Object type
game tokens
Culture/period
Materials
glass
Technique
casting
Mint
Production date
1 / 199
Current location
MASPG
Archaeological site
Empúries
Township
Escala, l' (Europa, Espanya, Catalunya, Girona, Alt Empordà)
Dimensions
Description
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Set of glass and stone game tokens from Empúries (L'Escala, Alt Empordà), dating to the 1st-2nd centuries AD. They are round or ellipsoidal and those of glass are in various colours, from dark blue to green, amber...
These types of tiles were used in the so-called “tabula lusoria” or “tabula latrunculata”. The first was a rectangular game board and the second was square and compartmentalized like a chessboard. We currently know some of the intelligence and strategy games that were practiced during Roman times. An example is the game of thieves, which was played on a rectangular or square “tabula lusoria” divided up like a chessboard that symbolized a battlefield and in which the opponents faced each other. The board was divided into eight lines consisting of eight squares (“mandrae”), which formed a total of 64 squares over which the players had to move their tokens. The game was to move forward with the tokens in the opponent's field and expel, capture or immobilize the opposite tokens. These types of games are very reminiscent of the current game of draughts.
© Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya - Girona
Omeka ID
3243