Ludi Romani – panel texts
INTRO
Join us on a journey back to the distant past. No tales of emperors and wars, but something much more fun: Roman playtime. Take a good look around, find the answer to the question “Has much changed in those 2000 years?”… and feel free to join in!
One thing is certain: play is timeless and for all ages.
VIA (Latin word for street)
“Are you coming out to play?”
[PANEL 1]
[Quote:] “The boys have fitted you with purple reins, goat, and a halter round your hairy muzzle; thus they train you round the temple of the god in chariot races (…)” (Anyte, Anthologia Palatina 6,312)
What games do you like to play outside in the playground or at the youth club? Hide and seek, ball games, marbles or swings…? Strangely enough, Roman children did all that too! Many of our favourite games are actually thousands of years old.
How do we know that? Ancient texts, figurines, frescoes, mosaics and even decorations on vases reveal how Roman children played. And sometimes archaeologists even find real toys in the ground – from marbles to little dolls.
IMAGINE: you might pretend to be a famous footballer or cyclist, but Roman children played at being gladiators. Whilst the adults watched thrilling battles in the arena, the children fought out their own ‘heroic battles’ outside.
[Caption:] Charcoal drawings by children, Casa del Cenacolo Colonnato, Pompeii, 1st century AD. The drawings depict scenes of Roman gladiators.
[PANEL 2]
PLAYING WITHOUT TOYS
It was still possible to have fun without toys.
Children simply played with one another! Just think of riding on each other’s backs, hide-and-seek, tag or blind man’s buff.
Horse-riding games
The Romans called these ephedrismos. Sometimes the ‘rider’ would throw a ball and try to hit a target. In another version, he would cover the ‘horse’s’ eyes and give directions: left, right, forward! That caused a lot of laughter.
Blind man’s buff
In blind man’s buff, one player was blindfolded. The player was spun round and then had to try to find the others. Not by looking, but by listening, feeling and touching. Exciting!
[Caption for illustration ‘blind man’s buff’:] Detail of a fresco in a tomb on the Via Portuense. Source: Editions Gallimard, Paris.
Rats and Ravens
In a youth group or sports club, you might play the tag game ‘Rats and Ravens’. Fun fact: Roman children played a similar game too! Only, they called it dies et nox, which means ‘day and night’.
[PANEL 3]
OUTDOOR TOYS
Vindolanda toy sword
Perhaps you have some of these at home too: skittles, marbles, a yo-yo, balls or a toy sword! Or how about a swing or a seesaw to have fun on?
[Caption for illustration of wooden sword:] Small wooden toy sword, 1st–2nd century AD, found in Valkenburg, South Holland, collection and photo: RMO, Leiden
[Caption for illustration of seesaw:] Girls jumping on a seesaw. Drawing based on a detail from an ancient Greek vase. Source: public domain.
Marbles
Parents and grandparents will no doubt be familiar with spinning tops and marbles. In the game of marbles, you throw the marbles up in the air and try to catch them quickly on the back of your hand.
[Caption for illustration of boy with marbles:] Boy with a bag of marbles in terracotta, 4th–2nd century BC, found at Tanagra, Boeotia, Greece, collection and photo: KMKG, Brussels.
Nut game
Some marbles games were even played with nuts. They roll and bounce in all directions. That makes the game extra surprising and great fun!
[Caption for illustration of nuts:] Children playing with nuts. Detail from a child’s sarcophagus, circa 275–300 AD. Vatican Museums, Galleria Pio Clementino. Source: public domain, Wikipedia.
[PANEL 4]
DID YOU KNOW that many of the ball games you play today are actually ancient? Roman children loved them too,
[Caption bikini girls:] Girls playing with a ball, detail from a mosaic in the Villa Piazza Armerina in Sicily. Source: public domain, Wikipedia.
BALL GAMES
FOLLIS a kind of volleyball, but without a net.
TRIGON you throw the ball to each other without letting it touch the ground. They played this in teams of three.
BOCCIA is very similar to pétanque or jeu de boules
HARPASTUM a wild, fast-paced game somewhat resembling rugby. Running, pushing, pulling…
IACTUS PILAE: trying to throw the ball as far as possible.
PLAYING WITH ANIMALS
Roman children lived amongst the animals. They played with dogs, cats and birds, and made up the most entertaining stories to go with them. No wonder, then, that animals often feature in their toys!
Children didn’t just play at being gladiators; they also held chariot races. In illustrations, you can even see little carts being pulled by sheep or geese. WHO WOULD WIN?
[Caption for illustration of geese:] Detail of a mosaic in the Villa Piazza Armerina in Sicily. Source: public domain, Wikipedia.
FABRICA (Latin word for shop)
Not made for playing
[PANEL 1]
[Quote:] “ (…) such as the objects, fashioned for the market by the doll-makers, coloured red and blue on the outside, but made of clay on the inside (…) (Lucian, Lexiphanes 22)
The Romans didn’t have toy factories like we do. And plastic didn’t exist yet either. Luckily, you can make toys out of other things too!
Outside, they found everything they needed to play: pebbles, walnuts, shells and twigs. They simply drew their game board in the sand with a stick. With a little imagination, everything became a toy!
Parents or resourceful children also made their own toys from scraps. Old clothes were turned into rag dolls. Scraps of wood became a game board or a little wooden horse.
[Caption for illustration featuring leather and mouse:] Mouse from Vindolanda, made from a scrap of leather, 105–130 AD, found at: Birdoswald, England, collection: Birdoswald, The Vindolanda Trust.
[PANEL 2]
THE TOY SHOP
Roman craftsmen made the best toys in their workshops, using special tools. Anyone who wanted to become a toy maker later on first had to apprentice under a real master – practising, watching, trying and trying again.
Shoemakers, glassblowers, carpenters, bronze casters, potters, bone carvers and blacksmiths used whatever they could find: scraps of leather, glass, wood, bronze, lead, tin, clay, bone and iron. From all these materials, they made dice, game pieces, dolls and little toy animals.
Potters, in particular, were incredibly quick. Using handy moulds, they could make the same toy over and over again. So everyone got almost the same piece – just like today, but 2000 years ago.
[Caption for illustration of mould:] Terracotta mould for the production of an animal. Trier, 3rd–4th century AD, collection: Kaiserthermen Trier, inv. no. ST 14751, Photo: Ester Schraven.
Very chic!
Wealthy Romans loved to show off. They bought dice and game pieces made of silver, amber or crystal. Very chic!
[Caption for dice illustration:] Dice made of rock crystal inlaid with gold leaf, 1st–2nd century AD, found in Nijmegen, collection: Valkhof Museum, Gelderland Archaeological Depot, photo: Valkhof Nijmegen.
DID YOU KNOW? The workshop doubled as the shop. You could watch the toys being made… and then take them home with you!
[PANELS 3 and 4]
FROM ANIMAL TO TOY
Cattle and sheep provided much more than just meat. Hides were turned into leather, bones and horns were made into everyday objects, wool into textiles, and milk into cheese. Even toys were made from animal materials. Can you spot which parts of cows and sheep were used for this?
TABERNA (Latin term for café)
“For players who set their own bedtime”
[PANEL 1]
[Quote:] “Play a thousand games! Not knowing how to play hearts does you a disservice, for that is where the game of love begins.” (Ovid, Ars Amatoria, Book III, 367–368)
Welcome to the taberna, the Roman café! This is where adults in particular would gather to have a drink, a bite to eat and play a game.
Some board games might even resemble games you know. Many Roman games are, in fact, the ancestors of today’s board games. Strategic board games were particularly popular. You could find these games everywhere: in cafés, bathhouses, army camps and even at home. And good news: you can try a few of them out for yourself here!
The Romans also loved dice and gambling games. It wasn’t always fair… and that could sometimes cause problems.
Dice could vary greatly. In addition to the standard dice, knucklebones, dice marked with Roman numerals up to 1000, rectangular dice marked up to 4, and even 20-sided dice were used to determine fate.
You can even take that literally: both the dice and the 20-sided dice were also used to predict the future. The numbers would then refer to oracular sayings in special scrolls for soothsayers Battle on the board
[Caption for illustration of 20-sided die:] D20 die, Greco-Roman, collection: Musée du Louvre, Paris, photo: GrandPalaisRmn (Musée du Louvre), Tony Querrec.
[Caption for illustration of anthropomorphic dice:] Silver dice in the shape of a crouching figure, 1st–2nd century AD, collection: British Museum, London.
[PANEL 2]
BATTLE ON THE BOARD
TRIS The simplest board game. It resembles ‘OXO’ or ‘noughts and crosses’.
MINI BATTLES ON A BOARD You tried to outwit each other, capture pieces and win the ‘battlefield’. Games like these later gave rise to draughts and chess.
MILL GAMES In the simple versions, you simply had to get three in a row. In the larger games, you could use each mill to take a piece from your opponent – until someone had no pieces left.
HORSE RACING This could be played with the racing game tabula or with a kind of marble run.
READY, SET, GO?
[Caption for marble run illustration:] Stone marble run depicting scenes from a chariot race. This machine has seven diagonal channels for the balls, AD 500, found at: Hippodrome of Constantinople (Istanbul), collection: Bode Museum, Berlin, photo: bpk / Skulpturensammlung und Museum für Byzantinische Kunst, SMB / Antje Voigt.
[PANEL 3]
LUCK IN GAMBLING
The Romans loved gambling. They would bet on gladiatorial contests and horse races, but just as readily on board games and dice games. Anyone who could do with a bit of extra luck would ask for help from Fortuna, the goddess of luck. Others tried to win by cheating… and that often led to arguments!
Sometimes gambling got so out of hand that the emperor temporarily banned gambling games, but the players weren’t going to let that stop them! By disguising the game board as a menu, the game of tabula could still be played in taverns. So you see: not even the strict imperial rules could stop them.
[Caption for illustration of stone board:] A board game on stone disguised as a menu. The two columns of three six-letter words form the game board, with each letter representing a playing square.
TRANSLATION
We have / for dinner
chicken/fish
ham/peacock
game or ‘The Hunters’ (name of the inn)
Cheating
Some players used loaded dice with a hidden weight. To put a stop to this, the Romans devised a dice tower. The dice rolled and bounced so wildly that the weight no longer influenced the result.
[Caption for illustration of dice tower:] Dice tower, 370–380 AD, found at: villa of Vettweiß-Froitzheim, Germany, collection: LVR-LandesMuseum, Bonn, photo: Jürgen Vogel.
THE INSCRIPTION READS:
Use it and live happily!
The Picts have been defeated,
the enemy destroyed,
play without a care.
[PANEL 4]
PARTY GAMES
For the Romans, fun was an essential part of any party. Brain teasers? Not needed! They had plenty of silly games that were mainly just great fun.
It started as soon as you walked in: you were given a little figurine in the shape of a skeleton. That was their way of saying: “Enjoy yourself, this might just be your last party!”
A bit creepy, really, but mainly intended to make everyone laugh.
[Caption for mini-skeleton illustration:] Bronze miniature skeleton, Roman, collection: Science Museum Group Collection, photo: The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum.
Wealthy Roman men would recline on a sort of couch during the banquet. In kottabos, you had to – whilst lying down – try to aim a dreg of wine from your drinking bowl at a target. If you missed? Then you were given a task. Sing a song, do a little dance, or something else the others came up with. The crazier, the better.
[Caption for illustration of man with bowl:] Player of the ‘kottabos game’. Image on a red-figure Attic bowl, c. 500 BC, collection: Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels, photo: CC BY – SA 4.0. ImageStudio KMKG Brussels.
TRICK CUP
And then there was the trick pottery: an oil lamp that kept burning without oil, or a cup that – if filled to the brim – would suddenly empty completely… right onto your clothes! The Romans clearly loved a good joke.
[Caption for illustration of Pythagoras’s cup principle:]
- Cross-section
- The cup can be filled to a certain level.
- But if the cup is filled any further,
- it will empty completely.
DOMUS (Latin word for ‘home’)
“When I grow up …”
[PANEL 1]
[Quote:] (…) we were still young and busy with our dolls; carefree, we played at being ‘little housewives’. (Erinna)
Life in the Roman living room was usually quiet. Children played there with toys that resembled the real world of adults: dolls and doll’s furniture, miniature crockery, toy animals and little cars. In this way, they built their own mini-world, exactly as they wanted it.
But playing wasn’t just about fun. Whilst they played, children were actually practising for later life. Girls learnt to look after dolls and organise a household. Boys played with miniature animals, carts or weapons. In this way, they learnt step by step what would be expected of them later on.
[Caption for illustration of rooster on wheels:] Rooster on wheels in terracotta. Turkey, 4th–3rd century BC, collection and photograph: RMO, Leiden. Inv. no. I 2008/9.11.
[PANEL 2]
DOLLS FOR EVERYONE
Did you know that Roman children had lots of different dolls? Most dolls resembled adult women – as far as we know, baby dolls were rare or non-existent. For girls, these dolls served as a kind of role model: this was how a Roman woman ‘was supposed’ to look.
Imagine: when a girl was old enough to marry, she had to take her dolls to the temple.
Could you do that? Just hand over your favourite toys like that? She did it in the hope of a happy marriage.
[Caption for illustration of leg doll:] Leg doll from Voorburg, 150–175 AD, collection: National Museum of Antiquities, Leiden, photo: National Museum of Antiquities, Leiden, Inv. No. h 1929/3.24.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE? An elegant doll with jewels or a brave gladiator action figure.
[Caption for illustration of leg doll:] Ivory doll with movable arms and legs. Rome, length 30 cm, Severan period (193–235 AD), collection: Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Inv. No. 262725. Credit: Ryan Baumann, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
[Caption for illustration of gladiator:] Miniature terracotta gladiator with movable arms, 1st century AD, findspot, collection and photo: Baelo Claudia, Spain.
[PANEL 3]
POOR DOLL VS RICH DOLL
LUXURY DOLLS
There were simple dolls made from scraps of fabric, but also super-luxury versions made from bone or even ivory. Some were given a whole trousseau: miniature household items, little dresses and even tiny pieces of jewellery.
HAIRSTYLES
Even the dolls’ hairstyles followed the latest fashions. By comparing them with images of empresses, we can often tell exactly which period a doll comes from.
[PANEL 4]
BABY TOYS
Roman babies also had their favourite toy: the rattle! The jingling sound kept babies calm and caught their attention. Rattles came in all shapes and sizes. Some were simple spheres that rattled loudly. Others looked like little animals or funny figures.
Which one would you choose?
[Caption for dove rattle:] Terracotta rattle in the shape of a bird, Bavay, second half of the 1st century AD, © Forum antique de Bavay, musée archéologique du Département du Nord / Bibracte. Photo: Antoine Maillier.
[Caption for bird rattle with horns:] Terracotta rattle in the shape of an animal. The animal is interpreted as a bird with horns, possibly a hen or a cockerel. Nijmegen, collection and photo: Valkhof Museum.
PUZZLES
Do you like a challenge? Roman children did too! They played with Archimedes’ puzzle: a game with 14 different pieces. The task? To form a perfect square. Sounds difficult? It was… but there were as many as 536 ways to do it!
And once you’d managed to make that square, the real fun began. Then you could use the same pieces to make all sorts of shapes: animals, objects, silly shapes… How many could you think of?
SO WHAT NOW?
HAS SO MUCH REALLY CHANGED IN 2000 YEARS?
Take a good look inside this cupboard. Can you spot the modern-day equivalent of Roman toys? It might look very similar to what you have at home.
Or do you have toys that the Romans had never seen before? Who knows, they might well have been terribly jealous of them.