Polis (board game): Difference between revisions
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{{Short description|Ancient Greek strategy game}} |
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'''Polis''' (Greek: πόλις) is one of the earliest know [[strategy games]]. It resembles [[checkers]]. Its name appears in the [[Ancient Greek]] literature around 450 BCE.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Depaulis |first=Thierry |date=2021-04-13 |title=A Timeline of Mind Games, with Some Correlations |url=https://sorbonne-paris-nord.hal.science/hal-03737319 |journal=BOARD GAME STUDIES COLLOQUIUM- The Evolutions of Board Games, Apr 2021, Paris, France. |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Depaulis |first=Thierry |date=2020-10-01 |title=Board Games Before Ur? |url=https://www.sciendo.com/article/10.2478/bgs-2020-0007 |journal=Board Game Studies Journal |language=en |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=127–144 |doi=10.2478/bgs-2020-0007 |issn=2183-3311}}</ref> |
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'''Polis''' ({{langx|grc|πόλις|lit=city-state|label=[[Ancient Greek|Greek]]}}) was an [[ancient Greece|ancient Greek]] board game. One of the earliest known [[strategy game]]s, polis was a [[wargame]] resembling [[checkers]]. Its name appears in the [[Ancient Greek]] literature from around 450 BC to the 2nd century BC, and it seems to have been widely known in the region, particularly in [[Athens]]. The original rules of the game have been only partially preserved. |
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== History == |
== History == |
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[[File:Exekias,_anfora_con_achille_e_aiace_che_giocano_a_dai,_castore_e_polluce,_da_vulci,_540-30_ac_ca._03.JPG|thumb|Achilles and Ajax playing a game, sometimes identified as polis (at other times, as [[Five Lines|five lines]]); a common |
[[File:Exekias,_anfora_con_achille_e_aiace_che_giocano_a_dai,_castore_e_polluce,_da_vulci,_540-30_ac_ca._03.JPG|thumb|Achilles and Ajax playing a game, sometimes identified as polis (at other times, as [[Five Lines|five lines]]); a common subject in Ancient Greek painted pottery]] |
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Like with many ancient games, not much is known about |
Like with many ancient games, not much is known about polis, including where, when, and by whom it was invented.<ref name=":0" /> The earliest known reference to polis comes from [[Cratinus|Cratinos]], an Athenian comedic poet, in his comedy ''[[Drapetides]]'' ("Female Runaways"), from 443/442 BC.<ref name=":3">{{Cite conference |last=Depaulis |first=Thierry |date=2021-04-13 |title=A Timeline of Mind Games, with Some Correlations |url=https://sorbonne-paris-nord.hal.science/hal-03737319 |conference=Board Game Studies Colloquium – The Evolutions of Board Games, Apr 2021, Paris, France. |language=en |quote=The two earliest attested games of 'strategy', Greek polis and Chinese weiqi (go) appear between 450 BC and 300 BC. |journal=}}</ref><ref name=":6" /> The game was praised by [[Plato]] and [[Polybius]], and possibly [[Philostratus]], "as a game of strategy requiring great tactical skill". It was also likely referred to by [[Aristotle]] and [[Socrates]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Kurke |first=Leslie |date=July 1999 |title=Ancient Greek Board Games and How to Play Them |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/449440 |journal=Classical Philology |language=en |volume=94 |issue=3 |pages=247–267 |doi=10.1086/449440 |issn=0009-837X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=O'Sullivan |first=Daniel E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LEbxD0Ygz-EC&dq=ancient+greek+game+polis&pg=PA66 |title=Chess in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Age: A Fundamental Thought Paradigm of the Premodern World |date=2012-07-30 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-028881-0 |pages=66 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last=Bakewell |first=Geoff |date=2022-04-01 |title=Plato Plays Polis |journal=Board Game Studies Journal |language=en |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=413–430 |doi=10.2478/bgs-2022-0014|doi-access=free }}</ref> References to it are found in numerous other texts, suggesting that by mid-5th century BC it was a game well known to [[Ancient Greece|Ancient Greeks]] and played until at least 2nd century BC.<ref name=":6" /> |
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In Ancient Greek mythology and |
In Ancient Greek mythology and [[Ancient Greek pottery|painted pottery]], [[Achilles]] and [[Ajax the Great|Ajax]] are sometimes shown as playing a game (whose invention has been credited to [[Palamedes (mythology)|Palamedes]]).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mariscal |first=Lucía Romero |date=2011 |title=Ajax and Achilles Playing a Board Game: Revisited from the Literary Tradition |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41301544 |journal=The Classical Quarterly |volume=61 |issue=2 |pages=394–401 |doi=10.1017/S0009838811000243 |jstor=41301544 |issn=0009-8388}}</ref> No literary source is known to provide context for the illustrations on the painted pottery, however. This has led to the game being sometimes identified as polis,<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Gagarin |first=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lNV6-HsUppsC&dq=ancient+greek+game+polis&pg=RA6-PA90 |title=The Oxford encyclopedia of ancient Greece and Rome. - Vol. 1 - 7 |date=2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-517072-6 |pages=90 |language=en}}</ref> also at other times, as [[Five Lines|five lines]] (a dice game).<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Schädler |first=Ulrich |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781444338386 |title=The Encyclopedia of Ancient History |date=2013-01-30 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1-4051-7935-5 |editor-last=Bagnall |editor-first=Roger S. |edition=1 |language=en |chapter=Games, Greek and Roman |doi=10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah22285 |editor-last2=Brodersen |editor-first2=Kai |editor-last3=Champion |editor-first3=Craige B. |editor-last4=Erskine |editor-first4=Andrew |editor-last5=Huebner |editor-first5=Sabine R. |editor-link5=Sabine R. Huebner }}</ref> |
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== Rules == |
== Rules == |
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The rules of the game are not |
The rules of the game are not completely known.<ref name=":5" /> Many aspects of the game are unknown, such as the shape of the board, its initial setup, or how the pieces moved.<ref name=":6" /> The game can be seen as resembling [[checkers]] but with a different mode of capture (pieces were captured by enclosure from two sides).<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4" /> |
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Some rules of the game were described by [[Julius Pollux]] in his ''[[Onomasticon (Pollux)|Onomasticon]]''. The board, like the game, was called polis, and featured a grid (although it is also possible that each space on the board was called a polis as well). The pieces, which came in two colors and probably numbered thirty (per player, so sixty total - this claim however has been disputed<ref name=":6" />), were called "dogs". Sources are contradictory on whether there were differences between pieces (some assume there were none; others are more cautious and state this was likely the case but that primary sources are unclear on this).<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":6" /> It was a symmetrical game of elimination for two players, each playing with pieces of their color. It probably had no random elements, and the pieces moved in all directions on a square board.<ref name=":3" /> It is unclear whether the game involved dice rolling (such a claim was made by [[Eustathius of Thessalonica]] but it could have been a mistake).<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6">{{Cite journal |last=Nelson |first=Max |date=September 2020 |title=Battling on Boards: The Ancient Greek War Games of Ship-Battle ( Naumachia ) and City-State ( Polis ) |url=https://utpjournals.press/doi/10.3138/mous.17.1.02 |journal=Mouseion |language=en |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=3–42 |doi=10.3138/mous.17.1.02 |issn=1496-9343}}</ref> |
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The game may be similar to Ancient Roman game of [[ludus latrunculorum]].<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":4" /> |
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The strategy involved maintaining formation and avoiding having one's pieces isolated.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":6" /> |
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The game may be similar to the Ancient Roman game of ''[[ludus latrunculorum]]'' and might have served as its inspiration; it has also been suggested that polis might have been one of the influences on [[chess]].<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":6" /> There might have also been connections to the traditional Egyptian game [[Seega (game)|seega]].<ref name=":6" /> |
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A plausible but speculative reconstruction of the game rules were suggested by Max Nelson in 2020.<ref name=":6" /> |
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== Significance == |
== Significance == |
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Polis was seen as having educational value in learning how to learn and follow a set of rules.<ref name=":0" /> [[Leslie Kurke]] argued that the game had a cultural significance "playing the board game polis might help form a Greek boy as a citizen of the city".<ref name=":0" /> Learning to play polis is mentioned as part of a philosophical education in works of Ancient Greek philosophers.<ref name=":5" /> |
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[[Thierry Depaulis]] recognized the game as one of the oldest known strategy games (alongside Chinese game of [[Go (game)|go]], which is mentioned by Chinese sources that |
[[Thierry Depaulis]] recognized the game as one of the oldest known strategy games (alongside the Chinese game of [[Go (game)|go]], which is mentioned by Chinese sources that date to a similar era as the oldest mentions of polis and which unlike polis remains popular to this day). Depaulis argued that invention of such games was one of the signs of the [[Axial Age]] (emergence of more complex thinking patterns, such as philosophy), as people moved from playing pure games of chance (such as [[dice games]] and [[Race game|race games]]) to strategy games.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Depaulis |first=Thierry |date=2020-10-01 |title=Board Games Before Ur? |url=https://www.academia.edu/48170926 |journal=Board Game Studies Journal |language=en |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=127–144 |doi=10.2478/bgs-2020-0007 |issn=2183-3311|doi-access=free }}</ref> |
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The game has also been called one of the earliest [[Wargame|wargames]]. Max Nelson notes that "it the first known game of its kind (a war game on a grid-board)". He nonetheless suggested that thematically the game was less of a depiction of military conflict (wars between Greek city-states) and more of a celebration of the founding of the city state of [[Athens]], with which he believes it was mainly associated.<ref name=":6" /> |
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A game board for polis was found in [[Rhamnous]].<ref name=":2" /> |
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According to an illustration in an article by Depaulis, a game board for polis was found in [[Rhamnous]];<ref name=":2" /> however an article by Max Nelson from the same year (2020) states that no game board associated with this game has been found as of this date.<ref name=":6" /> |
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== References == |
== References == |
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{{Reflist}} |
{{Reflist}} |
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{{commonscat|Achilles and Ajax playing}} |
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[[Category:Abstract strategy games]] |
[[Category:Abstract strategy games]] |
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Latest revision as of 03:10, 3 November 2024
Polis (Greek: πόλις, lit. 'city-state') was an ancient Greek board game. One of the earliest known strategy games, polis was a wargame resembling checkers. Its name appears in the Ancient Greek literature from around 450 BC to the 2nd century BC, and it seems to have been widely known in the region, particularly in Athens. The original rules of the game have been only partially preserved.
History
[edit]
Like with many ancient games, not much is known about polis, including where, when, and by whom it was invented.[1] The earliest known reference to polis comes from Cratinos, an Athenian comedic poet, in his comedy Drapetides ("Female Runaways"), from 443/442 BC.[2][3] The game was praised by Plato and Polybius, and possibly Philostratus, "as a game of strategy requiring great tactical skill". It was also likely referred to by Aristotle and Socrates.[1][4][5] References to it are found in numerous other texts, suggesting that by mid-5th century BC it was a game well known to Ancient Greeks and played until at least 2nd century BC.[3]
In Ancient Greek mythology and painted pottery, Achilles and Ajax are sometimes shown as playing a game (whose invention has been credited to Palamedes).[6] No literary source is known to provide context for the illustrations on the painted pottery, however. This has led to the game being sometimes identified as polis,[7] also at other times, as five lines (a dice game).[3][8]
Rules
[edit]The rules of the game are not completely known.[5] Many aspects of the game are unknown, such as the shape of the board, its initial setup, or how the pieces moved.[3] The game can be seen as resembling checkers but with a different mode of capture (pieces were captured by enclosure from two sides).[2][1][8]
Some rules of the game were described by Julius Pollux in his Onomasticon. The board, like the game, was called polis, and featured a grid (although it is also possible that each space on the board was called a polis as well). The pieces, which came in two colors and probably numbered thirty (per player, so sixty total - this claim however has been disputed[3]), were called "dogs". Sources are contradictory on whether there were differences between pieces (some assume there were none; others are more cautious and state this was likely the case but that primary sources are unclear on this).[2][1][3] It was a symmetrical game of elimination for two players, each playing with pieces of their color. It probably had no random elements, and the pieces moved in all directions on a square board.[2] It is unclear whether the game involved dice rolling (such a claim was made by Eustathius of Thessalonica but it could have been a mistake).[5][3]
The strategy involved maintaining formation and avoiding having one's pieces isolated.[1][3]
The game may be similar to the Ancient Roman game of ludus latrunculorum and might have served as its inspiration; it has also been suggested that polis might have been one of the influences on chess.[7][8][3] There might have also been connections to the traditional Egyptian game seega.[3]
A plausible but speculative reconstruction of the game rules were suggested by Max Nelson in 2020.[3]
Significance
[edit]Polis was seen as having educational value in learning how to learn and follow a set of rules.[1] Leslie Kurke argued that the game had a cultural significance "playing the board game polis might help form a Greek boy as a citizen of the city".[1] Learning to play polis is mentioned as part of a philosophical education in works of Ancient Greek philosophers.[5]
Thierry Depaulis recognized the game as one of the oldest known strategy games (alongside the Chinese game of go, which is mentioned by Chinese sources that date to a similar era as the oldest mentions of polis and which unlike polis remains popular to this day). Depaulis argued that invention of such games was one of the signs of the Axial Age (emergence of more complex thinking patterns, such as philosophy), as people moved from playing pure games of chance (such as dice games and race games) to strategy games.[2][9]
The game has also been called one of the earliest wargames. Max Nelson notes that "it the first known game of its kind (a war game on a grid-board)". He nonetheless suggested that thematically the game was less of a depiction of military conflict (wars between Greek city-states) and more of a celebration of the founding of the city state of Athens, with which he believes it was mainly associated.[3]
According to an illustration in an article by Depaulis, a game board for polis was found in Rhamnous;[9] however an article by Max Nelson from the same year (2020) states that no game board associated with this game has been found as of this date.[3]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g Kurke, Leslie (July 1999). "Ancient Greek Board Games and How to Play Them". Classical Philology. 94 (3): 247–267. doi:10.1086/449440. ISSN 0009-837X.
- ^ a b c d e Depaulis, Thierry (2021-04-13). A Timeline of Mind Games, with Some Correlations. Board Game Studies Colloquium – The Evolutions of Board Games, Apr 2021, Paris, France.
The two earliest attested games of 'strategy', Greek polis and Chinese weiqi (go) appear between 450 BC and 300 BC.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Nelson, Max (September 2020). "Battling on Boards: The Ancient Greek War Games of Ship-Battle ( Naumachia ) and City-State ( Polis )". Mouseion. 17 (1): 3–42. doi:10.3138/mous.17.1.02. ISSN 1496-9343.
- ^ O'Sullivan, Daniel E. (2012-07-30). Chess in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Age: A Fundamental Thought Paradigm of the Premodern World. Walter de Gruyter. p. 66. ISBN 978-3-11-028881-0.
- ^ a b c d Bakewell, Geoff (2022-04-01). "Plato Plays Polis". Board Game Studies Journal. 16 (1): 413–430. doi:10.2478/bgs-2022-0014.
- ^ Mariscal, Lucía Romero (2011). "Ajax and Achilles Playing a Board Game: Revisited from the Literary Tradition". The Classical Quarterly. 61 (2): 394–401. doi:10.1017/S0009838811000243. ISSN 0009-8388. JSTOR 41301544.
- ^ a b Gagarin, Michael (2010). The Oxford encyclopedia of ancient Greece and Rome. - Vol. 1 - 7. Oxford University Press. p. 90. ISBN 978-0-19-517072-6.
- ^ a b c Schädler, Ulrich (2013-01-30). "Games, Greek and Roman". In Bagnall, Roger S.; Brodersen, Kai; Champion, Craige B.; Erskine, Andrew; Huebner, Sabine R. (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Ancient History (1 ed.). Wiley. doi:10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah22285. ISBN 978-1-4051-7935-5.
- ^ a b Depaulis, Thierry (2020-10-01). "Board Games Before Ur?". Board Game Studies Journal. 14 (1): 127–144. doi:10.2478/bgs-2020-0007. ISSN 2183-3311.
