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 ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

. 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 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 point (tables game), points. Players roll dice to determine the movement of pieces. Tab ...

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 at least 1,600 years. The earliest record of backgammo ...

.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 ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

ian game senet. A 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 A die (: dice, sometimes also used as ) is a small, throwable object with marked sides that can rest in multiple positions. Dice are used for generating random values, commonly as part of tabletop games, including dice games, board games, ro ...

, 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 Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...

's '' Ars Amatoria'' (''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