The lexicon below was produced by Marco VESPA (ERC Locus Ludi). It consists of a compilation of game-related words in Greek and Latin translated into English and French with an explanation and classical sources. English translation: Tim Penn.

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  • Alea: a later version of XII scripta (-> XII scripta). A backgammon-type game. Played in pairs on a board consisting of three rows of twelve; the rows are each equally divided into two groups of six. Among the main innovations compared to XII scripta is the use of three dice instead of two. *Sources: Isidore of Seville, Etymologies, 18, 60.
  • Aporraxis (ἀπόρραξις): two players compete in bouncing a ball. Each player takes turns to throw the ball several times against the ground, making it bounce (rhassein) several times by striking it with his hand. The winner is the player who obtains the maximum number of bounces, as this demonstrates his (or her) greater physical strength. *Sources: Pollux, Onomasticon, 9, 105; Hésychius, Lexicon,α 6590 Latte.
  • Artiasmos (ἀρτιασμός) or par / impar: played with knucklebones or nuts, the aim of the game is to guess whether the number of objects in one’s opponent’s hand is odd or even. *Sources: Aristophanes, Plutus, 815-822; Plato, Lysis, 206 E.
  • Askōliasmos (ἀσκωλιασμός): the “game of the goatskin” takes its name from the Greek askos, “goatskin.” Players had to jump on an oiled or greased goatskin filled with wine or air and keep their balance. *Sources: Pollux, Onomasticon, 2, 194; 9, 121; Souda, Lexicon, α 4177 Adler.
  • Ball (gr. σφαῖρα; lat. follis or pila): relatively little information is available on the size of balls or the material used to make them in the Greek world. Roman-period sources make it possible to distinguish two types of “balls”: the follis, a ball inflated with air, and the heavier pila, which could be filled with various materials, from horsehair to feathers. Several authors, most notably Antyllus and Galen, clearly distinguish between the types of movements and games according to the size of the follis and the pila (-> harpastum; pila paganica). *Sources: Isidore of Seville, Etymologies, 18, 69; Martial, Epigrams, 14, 45; Galen, On exercise with a small ball; Anthyllus, On Cures (or On Remedies) 4, ap. Oribasius, Medical collections, 6, 32.
  • Chalkē muia (χαλκὴ μυῖα), “bronze fly game”: in this group game, a blindfolded child in the centre of a circle of players is pushed by the others; the blindfolded child must attempt to capture them while they try to escape. During the game, the children sing a nursery rhyme, as part of which the blindfolded child says he or she wants to capture the “bronze fly”. *Sources: Herodas, Mimes, 12, 1; Pollux, Onomasticon, 9, 123; Hesychius, Lexicon, κ 1813 Latte.
  • Chalkizein, chalkismos (χαλκίζειν, χαλκισμός): the “game of the coin” consists of spinning a coin standing vertically on a flat table and then stopping it with one finger without dropping it before it finishes its final revolution. *Sources: Pollux, Onomasticon, 9, 118; Suetonius, On Greek Games, 16 Taillardat.
  • Chelichelōnē (χελιχελώνη) “game of the turtle”: according to Pollux, this group game is typically played by young, unmarried girls, parthenoi. The children surrounded a seated girl who assumed the role of the “turtle” and ran around while singing an antistrophic rhyme. The rhyme features an exchange of questions and answers, with the “turtle.” The game ends when the “turtle” runs towards one of her companions and captures them; the new captive then becomes the “turtle”. The game reflects the traditional place of women in Greek antiquity: spinners of wool, and reserved wives who would lament appropriately at their sons’ funerals. *Sources: Erinna, fr. 4 Neri; Pollux, Onomasticon, 9, 125.
  • Chios, throw of the: the throw of the Chios denotes the narrow, curved face of the knucklebone, also called the kuōn, “the dog”, and is the lowest possible roll: 1. *Sources: Pollux, Onomasticon, 9, 99-100.
  • Chytrinda (χυτρίνδα), “the game of the cooking pot”: a group of children is arranged in a circle, with one boy, called the “cooking pot” (chytra), standing in the centre. The “cooking pot” takes blows from those around him until he manages to touch one of them. The individual who was touched must then take his place in the middle of the circle. *Sources : Pollux, Onomasticon, 9, 113-114.
  • Dog, throw of the (gr. κύνες; lat. canes): the “dog” denotes the lowest number, i.e. one, which may be rolled on a knucklebone or a dice. A roll of one or more “dogs” was considered particularly unlucky. *Sources: Propertius, Elegies, 4, 8, 46; Ovid, Art of Love, 2, 206; Isidore of Seville, Etymologies, 18, 66.
  • Duodecim scripta (XII Scripta), “the game of twelve letters”: a backgammon-type game. Played in pairs on a board consisting of three rows of twelve; the rows are each equally divided into two groups of six. The two players attempt to traverse the length of ​​the board, moving the pawns forward by the number of places indicated on the two dice they roll. Pieces can be blocked by the presence of two or more of the opponent’s pieces on the same space or taken if an isolated piece on a space is joined by one of the opponent’s pieces. The later variant, Alea, is played with three dice (-> Alea). *Sources: Vettius Valens, Anthology, 6, 2; Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, 11, 2, 38.
  • Ephebe, throw of the (ἔφηβος): a knucklebones throw. The precise value of this throw is uncertain, but it is possible that the term “the throw of the ephebe” refers to a number which corresponds to the age of the ephebia (between 18 and 20 years) in the cities of the Greek world. *Sources: Palatine Anthology (Antipater of Sidon), 7, 427.
  • Ephedrismos (ἐφεδρισμός), “the game of carrying”: according to Pollux, this is a two-part skill game. The two players first throw pebbles at a stone placed a certain distance from them. The first to overturn the stone is the winner. The loser, called “the horse”, must then hold his hands behind his back to form a “hollow” in which he carries the winner. The winner covers the eyes of his “horse”, and guides his steed towards the overturned stone, called the “limit” (dioros), which he must touch with his foot. The game en kotulēi, “in the hollow”, comprises only this second part. *Sources: Pollux, Onomasticon, 9, 119 and 122; Hesychius, Lexicon, κ 1813 Latte., ε 7363.
  • Episkyros (ἐπίσκυρος), “game of the stone”, “ephebes’ ball” or “common ball”: a ball game played by two teams of young people. The pitch is divided in two by a line drawn with chalk, skyros. At the start of the game, the ball is placed on the central line. The objective is to throw the ball across the goal-line without being intercepted by the other team. *Sources: Pollux, Onomasticon, 9, 104; Hesychius, Lexicon, ε 5193.
  • Euripides, throw of (Εὐριπίδης): the throw of Euripides is probably a lucky throw corresponding to the number 40. The name of the throw is derived from a pun on the name of the famous tragic poet Euripides, and the paretymology which derives this name from ‘good’ (gr. Eu-) and ‘throw’ (gr. Rhiptein, ‘to throw’). *Sources: Diphilus Synoris, fr. 47 K.-A.; Pollux, Onomasticon, 9, 100-101; scholiasts to Plato, Lysis, 206E, ed. Cufalo.
  • Follis -> ball.
  • Four vultures, throw of (volturii quattuor): the four vultures is an unlucky knucklebones throw. It is unclear whether this move actually corresponded to the number four or whether the expression “four vultures” instead referred to a generically negative situation for the player. *Sources: Plautus, The Weevil, 357.
  • Harpastum (ἁρπαστόν): group ball game (from gr. harpazein “snatch”) played with a small, relatively hard leather ball. Players stand at a distance from each other and pass the ball between themselves, while preventing it from falling into the hands of an opponent in the middle of the playing field. *Sources: Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae, 1, 14-15; Galen, On exercise with a small ball; Pollux, Onomasticon, 9, 105.
  • Himanteligmos (ἱμαντελιγμός), “the game of the string”: a player ties two strings to form a complex knot into which another player must insert a peg. When the knot is undone, the player whose the peg fell inside the space outlined by the strings wins. *Sources: Pollux, Onomasticon, 9, 118; Suetonius, On Greek Games, 16 Taillardat.
  • King, throw of the (basilicus): the name of this throw is only attested in the Roman world and is most probably related to the game of knucklebones. It indicates a lucky throw, if not the luckiest, similar to the throw of Venus or Aphrodite. *Sources: Plautus, The Weevil, 359.
  • King, game of the (βασιλίνδα): a children’s game, in which one child, who is either elected or was winner of a previous game, takes the role of the king and orders the others, who play the role of his subjects, to perform tasks. *Sources: Pollux, Onomasticon, 9, 110; Suetonius, Nero, 35.
  • Knucklebones (gr. ἀστράγαλοι; lat. tali): this small bone is found only in the hind legs of quadrupeds. It is housed at the joint between the leg and the foot. Four sides of the knucklebone, two narrow and two wide, are considered relevant to the game: a) the narrow, curved (S-shaped) face was called the “dog” side or the Chios side; b) the narrow, flat face was called the Kos side or the side of the “six”; c) the broad, convex face was known as pranes or “back”; d) the broad and concave face was called hyption or “belly” (-> Chios, Kos).  *Sources: Aristotle, History of Animals, 2.1 (499b27-29); Pollux, Onomasticon, 9, 100-101.
  • Kōs, throw of: the throw of Kos corresponds to the the narrow and flat face of a knucklebone also called the hexitēs, “the six”. It denotes the highest number: 6. *Sources: Pollux, Onomasticon, 9, 99-100.
  • Kottabos (κότταβος): kottabos is an after-dinner game. Players must throw the last dregs of the wine from their cups at a small tray balanced precariously on a rod with the aim of making it fall. A variant of this game is to aim for small bowls floating inside a large container and try to make them sink. *Sources: Aristophanes, Peace, 342-343; Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae, 15, 665c-668f.
  • Kybeia (κυβεία): this term denotes games played using dice (kyboi). From the 5th century BC onwards, it can also refer to any game of chance. *Sources: Herodotus, Histories, 1, 94; Pollux, Onomasticon, 7, 206.
  • Ludus latrunculorum, “game of the little soldiers”: a strategy board game between two players who each have an equal number of pieces on a grid-shaped board. The objective is to seize the largest possible number of the opponent’s pieces by trapping them between two of one’s own pieces. The game seems to have permitted only vertical or horizontal movements (the Greek variant -> Polis). *Sources: Martial, Epigrams, 7, 72, 7-8; Anonymous, Laus Pisonis, 190-208; Seneca, Letters, 117, 30.
  • Mēlolonthē (μηλολόνθη), “chafer”: in this game, children trap an insect, probably a ‘rose chafer’ (Cetonia aurata), and tie a thin string to its legs in order to observe and control its flight. *Sources: Pollux, Onomasticon, 9, 124; Souda, Lexicon, μ 933 Adler.
  • Nuces castellatae, “castle of walnuts”: a group game for children, which consists of building a small pyramid of three walnuts. The aim of the game is to demolish the castle (castellum) by striking it with a fourth nut thrown from a distance. *Sources: Pseudo-Ovide, The Nut Tree, 73-76.
  • Ōmilla (ὤμιλλα), “circle” or “meeting”: group game for children where the players throw a nut, knucklebone or pebble into a circle drawn on the ground. The aim is to knock the opponents’ objects out of the circle. The player whose object remains inside the circle at the end is the winner. *Sources: Suetonius, On Greek Games, 1, 103 ed. Taillardat; Pollux, Onomasticon, 9, 102; Souda, Lexicon, ω 92.
  • Ostrakinda (ὀστρακίνδα), “game of the ostraka”: a team game in which players throw a potsherd (ostrakon), while shouting “day or night”, to denote the light or dark, pitch-covered side of the object. Each team is assigned one of the two sides in advance and performs the role of hunter or hunted according to the result of the throw. The colour of the visible face decides who plays the hunters. *Sources: Pollux, Onomasticon, 9, 111; Hesychius, Lexicon, ο 1459.
  • Ourania (οὐρανία), “game of the sky”, ouranos: one player throws the ball as high as possible into the air, and the opponent catch it before it can bounce on the floor. A variant involves throwing the ball against the wall of a building and counting how many times it bounces. The winner is the one who achieves the most bounces. *Sources: Homer, Odyssey, 8, 370; Pollux, Onomasticon, 9, 106.
  • Pebble (ψῆφος): Generic term, generally translated as ‘token’ or ‘pebble’, used in various activities, from voting to calculation, divination and gambling. The term has a more generalised meaning than pessos (-> pessos, pesseia), which is associated with play using a gameboard. *Sources: Pollux, Onomasticon, 9, 97; Plutarch, On the failure of oracles, 33 (427F).
  • Peg(s), game of (κυνδαλισμός): in this group game, each player takes turns to throw a peg and to plant it in the ground, while making the other players’ pegs fall in the process. *Sources: Pollux, Onomasticon, 9, 120; Hesychius, Lexicon, κ 4564 Latte.
  • Penelope, game of (Πηνελόπη): the hundred and eight suitors of Penelope, the queen of Ithaca, played this game during Odysseus’ absence. Each player places a pebble (-> psēphos) on two parallel lines, and then take turns to launch their piece at another pebble, representing Penelope, which is placed between these two lines. The aim is to touch and move the pebble representing the queen with the player’s own; to win, the player must try to move it a second time without touching any of the other pebbles. According to Apion, the player who won the most games was supposed to have the best chance of marrying Penelope. *Sources: Apion, 616 F 36 FGrHist (apud Athenaeus, 1, 17B); Eustathius, Commentary on Homer’s Odyssey, 1426, 11-32.
  • Pente grammai (πέντε γραμμαὶ), “game of five lines”: a game popular in the Greek world played on a board consisting of five lines. During the Roman era the board layout changed to consist of two rows of five boxes. In the game each player has five pieces which move depending on the outcome of the roll of one or two dice. The aim of the game is to be the first to align all of one’s pieces on the centre line or box. *Sources: Alcaeus, fr. 351 Voigt; Theocritus, Idylls, 6, 15-19; Pollux, Onomasticon, 9, 97-98; Eustathius, Commentary on Homer’s Odyssey, 1396, 61; 1397, 28.
  • Pentelitha (πεντέλιθα), “game of five stones” (gr. lithos): a game played with five knucklebones. The aim of the game is to throw the knucklebones so that they all land, balanced, on the back of the hand. According to Pollux, this is a game for unmarried girls. *Sources: Pollux, Onomasticon, 9, 126.
  • Pesseia (πεσσεία): generic term which encompasses all games played with pieces (pessoi) by placing them on a natural surface or a specifically-made gaming board. *Sources: Euripides, Iphigenia in Aulis, 192-205; Euripides, Medea, 67-77.
  • Pessos (πεσσός ; πεττός attic form): a gaming object translated as “piece” because it is closely associated with games played on a board (-> pente grammai, polis). Late antique grammarians linked this name to the Greek verb piptein, “to fall”, perhaps in reference to the roll of the dice which accompanied certain piece-based games. *Sources: Hesychius, Lexicon, π 2029 ed. Hansen; Orion, π p. 132 ed. Sturz.
  • Pheninda (φενίνδα or φαινίνδα): a group ball game, the distinguishing feature of which was to pretend to give the ball to one player while throwing it to another in order to prevent a player in the middle from catching or intercepting the ball. It is very likely that this game took its name from the Greek verb ‘to appear’, ‘to seem’, ‘to pretend’, phainein. This game is also known later as harpaston, or harpastum in Latin (-> harpastum). *Sources : Pollux, Onomasticon, 9, 105; Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae, 1, 26 (14f-15a).
  • Pila -> ball.
  • Pleistobolinda (πλειστοβολίνδα), “the game of the highest throw”: the game consists of throwing a variable number of knucklebones or dice and obtaining the highest total. The game can be played for money. *Sources: Pollux, Onomasticon, 9, 117.
  • Platagē (πλαταγή): the term designates an instrument which corresponds to the rattle, as well as other instruments of the same type such as the rattlesnake or the sistrum. The invention of this object is attributed to Archytas of Tarantum, a politician and philosopher of the 5th century BC, and the author of a lost treatise on percussion instruments. The sound produced by the object may have calmed young children and inculcated in them a sense of musical rhythm. *Sources: Aristote, Politics, 8, 6, 2 (1340b); Pollux, Onomasticon, 9, 127.
  • Polis (πόλις), “Game of the city”: a strategy game played in classical Athens in which two players compete on a square grid gaming board. Each player tries to capture as many of the opponent’s pieces as possible by surrounding them. (the Roman variant ->Ludus latrunculorum). *Sources: Cratinus, Drapetides, fr. 61 Kassel-Austin.
  • Pyrgus or turricula, “little tower”: a tower for rolling dice consisting of an opening at the top, an internal staircase which the dice could tumble down, and an opening at the base fitted with bells which would ring as the dice came out. Associated with the game Alea (-> Alea), this device helped to prevent cheating. *Sources: Martial, Epigrammes, 14, 16; Isidore of Seville, Etymologies, 18, 61.
  • Rhathapugizein (ῥαθαπυγίζειν), “kick up the arse”: the losers of the game are kicked in the backside by the winner. *Sources: Aristophanes, Knights, 795-796; Pollux, Onomasticon, 9, 126.
  • Stesichorus, throw of (Στησίχορος): this throw, with a value of eight, is associated with the Sicilian poet Stesichorus. The number eight was associated with the poet, because his tomb in Catania was built by repeating this number for each architectural element (columns, stairs etc.). The phrase “all eight” (pant’oktō) also had a proverbial sense of perfect, excellent. *Sources: Pollux, Onomasticon, 9, 100-101; Photius, Lexicon, π 108 ed. Theodoridis.
  • Tabula (τάβλη), “gaming board”: perhaps the name of a two-player backgammon-type game, played on a board of twenty-four squares with three dice; each player had fifteen pieces. *Sources: Agathias, Palatine Anthology, 9, 482.
  • Tropa (τρόπα) “game of throwing”: a game of skill which involved throwing nuts or stones into a vase or a circle drawn on the ground from a certain distance. *Sources: Cratinos, fr. 180 Kassel-Austin; Pollux, Onomasticon, 9, 103.
  • Venus, throw of: the luckiest combination of throwing four bones where each of them falls on a different side, corresponding to the values ​​1-3-4-6. *Sources: Plautus, Asinaria, 905-906; Pseudo-Lucian, Amores; Suetonius, Augustus, 71; Martial, Epigrams, 14, 14.
  • Zatrikion (ζατρίκιον): a board game of Eastern, probably Indian, origin, which represents one of the first forms of chess. It consists of figurative pieces, prosōpa, which move on a gridded board in order to reach the far side of the board and conquer the opponent’s pieces. The name seems to be a phonological adaptation of the Persian chatrang. On the basis of written testimony from the Middle Byzantine period, the introduction of this game to the Byzantine Empire dates to the 7th-8th centuries AD. *Sources: Achmet, Oneirocriticon, 239; Anna Komnene, Alexiad, 12, 6, 1.