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

<p>Finds pertaining to board games have been discovered during excavations in the northern Italian town of Cremona. Some objects were found in the recently published Piazza Marconi dig, in contexts belonging to three <italic>domus</italic> dated between the late Republic and the early Empire (40 BC - 69 AD). Thirteen black and white glass counters and two ivory dice were found in the remains of a wooden chest of drawers or cabinet in a probable service room of the “<italic>Domus</italic> del ninfeo”. A bone “Alexandrian” counter incised with a bird in flight and, on the reverse, the Roman numeral II and the Greek number B (<italic>beta</italic>) was found in the destruction levels following the drastic siege of Cremona by Vespasian troops during the civil war of 69 AD. Finally, a bone token in the form of an elongated parallelepiped (so-called <italic>tessera lusoria</italic>) with the word FICOSE inscribed on one side and the Roman numeral XIV on the other was found in the construction trench of an early Imperial house discovered during excavations underneath the Cathedral of Cremona. The paper will discuss in detail the finds, their contexts and their meanings.</p>
</abstract>

Finds pertaining to board games have been discovered during excavations in the northern Italian town of Cremona. Some objects were found in the recently published Piazza Marconi dig, in contexts belonging to three domus dated between the late Republic and the early Empire (40 BC - 69 AD). Thirteen black and white glass counters and two ivory dice were found in the remains of a wooden chest of drawers or cabinet in a probable service room of the “Domus del ninfeo”. A bone “Alexandrian” counter incised with a bird in flight and, on the reverse, the Roman numeral II and the Greek number B (beta) was found in the destruction levels following the drastic siege of Cremona by Vespasian troops during the civil war of 69 AD. Finally, a bone token in the form of an elongated parallelepiped (so-called tessera lusoria) with the word FICOSE inscribed on one side and the Roman numeral XIV on the other was found in the construction trench of an early Imperial house discovered during excavations underneath the Cathedral of Cremona. The paper will discuss in detail the finds, their contexts and their meanings.

Roman Game Finds from Cremona (Italy)

Board Game Studies Journal

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

{"article-title":"Roman Game Finds from Cremona (Italy)"}

Finds pertaining to board games have been discovered during excavations in the northern Italian town of Cremona. Some objects were found in the recently...

Roman Game Finds from Cremona (Italy)

Publié en ligne: 26 avr. 2022

Pages: 197 - 224

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/bgs-2022-0007

Mots clés
Roman Cremona, glass counters, ivory dice, bone “Alexandrian” counters, board games

© 2022 Lynn Arslan Pitcher et al., published by Sciendo

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

Roman Game Finds from Cremona (Italy)

Publié en ligne: 26 avr. 2022

Pages: 197 - 224

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/bgs-2022-0007

Mots clésRoman Cremona, glass counters, ivory dice, bone “Alexandrian” counters, board games

© 2022 Lynn Arslan Pitcher et al., published by Sciendo

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

Mots clés
Roman Cremona, glass counters, ivory dice, bone “Alexandrian” counters, board games