Ancient Board Games - Duodecim Scripta and Tabula

    Continuing the discussion about Ancient Board Games, we came across two games that are considered to be Backgammon's ancestors: Duodecim Scripta and Tabula.
    
  

Duodecim Scripta or  Ludus Duodecim Scriptorum is the game of twelve marks. Buried beneath the thick layer of lava were found, where once the citizens of Pompeii were living, two murals, 1700 years after the catastrophe that destroyed the city in eighteenth century. The first mural depicted a scene where a men accused the other of cheating. The second one was showing the inn keeper shouting at the men who better go outside if they look for a fight. Historians say that the game of Duodecima Scripta was very popular among people back then. The Roman literature has a lot of information regard to this game. Even the most important people of that time were enjoying the game as Emperor Claudius was known as an ardent player of Duodecim Scripta. He wrote a book about the game and it is said that he was always carrying the board game with him.
     The game is considered to be an early version of the well-known game, Backgammon. As requirements you needed the special board game, fifteen counters each and three six-sided dice and the average game length was 30 minutes. A lot more than what a game of Backgammon might last.



 
  The second game we spoke about last time was Tabula and historians agreed that the game is a better version of Duodeim Scripta and became played among Romans after the popularity of Ludus started to decline (10 B.C.E -54 C.E.). Around fourth century, Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno was playing a game of Tabula and fifty years later the game was described in Asia by a student. The epigram helped Louis Becq de Fourquieres to write the precise rules of the game.
   Unlike Duodecim Scripta, Tabula had two rows instead of three as Backgammon has.


   
    To conclude, despite the fact that two thousand years stay between us and the civilization that invented and played Ludus Duodecim Scriptorum and Tabula we can, in modern days, enjoy their games.