In the past week there has been a lot of buzz on the internet about the Poprad Game Board, which was found in Poprad, Slovakia, back in 2006, in a tomb of a Germanic chieftain, who served in the Roman army as a mercenary, called foederatus, and dated to 375 CE. The reason for the buzz is because the game board is going on display at the Podtatranské Museum in Poprad later this year.
Poprad Game Board with 17×18 grid.
The game has still not been officially published, although a scholarly article by Ulrich Schaedler, the gaming expert who analyzed the game, is in the works. The game appears to be a version of the Roman game Ludus Latrunculorum (aka Latrunculi), but what makes this particular board unique is that it has a much larger grid of 17×18 cells, where the more typical Latrunculi boards have grids 7×8, 8×8, or 9×10. If this game board is truly Latrunculi, then it is the largest board for this game that has ever been found anywhere. The game was found with black and white glass playing pieces, typical of Latrunculi.
If you have your own ideas of what this game board might be please post your thoughts. Many people already have mentioned that it looks a lot like Chinese Go, however as far as we know, Go was not known in the Roman world, and so this would be highly unlikely.
A Saxon Hneftafl transformation called Alea Evangelii. Hneftaflgames were played in Viking times, so the time period is ok, as well that this was German Prince and Saxons came from North-Germani. Alea Evangelii was played on 19×19 or 18×18 board and there were two colours of pieces, and only two size. I did write about Hneftafl gamase also in my thesis (the link on on the website link).
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Hi Jorma.
Thanks for posting. I downloaded your doctoral thesis from 2016 and I see that there is a section on ancient games. I will take a look at it in detail when I have time. I might blog about it later.
Thanks
Eli
17×18 format of this board might be solution for Latrunculi problem of placing the king. Pieces are placed in back row and king sould be place in the middle before them. Latrunculi board usually has even size of grid, therefore players need to agree which of two tiles in the middle should be used. With width of 17, you have true middle column, so any disputes are irrelevant.
As Slovak citizen, I am very surprised that this game was found in Poprad, I never heard of it until now even, that it is unique artefact in our country.
Thank you for the insight. Very interesting.
A transformation about a Saxon Hneftafl gameAlea Evangelii. Hneftafl games were played on Viking times 1500 years ago andAlea Evnagelii has 18×18 or 19×19 board. and it had simple pieces, two colours, both two sizes. Poprad game was owned By a German Prince and Saxons left to Britannia from North Geemany. I do intersect hneftafl games also in my thesis (link is included on the website box). Latrunculi is also good guess, but these games might have some connection with each other. Poprad game can also be bart of the evolution of these games.
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