[yarddog]

I saw a painting on an ancient Greek vase showing two heroes of the Trojan war playing “draughts”.

It looked like checkers to me.

[Verginius Rufus]

Yes, there is an Athenian vase from about 530 B.C. showing Achilles and Aias (Ajax) playing a game. Achilles is saying “four” and Aias is saying “three.” Conveniently the vase painter wrote their names and what they were saying on the vase.