Romanus Ludens

Next week a 2nd century Roman 20-sided glass die goes up for auction at Christie's.

If you've got 4-6 thousand dollars to spare, I suggest you enter your bid now.

The catalog entry notes: "Several polyhedra in various materials with similar symbols are known from the Roman period. Modern scholarship has not yet established the game for which these dice were used. "

Well, I think *we* all know what game it was used for! But my question is, before the fantasy Middle Ages, in what setting did the Romans play D&D? Ancient Egypt? Biblical times? Babylonian?

[Many thanks to Stephen for the link!]

Comments

[charley]

Maybe they played the parts of heroes from their own mythology, although at the time it would've been considered a 'modern' d20 game...

[Avenging Dentist]

They might have just played games set in the Middle Ages and called it sci-fi roleplaying. It would be really neat if scholars determined the actual game they played. Then Chessex (or some dice company, anyway) could reproduce these dice and supply rules for the game. Besides, who wouldn't want a Roman-style die like this?

[Draigon]

My guess is it was either used for roleplaying or for oracles and psychics. It probably goes at least as far back as the Greeks since Romans took most of their culture anyway. It sounds like a Greek idea when I think about it. Homers epics. The dramatists.

...but 4 to 6 thousand? ugh! Try priceless! It should be in a museum if it really is authentic.

[William]

Ego volo sagittam magicam contendere!

[jane]

William, nerdus maximus es!

[Avenging Dentist]

Hoc verum absurdum est. Latinane lingua mortiis non est? Scio se gaudere nimis...

[Kuchen]

Maybe they 'threw lots' for the clothes of christ.

[jane]

alea virumque cano...

[mal]

ona eakspa igpa atinla

[Rob Wittig]

The best history I've been able to find speculates that the Romans played a role-playing game set in some distant future when people would fly in shining birds, talk to each other with their fingers, and hold small sea-shells into which they could speak & hold conversations at a great distance with others holding similar shells.

Like that.

[William]

Last time I was in Italy, it seemed they were doing a lot of communicating with their fingers, without any magical technology being used at all.

Likewise New York, now that I think about it.

[Avenging Dentist]

It would be cool if there were a game based on Roman science fiction. i.e., a game with "advanced technology" as the Romans would have seen it.

(Si alea Romanam sciendam fabulam oriatur, sit bonus. Id est alea cum "altis machinis" ut Romani spectaverit.)

It's really hard to write in Latin when most of the words you know are just the words you'd see in the Aenead or the Gallic Wars because those are the types of things you translated in high school.

[Philip Tan]

In response to Avenging Dentist, check out this novel: Celestial Matters by Richard Garfinkle. It's ancient Greek and Chinese science fiction, rather than Roman, but still a fun read. Everything in the universe really is made of four elements, and so on.

[dengame]

As neat as it may sound, do you really think role playing is the only game that can be played with a D20?

[outsider]

jpb ppyt psycholog zdrowa ywno nieruchomoci projektowanie stron agencja reklamowa soczewki kontaktowe nauka angielskiego agroturystyka opony klimatyzacja domy opieki akupunktura hydraulik projektowanie wntrz soha jpk paa ki wypadki tfrd jh sw jft pp fdr

[kuwang]

av A

[pppp]

strony www wrocaw, tworzenie stron, lub, hale namiotowe, rozdzielnice, flash lite games development, adidas nike puma, buty nike