Hadrianopolis. During the Roman period, the ancient city was a cultural center and a military enclave.photo credit: Hadrianopolis
Posted on 02/05/2025 8:37:48 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Archaeologists found two game pieces believed to have been used by Roman soldiers more than 1,600 years ago... The excavation team, led by Dr. Ersin Çelikbaş, found the lens-shaped pieces adorned with unique engravings—a four-armed symbol on one and an eight-armed sign on the other. "These engraved symbols probably helped the player determine the strategy of their pieces," Çelikbaş explained. The markings suggest that the pieces were used in games that entertained soldiers while also serving as tools for military training.
Çelikbaş stated that the game pieces were most likely used for Duodecim Scripta, which is similar to backgammon, or for Ludus Latrunculi, where players try to surround and capture their opponent's pieces...
The discovery sheds light on the role of strategic games in the Roman military. Ludus Latrunculi, also known as the Game of Mercenaries, was a two-player strategy game in Roman culture. According to Smithsonian Magazine, players would attempt to surround their opponent's pieces with their own until one side's pieces were all captured. This game was favored by military personnel because it simulated combat tactics and enhanced the ability to anticipate enemy movements...
Hadrianopolis, named in honor of Emperor Hadrian who expanded the Anatolian settlement during his reign between 117 and 138 CE, has proven to be a trove of antiques. According to GEO France, the site, located in the Eskipazar district of northern Turkey, includes baths, churches, tombs, castles, a fountain, villas, archways, and monuments. Its strategic position near trade routes connecting the interior of Anatolia to the Black Sea made Hadrianopolis a center of regional trade during the Roman and Byzantine periods.
(Excerpt) Read more at jpost.com ...
Hadrianopolis. During the Roman period, the ancient city was a cultural center and a military enclave.photo credit: Hadrianopolis
MARVELOUS!!!
ooo, room sized risk… kamchatka for the win
I liked it too. The source article (the one quoted and/or paraphrased by JPost) had a photo of the game pieces, but it’s a dud. :^)
“...during his reign between 117 and 138 CE, has proven to be a trove of antiques.”
I wonder what the cut-off date is for calling something an antique vs. an antiquity?
Antique is sometimes/often anything no longer available that's over 25 years old. Antiquities are *also* antiques, because, well, once an antique, always an antique.
Y'know, I think I graduated with Ann... later ran into her on Antigua... she had rented a VW Tiguan...I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."
- "Ozymandias", Percy Bysshe Shelley
I’ve seen lots of movies, yet, not one of them was a Rocky movie.
“it’s Risk, it’s a game of world domination being played by two guys who can barely run their own lives.”
Does it include a drawing of Kamchatka? Because you don’t take Eastern Asia unless you can hold Kamchatka.
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