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| The Cultural Fabric of Play and Games in Classical Antiquity

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    Innovation: ancient games online

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Locus Ludi: Project summary

Locus Ludi intends to provide a benchmark by reconstructing the history of the ludic culture in the Greco-Roman world. The project will identify, categorize and reconstruct ancient games thanks to close philological, historical, archaeological, and anthropological studies.
The research will generate a new vision of the cultural fabric of ancient society, provide models for training and research in related fields, as well as up-to-date material for schools, museums, and libraries. Understanding the educational, societal and integrative role of play in the past is important to understand the present and widen the debate on high tech toys and new forms of sociability.

ERC Advanced Grant 2017-2022 | Read more about the project

European Commission ERC Agreement    ERC Advanced grants    Swiss museum of games  University of Frbourg     Panoply Project   European Year of Cultural Heritage

Giocare a nascondino con Locus Ludi

In segno di solidarietà con tutti i nostri amici italiani e con le tante persone attualmente isolate in tutta Europa e nel mondo, vogliamo farvi conoscere l’antica allegria degli Eroti di Ercolano.

Hide and seek with Locus Ludi

As a gesture of solidarity with all our Italian friends, our colleagues and the many people throughout Europe and the world who are currently isolated, we wish to celebrate the ancient cheerfulness of Herculaneum’s erotes.

Check out our Facebook blog and the designers’ blog, Panoply.

Jouer à cache-cache avec Locus Ludi

En signe de solidarité avec tous nos amis italiens et les nombreuses personnes qui, à travers toute l’Europe et le monde sont actuellement isolées, découvrez l’espièglerie antique des Erotes d’Herculanum.

Play with us!

Come and test our reconstructed games: Pente grammai – Alea / XII scripta – Three-men Morris – Ludus-latrunculorum.

NEW PUBLICATIONS

  

See our other publications

Locus Ludi Webinar

Due to the sanitary crisis, our weekly seminar is now held online. You can register to join us and attend our Webinar!

More information here

Upcoming Events

Apr
14
Wed
2021
9 h 30 min Journée d’étude, Fribourg ERC Lo... @ online
Journée d’étude, Fribourg ERC Lo... @ online
Apr 14 @ 9 h 30 min – 18 h 00 min
Journée d’étude, Fribourg ERC Locus Ludi/ EHESS "Images et imaginaire de la chance et du destin" @ online
Mercredi 14 avril, Journée d’étude, 9h30-18h00, Fribourg ERC Locus Ludi/ EHESS « Images et imaginaire de la chance et du destin » S’inscrire : locusludi@unifr.ch    PDF
Jun
22
Tue
2021
all-day International Conference ERC Loc...
International Conference ERC Loc...
Jun 22 – Jun 24 all-day
International Conference ERC Locus Ludi "Toys as Cultural Artefacts in Ancient Greek and Roman Cultures: Anthropological and Material Approaches"
      Call for papers (PDF)
Sep
6
Mon
2021
all-day ERC Locus Ludi / XVI CIERGA Inte...
ERC Locus Ludi / XVI CIERGA Inte...
Sep 6 – Sep 8 all-day
 
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Roberte Hamayon, Paris. Dr. Honoris Causa, University of Fribourg, 2020

Contact

locusludi@unifr.ch

Université de Fribourg
Rue du Criblet 13
CH-1700 Fribourg

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7 Apr

14 avril 2021 10h00-18h00 ERC Locus Ludi/Paris EHESS/CIERGA Workshop "Images et imaginaire de la chance et du destin". Programme: https://locusludi.ch/locus-ludi-webinar/ #ERC_Research #Classicstwitter @RevEtuAnciennes
@AssociacaoLudus @EHESS_fr @FondationCDF @LiegeGameLab @lettresunifr

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“Play Hide and Seek in Herculaneum” is the new animation realised by Steve Simons and Sonya Nevin (Panoply) for Locus Ludi.

This delicate animation, evoking the carefree happiness of loved children and hope, is meant as a gesture of solidarity with all our Italian friends, our colleagues and the many people throughout Europe and the world who are currently isolated. In the past as today, play and games can provide suspended moments of shared happiness.

The animation is based on a wall painting from the so-called cryptoporticus of the House of the Stags (Casa dei Cervi), one of the largest dwellings in Herculaneum with a beautiful terrace that once overlooked the sea.

The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE destroyed the city but the pyroclastic flow preserved the splendour of this wealthy house.

Children may have actually played hide and seek in the corridor which was decorated with a series of small panels depicting Erotes engaged in various lively activities.

The scene is a perfect example of the contribution of images to the history of play and games: it preserves the memory of children’s social life ; they perform a collective activity, hide and seek, which otherwise left no archaeological trace and belongs to an immaterial heritage. The picture shares an imaginary, cheerful world where children are no longer mortal, but divine: they are depicted as carefree winged supernatural beings.

Images, however, do not provide us with game rules. The dictionary (Onomasticon) written by Julius Pollux in the 2nd century CE provides a list of games with descriptions.

Pollux lists four variants of hide and seek games : Myinda, Apodidraskinda, Chalké Muia, some of which are still practiced today. But which one is illustrated in Herculaneum? The animations skilfully propose different hypotheses