Cato refers to gaming dice as only being fit for the elderly, given that the young should be out in the fields practicing their arms. In ancient Rome, all gambling, except betting at the circus and races, were forbidden by law.
Amongst others, the Lex Cornelia, Lex Publicia and Lex Titia forbade the game of dice and the penalty could have the perpetrator sent to jail or fined. Fines were a multiple of the amount of money being bet. The only time that the population could legally let off steam was during the carnival feast known as Saturnalia when all such games were allowed. The game of dice and others were widespread, so much so that archaeologists have found a shop, complete with sign, which seems to have been an out and out gambling spot.
The shop sign itself shows a cup rather like the one used to shake the dice. History has remembered a number of emperors for their gambling habits. It is known that he would invite friends and family round and distribute an ample sum of denars to each to start them off. Furthermore Augustus himself admits in one of his personal letters to having made heavy gambling losses.
Emperor Nero was a great lover of all types of sport and games and is thus also remembered for his gambling skills and high bets. Seneca condemns Claudius for his excessive interest in dice and has him fictitiously condemned to an eternal life of dice throwing with a bottomless cup which will always keep his hopes high but dash his expectations.
The extreme was met with Emperor Commodus who went for broke quite literally. He had plundered the state treasury and attempted to refill the coffers by turning his palace into a Casino. Other than ancient Roman toys, the major games and Roman entertainment worth noting were board games such as. As a means of identification, or expression of right or privilege the original parties often exchanged or agreed to something in exchange and consummated that agreement upon displaying them.
But originally these tokens were created as a record of appreciation or as commemoration of eternal debt of familial appreciation rather than a legal obligation. The tessera hospitalis was the token of mutual hospitality, and is spoken of under Hospitium, pA. This token was probably, in many cases, of earthenware, having the head of Jupiter Hospitalis stamped upon it.
When a stranger claimed hospitium , his tessera had to be produced and submitted for examination. If it was found to be genuine, he was entitled to all the privileges that the best-known guest-friend could expect. It is clear that these are almost precisely the duties and practices devolving upon members of the Roman Empire and its Imperial Cult of Rome as it degenerated from a Republic to a despotic regime of force , persecution and violence.
As history repeats itself we me see a shadow of these same policies in "our own great benevolent societies at the present time, when appealed to by a citizen in distress.
There has always been two basic Welfare types in societies throughout history. They often are a key to sealing the fate of society and nations. A tessera was the ancient Roman equivalent of a theater ticket. Stamped into a clay shard was an entrance aisle and row number for spectators attending an event at an amphitheater or arena. Above the doors of the Colosseum in Rome are numbers corresponding to those stamped into a spectator's tessera. Tesserae frumentariae [4] and nummariae were tokens given at certain times by the Roman magistrates to citizens, in exchange for which they received a fixed amount of wheat or money.
Children loved playing Nux and there are references by Roman writers to the game. Marbles were most often made of clay, stone or glass. They also played a game called Latrunculi a Roman form of chess. It used a board made either of wood, marble, stone, or silver, and black and white army pieces that fight it out.
There was also another game similar to chess called Pebbles because you could use anything as a piece. Another game also similar to tic-tac-toe from the first century BC was called Terni Lapilli. The ancient Romans had two games played with dice: Tali and Tesserae. Tali used four dice and the best score was when each die showed a different number. Tesserae was played with three dice and the best score was three sixes.
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