Ludus latrunculorum

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Lūdus lātrunculōrum

The starting position in a game of lātrunculī. The pieces on the second and seventh rows are Kings (Ducēs).
Players 2
Setup time Unknown
Playing time Unknown
Random chance None
Skills required Tactics, Strategy

Lūdus lātrunculōrum, lātrunculī, or simply lātrōnēs (“the game of brigands”, from lātrunculus, diminutive of lātrō, mercenary or highwayman) is a board game played by the ancient Romans. It is said to resemble chess or draughts, but is generally accepted to be a game of military tactics.

Contents

[edit] History

The game of lātrunculī is believed to be a variant of an earlier Greek game known as petteia, pessoí, psêphoi, or pénte grammaí, to which references are found as early as Homer's time.[1]

Among the Romans, the first mention of lātrunculī is found in the Roman author Varro (116–27 B.C.), in the tenth book of his Dē Linguā Latinā (“On the Latin Language”), where he mentions the game in passing, comparing the grid on which it is played to the grid used for presenting declensions.[2] A detailed account of a game of lātrunculī is given in Calpurnius Siculus' Laus Pisonis, and allusions to the game are found in the works of such writers as Martial and Ovid.[citation needed] The last mention of lātrunculī that survives from the Roman period is in the Saturnalia of Macrobius.[3][4]

For a long time, it was thought that the eighteenth book of Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae contains a reference to latrunculi,[5] but later research has shown this to be unlikely.[6]

When chess came to Germany, the chess terms for "chess" and "check" entered the German language as Schach. But Schach was already a native German word for "robbery". As a result, ludus latrunculorum was often used as a medieval Latin word for "chess".[citation needed]

[edit] Rules of play

[edit] Board size

Since, in archaeological excavations, it is usually hard to tell what game a gridded board was used for, it is hard to determine the size of the board on which latrunculi was played. Boards of various sizes have been found, but the most common size seems to have been 12×8.[3]

[edit] Starting configuration

[edit] Moving pieces

[edit] Winning

Bell gives the following rules:

  1. Using an 8×7 board each player has 16 pieces. They are placed two at a time by alternate turns of play anywhere on this board. During this first phase no captures are made. (However, the image here shows a 12x8 board, and 12 ordinary pieces and a king for each player, and a specific starting position.)
  2. When the 32 pieces are in position each player adds a blue piece, called King or Dux.
  3. The pieces move forwards or backwards or sideways one square at a time. There is no movement in diagonal.
  4. A capture is made when two pieces enclose in a line a rival piece. Captured pieces are retired from the board. Corners can also be used to capture enemies, but not the sides.
  5. The king can move like the rest of the pieces, or jumping over an enemy piece that is in an adjacent square. The jumped piece is not captured by the move. Of course, the move can have as consequence the capture of another piece. The king is captured by surrounding him on all 4 sides and the game is lost.
  6. If a piece is moved voluntarily between two enemy pieces, it is not captured.
  7. The game ends when a player has lost all of his pieces or when a barrier is formed that no one can pass. The player who has captured more enemy pieces wins if there is a stalemate.

[edit] External links

[edit] General

[edit] Primary sources

[edit] Computer implementations

[edit] References

  1. ^ Peck, Harry Thurston. (1898). "Latruncŭli". Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. New York: Harper and Brothers. Retrieved on 2006-11-23.
  2. ^ Bell, R. C. (1980). Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations. Dover. ISBN 0-486-23855-5.
  3. ^ a b Kowalski, Wladyslaw Jan. Latrunculi. Retrieved on 2006-11-26.
  4. ^ Macrobius, Ambrosius Theodosius; Thayer, Bill (transcr.). Saturnalia. Retrieved on 2006-11-26. “Sed vultisne diem sequentem, quem plerique omnes abaco et latrunculis conterunt, nos istis sobriis fabulis a primo lucis in coenae tempus, ipsam quoque coenam non obrutam poculis, non lascivientem ferculis, sed quaestionibus doctis pudicam et mutuis ex lecto relationibus exigamus?”
  5. ^ Tilley, Arthur (October 1892). "Ludus Latrunculorum". The Classical Review 6 (8): 335–336.
  6. ^ Austin, R. G. (February 1935). "Roman Board Games. II". Greece & Rome 4 (11): 76–82.
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