Greek Dicing, Astragaloi and the ‘Euripides’ Throw

Abstract

Greeks, unlike Romans, gambled with five not four knucklebones (astragaloi) in their dice games. As Pollux explains, the high number of an individual knucklebone was sometimes eight rather than six, and so when a dicer rolled ‘all eights’ they attained a sum of 40. This roll was called the ‘Euripides’. The confusion about this throw is due to a report found in Byzantine sources and attributed to Suetonius, where it is claimed that dicers of Greek antiquity used four knucklebones. Suetonius may have confused the Roman custom with the Greek one, but there are good grounds for questioning whether the report is from ‘Suetonius’ at all. Elsewhere ‘Suetonius’ reports that Greeks played with three rather than two cubic dice, but such a report cannot have been made before the seventh century AD.

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“…the ends of each line, can have only one piece on them, save 26 Austin (1940) 257 27 Cf. Austin (1940) 260 28 Schädler (2009) 173-177; Schädler (2013) 2842; Kidd (2017) 83-99 29 Schädler (2013) 2842. Woodford (1982) provides a catalog of vases with this decoration.…”

“…Woodford (1982) provides a catalog of vases with this decoration. 30 Schädler (2009) 173-174; Schädler (2013) 2842 31 Schädler (1998) 17-18;Schädler (2009) 177-181 32 Kidd (2017) prefers the first reconstruction, Schädler (2009) the second. 33 Schädler (1998) 17-18;Schädler (2009) 177, 180, 196;Kidd (2017) 96the sacred line, and there is no method of capture.…”

“…30 Schädler (2009) 173-174; Schädler (2013) 2842 31 Schädler (1998) 17-18;Schädler (2009) 177-181 32 Kidd (2017) prefers the first reconstruction, Schädler (2009) the second. 33 Schädler (1998) 17-18;Schädler (2009) 177, 180, 196;Kidd (2017) 96the sacred line, and there is no method of capture. 34 In Kidd's reconstruction, players may capture pieces by landing on them and captured pieces must then be reintroduced to the board with a dice roll on the opponent's next turn, similar to modern backgammon; pieces are safe from capture if on the sacred line or if multiple pieces are on the same point, which Kidd's reconstruction permits.…”

“…sixcharacter section, or by removing them from there, but this cannot be known for certain. 39 At a later period, somewhere between the late first century BCE and the third century CE, the game develops into alea, previously the term for gambling, but now a specific 34 Schädler (2009) 196 35 Kidd (2017) 96-97 36 Schädler (2013) 2843 37 Lanciani (1892) 97-100; Austin (1934) 30-34;Schädler (1995) 74-81, who cautions the association of these boards with the game of this name, though in later publications he adopts the convention; Purcell (1995) 17-28;Purcell (2007) 90-97;Habinek (2009) 125-127; Trifilò (2011) 321. 38 Austin (1934) 33-34;Schädler (1995) 83-84;Schädler (2013) 2843 39 Austin (1934) 34 named as the winner.…”

“…Just as a city comprises many citizens, Aristotle clarifies the reliance of each citizen on 192 For full discussions of play in Aristotle, see Solmsen (1964) and Kidd (2016). 193 Cf.…”