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It is easy to think of gaming as a trivial aspect of our daily lives, as being 鈥榡ust a game鈥�. But for students in fields like history, archaeology and anthropology, games can offer insights into a given society by reflecting on aspects such as the social, political and cultural activities of a given time.

These insights are demonstrable by popular boardgames within living memory. Risk, for instance, a game with the objective of world domination through conquest, gained popularity concurrent with the beginnings of The Cold War.

^{Figure 1 – A detail of the Risk boardgame.}

^{Image credit: Tom Page at}

More recently, Pandemic Legacy, experienced during the country鈥檚 first Covid-19 related lockdown in March 2020. The game offers the player the opportunity to cooperatively eradicate the world from a deadly virus that is threatening humanity.

These two examples show the potential that games can contribute to our understanding of our own modern societies. But archaeological evidence indicates that humanity has gamed for at least 5000 years, thus offering the potential to better understand civilizations from the ancient world.

In this blogpost, we will take a journey to the Roman Empire in the 4^th century AD, a period when Rome鈥檚 golden age had long passed, a time when Rome鈥檚 enemies were becoming an increasingly prominent concern for many within its borders. This will be achieved with analysis of a Roman gaming device known today as the 鈥榁ettweiss-Froitzheim Dice Tower鈥�, let me introduce it to you鈥�

 

The Vettweiss-Froitzheim Dice Tower

This Dice Tower (left) was discovered during an excavation of a Roman Villa in 1983 in Vettweiss, Germany. Because of its deteriorated condition upon discovery, it was reconstructed at the Landesmuseum Bonn - where it can still be found today.

The Latin Inscription on the front reads: 鈥楶ICTOS/VICTOS/HOSTIS/DELETA LUDITA鈥� translating to 鈥淭he Picts are conquered, the enemy destroyed-play in safety鈥�

The Latin inscription on the sides reads: 鈥楿TERI/FELIX/VIVAS鈥� translating to 鈥楿se happily; may you live well鈥�.

The device dates to the 4th Century AD and is believed to have been used alongside Alea (games of chance played by the Romans that involved the use of dice, a board and game pieces), ultimately, to ensure the fair roll of the dice. Both its militaristic features and the large Roman military presence within proximity of the villa suggest that it is likely to have belonged to a Roman soldier.

^{Figure 2 (left). The Vettweiss-Froitzheim Dice Tower, LVR-LandesMuseum, Inv.No. 1985.269,0-1}

^{Height 225mm, Diameter 95mm. Images reproduced here with the kind permission from J. Vogel, LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn}

 

The Picts are Conquered, the enemy destroyed- Play in Safety

To the modern observer, the dice tower鈥檚 Latin inscription (Fig. 2) can be problematic. On one hand, it communicates a positive message – a reminder of their conquest over their enemies and their ability to subsequently play such games without worry.

But it may not truly reflect the feelings felt by a Roman soldier protecting the empires鈥� Germanic borders in the 4th century. In fact, the enemy was far from destroyed. The Picts were just one faction in the period to trouble the empire alongside others, like the Goths, or internally through civil war. Indeed, if the owner of the object was a Roman soldier, any threat that may have felt would have been justified; the Romans would soon retreat from the area, abandoning the villa between 380-390 AD.

As is demonstrated with modern boardgames like Risk and Pandemic Legacy, human nature possesses the tendency to use games to play out its鈥� fears. Games can have a cathartic nature; they can confront the concerns of the period in a leisurely manner and offer respite from concerns like nuclear war and deadly disease.

The Romans also had their own boardgames like 鈥楧uoDecim Scripta鈥� and 鈥楲ittle Robbers鈥� that may have also possessed a cathartic function. If we consider the view of Nicholas Purcell (1995), who believes these games (by the nature of their gaming objectives) symbolically mirrored the act of hunting and dueling, then the device鈥檚 Latin inscription tells a different story. It now becomes possible to envisage the device working alongside Alea for enabling soldiers to play out their anxieties of combat with the encroaching Germanic threat.

 

The Die is Cast

The symbolic role of Alea has evidently had a widespread reach in Roman society. The throwing of dice, for instance, has served as a metaphor for multiple ancient writers to narrate Julius Caesar鈥檚 famous crossing of the Rubicon to march on Rome (Suetonius, The Life of the Deified Caesar, 1:32; Plutarch, Life of Pompey, 60.2.9).

The symbolic nature of Alea and its association with risk and reward also touched into the Roman gambling culture. Gambling offered its users the opportunity to financially profit, and victors were additionally rewarded with social advancement, because winning a game that involved chance could indicate that the individual was favored by gods like Fortuna. Fortune Favors the Bold.

However, a victor is often accompanied by a loser, and this age-old issue of gracefully accepting defeat is, in a practical sense, what the dice tower sought to resolve. As one fresco from Pompeii suggests, accusations of cheating were commonplace in Roman society (Fig. 3). So, we could think of the dice tower as serving as a mediator for Alea, authenticating the winners from the losers, or even conducting the work of the gods, communicating the decisions of Fortuna to the mortal world through the roll of the dice.

This Fresco, found in a Taberna (Roman Tavern) in Pompeii, provides an insight into the conflict that Alea could cause, and their desire not be the loser.

The Latin writing above the left figure reads: 鈥淚 won鈥�

The Latin writing above the right figure reads: 鈥淚t鈥檚 not three, it鈥檚 two鈥�

^{Figure 3 (left) - Image of players from a Pompeiian Tavern Image credit:}

^***

A Gaming Culture

The Romans are renowned for their competitive spirit, and the design of the dice tower provides further testament to this notion. We can look to the use of the characteristically Roman Opus Interassile patterns (Fig. 4) and further to the two dolphins- which are prevalent Roman symbols of victory (Fig. 5) found on both sides of the staircase.

These features may have served as a reminder to its Roman users of their common Roman standards, in turn promoting a cultural uniformity. Alea attracted players from all echelons of society from the emperor to the plebian, from the east to the west of the empire. By the dice tower鈥檚 design, these very different Romans could be unified by their common foes, their competitive spirit, and their love for gaming.

Fig. 4 (left) shows the Opus Interassile design on the dice tower. This was a fashionable Roman style of production in the 4^th century AD. (Horn 1989)

Figure 5 (right) depicts two leaping dolphins. Each is positioned on either side of the dice towers鈥� staircase.

Dolphins are a common feature of Roman imagery. They are also portrayed on materials such as coins and mosaics. (Horn 1989).

 

 

 

Just a Game?

With detailed observation of the Vettweiss-Froitzheim Dice Tower, alongside our current understanding of the Roman empire in the period, we can gain a more insightful and unique understanding of the attitudes and practices from within the Roman empire in the 4th century AD. We are offered a portal into our past. Simultaneously, the device is also an object that we can relate to today, allowing us to form a greater connection with our ancestry through the commonality of gaming. The study of gaming is a field that offers great potential to both our past and present. This object is more than 鈥榡ust a game鈥�.

Bibliography

 

• Cobbett, R.E (2008) 鈥楢 Dice Tower from Richborough鈥�, Britannia 39: 219-236
• Eckardt, H (2011) Writing and Power in the Roman World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
• Horn, H.G 1989: 鈥楽i per me misit, nil nisi vota ferret. Ein romischer Spielturm aus Froitzheim鈥�, Bonner Jahhrbucher 190: 139-160
• Purcell, N (1995): 鈥楲iterature Games: Roman Urban Society and the Game of Alea鈥�, Past and Present, 147: 3-37
• Samuel, A 鈥楳aking Sense of Social Gaming鈥�- https://daily.jstor.org/making-sense-of-social-gaming/ (18/10/2016), Accessed 28/07/2021
• Schadler, U (2007) 鈥楾he Doctors Game- New Light on the History of Ancient Boardgames鈥�, Brittania Monograph Series, 24: 359-375
• Schelle, C 鈥楶andemic Board Game Sells Out as Coronavirus Sweeps Across Australia鈥�-https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/health-wellbeing/pandemic-board-game-sells-out-as-coronavirus-sweeps-across-australia-c-901114 (31/03/2020), Accessed 28/07/2021
• Sprengeler, M.J (2013) 鈥楶laying by New Rules: Board Games and America鈥檚 Cold War Culture, 1945-1965鈥� (Iowa: University of Northern Iowa)
• Verlag, S. V (1984) 鈥楿surpers and Internal Conflicts of the 4^th Century A.D鈥�, in Historia: Zeitschrift fur Alte, Geschichte, 33.2: 220-237