<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Several marble slabs fashioned like game boards for <italic>XII scripta/Alea</italic> come from Christian catacombs in Rome. Often deliberately cut or fragmented, they were used as funeral slabs. The general opinion is that these game boards have found a secondary use in the funeral context. The present paper presents a critical discussion of this interpretation. The slabs differ in several details from real game boards. Moreover, the inscriptions often betray a distinctive funeral character. Game boards for this game consist of three rows of two groups of six squares, their structure thus being identical to the poetic form of a hexagram. It appears that in Late Antiquity, the hexagram was particularly popular as a formula for funerary inscriptions. Moreover, the symbolic meaning of the <italic>XII scripta/Alea</italic> game favoured its use in sepulchral contexts. It seems therefore that at least a certain number, if not most of these “game” boards, were produced as funeral slabs and never used before as game boards in the home of the living.</p>
</abstract>

Several marble slabs fashioned like game boards for XII scripta/Alea come from Christian catacombs in Rome. Often deliberately cut or fragmented, they were used as funeral slabs. The general opinion is that these game boards have found a secondary use in the funeral context. The present paper presents a critical discussion of this interpretation. The slabs differ in several details from real game boards. Moreover, the inscriptions often betray a distinctive funeral character. Game boards for this game consist of three rows of two groups of six squares, their structure thus being identical to the poetic form of a hexagram. It appears that in Late Antiquity, the hexagram was particularly popular as a formula for funerary inscriptions. Moreover, the symbolic meaning of the XII scripta/Alea game favoured its use in sepulchral contexts. It seems therefore that at least a certain number, if not most of these “game” boards, were produced as funeral slabs and never used before as game boards in the home of the living.

Catacomb Games: Reused Game Boards or Funerary Inscriptions?

Board Game Studies Journal

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"Catacomb Games: Reused Game Boards or Funerary Inscriptions?"}

Several marble slabs fashioned like game boards for XII scripta/Alea come from Christian catacombs in Rome. Often deliberately cut or fragmented, they were...

Catacomb Games: Reused Game Boards or Funerary Inscriptions?

Published Online: Apr 26, 2022

Page range: 369 - 395

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/bgs-2022-0012

Keywords
XII Scripta, Alea, Catacombs, Games, Circus, Christian, Funeral, Inscriptions, Reuse

© 2022 Ulrich Schädler, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Catacomb Games: Reused Game Boards or Funerary Inscriptions?

Published Online: Apr 26, 2022

Page range: 369 - 395

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/bgs-2022-0012

KeywordsXII Scripta, Alea, Catacombs, Games, Circus, Christian, Funeral, Inscriptions, Reuse

© 2022 Ulrich Schädler, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
XII Scripta, Alea, Catacombs, Games, Circus, Christian, Funeral, Inscriptions, Reuse