![]() Later versions of the games, adopted by the Romans, included a “leader piece” and may have incorporated elements from new games brought in by Eastern traders. However, these additions come with little evidence from primary sources. Recreationists today tend towards using eight by eight boards with sixteen pieces per player, while their pieces can move one step in any direction at a time. Most historians have agreed the final objective would be to eliminate or trap all pieces of the opposing player. The complete rules of Pesseia are unknown, but we know Greeks played it on rectangular boards, involved groups of pieces for each player equal in number, and the aim was to destroy pieces by having your own flanking either side of theirs. The suitors of Penelope play the game in Homer’s The Odyssey, and the word is most commonly translated as “draughts” or “checkers”. Specifically, he believed that Theuth, the Egyptian god of knowledge, was to be honored by its playing. Sometimes mistaken for the later Roman game of “Latrunculi”, Pesseia was said by Plato to be a creation for the gods. ![]() PesseiaĪlso called “Petteia”, Pesseia is one of the most written-about games in Greek literature. Under all the stories, however, lies games worth exploring. Poets would take the license with the words used, and history would mix with myth. Names often referred to a game as much as they did the pieces or boards it was played upon. To explore the games of ancient Greece, you must accept that there is a lot we do not know. While today’s children may not chase after “brazen flies”, they still play the same blindfolded games of their ancient ancestors. The games developed would later become the games of Rome, while some would never leave our culture. The ancient Greeks played early versions of checkers, backgammon, dice, and knucklebones. On the contrary, the Greek poets and philosophers often referred to board games and children’s activities as creations of the gods, reflecting morality important to learn, and holding great metaphors for leading an empire. However, that does not mean they had zero interest in more sedentary pursuits of entertainment. The ancient Greeks were known for their sports, their spectacles, and the invention of theatre.
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