both
your hands rattle with the crowd of pieces you have taken.
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Laus_Pisonis/text*.html#209
Contemporary Sources
• Austin, R. G. (1934) “Roman Board Games. 1”. Greece & Rome (4) 10 pp.
24–34. Stable URL: <https://www.jstor.org/stable/641231>.
• Austin, R. G. (1935) “Roman Board Games. 2”. Greece & Rome (4) 11 pp.
76–82. Stable URL: <https://www.jstor.org/stable/640979>
• Bell, R. C. (1979) Board and Table Games from Many Civilisations. Revised
edition. New York. Dover.
• Crist, W., Dunn-Vaturi, A.-E., and de Voogt, A. (2016) Ancient Egyptians at
Play: London: Bloomsbury.
• Falkener E. [1890] (1961) Games Ancient and Oriental and How to Play
Them New York. Dover.
Contemporary Sources
• Murray, H. J. R. (1952) A history of boardgames other than chess. Oxford.
• Parlett, D. (1999) The Oxford History of Board Games
• Schädler, U. (1994) "Latrunculi — ein verlorenes strategisches Brettspiel
der Römer" in G. G. Bauer (ed.) Homo Ludens: Der spielende Mensch IV.
Salzburg. Institut für Spielforschung und Spielpädagogik pp. 47–67.
• Schädler, U. (2001) “Latrunculi: A forgotten Roman game of strategy
reconstructed”. Abstract Games 7. Autumn. pp. 10–11.
• Schädler, U. (2007) "The Doctor‘s Game: New light on the history of ancient
board games" in Crummy, P., et al. Stanway: An Elite Burial Site at Camulo-
dunum. London. Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies. pp. 359–375.
Classical sources
• Anon. Laus Pisonis
<http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Laus_Pisonis/home.html>
• Martial, Epigrams, Book vii, LXXII; Book xiv, XVII; Book xiv, XVIII.
• Ovid, Ars Amatoria, Book ii, 203–208; Book iii, 356–359.
• Ovid, Tristia, Book ii, 475–480.
<https://archive.org/details/ovidtristiaexpon011949mbp/page/n135>
• Varro, De Lingua Latina vii, 52.
<https://archive.org/stream/onlatinlanguage01varruoft#page/316/mode/2up>