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Evidence for Polis
31 pieces of evidence found.
Id DLP.Evidence.1384
Type Contemporary text
Location 37°58'43.34"N, 23°43'28.45"E
Date 0519-01-01BCE - 0422-12-31BCE
Rules Game named City, pieces named dogs.
Content "οθεν και Κρατινω πεπαικται, Πανδιονιδα πολεως βασιλεως, της επιβωλακος, οισθ' ην λεγομεν, και κυνα πολιν, ην παιζουσιν."
Son of Pandion King of the fertile city, you know the one that we mean, and the dog and the city, that they play.
Cratinus, Fragment 61 K.-A. (in Julius Pollux, Onomastikon, 9.99).
Confidence 100
Ages Adult
Social status Elite
Genders Male
Source Cratinus. Fragment 61 KA.
Id DLP.Evidence.1385
Type Contemporary text
Location 37°58'43.34"N, 23°43'28.45"E
Date 0100-01-01 - 0199-12-31
Rules Board with spaces.
The board is indicate by the greek term πλινθιον (plithion), which derives by πλίνθος (plinths), that was used to indicate building bricks or rectangular/squared battle formations.
The use of this terms indicate that the board or the cases were in quadrangular shape.
Two players. Pieces are captured by surrounding them on either side.
Content "η δε δια πολλων παιδια πλινθιον εστι, χωρας εν γραμμαισ εχον διακειμενας. και το μεν πλινθιον καλειται πολις των δε εκαστη κυων. διηρημενων δε εις δυο των ψηφων κατα τας χροας, η τεχνη παιδιας εστι περιληψει των δυο ψηφων ομοχποων την ετεροχροθν αναιρειν." Tanslation from Kurke 1999: "The game played through many pieces is a board that has spaces disposed between lines; and the board is called "polis" and each of the pieces a "dog." The pieces are divided in two by color and the art of the game is to capture the other-colored piece by surrounding it with two of the same color" (256).
Julius Pollux, Onomasticon, 9.98-99
Confidence 100
Ages Adult
Social status Elite
Genders Male
Source Pollux. Onomasticon.
Id DLP.Evidence.2203
Type Artifact
Location 40°45'16.81"N, 22°31'15.78"E
Date 0323-06-11BCE - 0146-12-31BCE
Content board game in light blue faience, grid of 11x11 squares
Confidence 100
Ages Adult
Source Ignatiadou, D, 2019. 'Luxury board games for the northern greek elite'. Archimède, Games and play in antiquity 6: 144-159.
Id DLP.Evidence.2204
Type Artifact
Location 37°45'0"N, 26°50'0"E
Date 0323-06-11BCE - 0146-12-31BCE
Content board engraved in the proximity of the temple of Hera at Samos. Grid of 11x12 cases
Confidence 100
Ages Adult
Spaces Outside
Source Schädler, U. 2013. Les jeux de pions. Archéothéma 31: 64-65
Id DLP.Evidence.2205
Type Historical rule description
Location 41°00'55"N, 28°59'05"E
Date 525-01-01BCE - 1194-12-31
Rules Eustathios, who wrote more or less a millennium after the game was played, relied on ancient sources and clearly misinterpreted their mention of the word 'dog'. It lead him to make confusion between the game of Polis and the game of astragals, in which the 'dog' corresponded to the lowest score.
In his commentaries he refers different times to an ancient text about greek board games, which he used as main sources on the topic and that he should have received as anonymous. We know that most probably it was the Suetonius' treaty on greek board games. From a close analysis of the information transmitted it seems quite clear that Suetonius and Julius Pollux, who lived both in the II century AD, didn't copied each others but probably made reference to older texts. Whether they had a direct knowledge of the game, is still academically debated.
Interestingly, some aspects of the rules of the Polis recurs identical in both the authors and so their texts could be considered as trustworthy, like the names given to the counters, to the game and the game mechanics in complex.
The later misunderstanding of Eustathios of the Polis boardgame could be caused by a hasty reading of Suetonius text by him, by some errors in the manuscript he had (interpolation in ancient texts by byzantine copyists were quite common), or by the fact that he couldn't refer this passage to some tangible evidence and moving in a speculative area he felt suitable to connect different board games by their similarity in terminology.
Content Eustathios, commentary on Iliad, 1290, 1-3 (comment on verse XXII, 88)
δηλοῖ δὲ ὁ ῥηθεὶς κύων βόλος ἁνταναίρεσίν τινα ψήφου· ἐν χώραις γάρ τισι διαγεγραμμέναις πεττευτικῶς, πολλῶν κειμένων ψήφων, ἅς ἐχρῆν ἀνταναιρεῖν, αἱ μὲν χῶραι πόλεις ἐλέγοντο νόμῳ κυβευτικῷ, κύνες δὲ αἱ ἀλλήλαις ἀντεπιβουλεύουσαι ψῆφοι.
"and the said throw dog signifies the [ant-]elimination of some piece, and while many pieces lying in some fields drawn by lines in the petteia way, which [pieces] one should [ant-]eliminate, the fields are called cities according to the dice rule, and the pieces that are planning against one another [are called] dogs."
Confidence 100
Ages Adult
Id DLP.Evidence.2206
Type Historical rule description
Location 41°00'55"N, 28°59'05"E
Date 1140-01-01 - 1194-12-31
Rules As in the Commentary on Iliad, Eustathios overlap the game of astragals to the game of Polis.
Some contemporary scholars suggested different solution to this Eustathios' misinterpretation. Stephen Kidd (How to gamble in Greek: the meaning of Kubeia, JHS 137, 2017) suggests that all the games in which was possibile to gamble were called 'kubeia', literally 'dice'.
Ulrich Schädler on the other side consider the Eustathios comments merely as misunderstandings (The Talmud, Firdausi, and the Greek game 'City', in Step by Step. Proceedings of the 4th Colloquium Board Games in Academia, 2002).
Content Eustathios of Thessalonica, Commentary on Odyssey, 1397, 39-46: Ἔτι λέγει ἐκεῖνος ὁ τὰ περὶ τῆς καθ’ Ἕλληνας παιδιᾶς γράψας καὶ ὅτι τῶν κατὰ τοὺς ἀστραγάλους βόλων ὁ μὲν τὰ ἓξ δυνάμενος Κῷος | καὶ ἑξίτης ἐλέγετο, ὁ δὲ τὰ ἓν Χῖος, ἔτι δὲ καὶ κύων, ὅθεν καί τις παροιμία Χῖος παραστὰς Κῷον οὐκ ἐάσω, ἧς μέμνηται, φησί, Στράττις ἐν τῷ Χῖος παραστὰς Κῷον οὐκ ἐᾷ λέγειν. Ἔνθα ἐνθυμητέον καὶ τὸ τοῦ Κωμικοῦ πέπτωκεν ἔξω τῶν κακῶν, οὐ Χῖος ἀλλὰ Κεῖος καὶ νοητέον ὡς ἢ ἔσφαλται ἡ γραφὴ τοῦ Κεῖος ἢ ἀλλὰ παρῴδηται ὑπὸ τοῦ Κωμικοῦ. Περὶ δὲ τοῦ εἰρημένου κυνὸς κἀκεῖνο λέγει αὐτός, γραφὲν καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ, ὅτι εἶδός τι κυβείας καὶ πόλις, ἐν ᾗ ψήφων πολλῶν ἐν διαγεγραμμέναις τισὶ χώραις κειμένων ἐγίνετο ἀνταναίρεσις, καὶ ἐκαλοῦντο αἱ μὲν γραμμικαὶ χῶραι πόλεις | ἀστειότερον, αἱ δὲ ἀντεπιβουλεύουσαι ἀλλήλαις ψῆφοι κύνες διὰ τὸ δῆθεν ἀναιδές.
" Regarding the aforementioned “dog” the same writerF also says, as written elsewhere,G that there was a form of dice game called the City, in which several game pieces were located in certain delineated spaces and an alternating removal took place, and the outlined spaces were wittily called | “cities”, whereas the game pieces acting on each other were 45 called “dogs”, no doubt because of their shamelessness." (trad. E. Cullhed, 2016)
Confidence 100
Ages Adult
Social status All
Id DLP.Evidence.2207
Type Historical text
Location 37°58'00"N,23°43'00"E
Date 525-01-01BCE - 1194-12-31
Content Aristotle, Politics, 1253a: ἐκ τούτων οὖν φανερὸν ὅτι τῶν φύσει ἡ πόλις ἐστί, καὶ ὅτι ὁ ἄνθρωπος φύσει πολιτικὸν ζῷον, καὶ ὁ ἄπολις διὰ φύσιν καὶ οὐ διὰ ΤΥΧΗΝ ἤτοι φαῦλός ἐστιν, ἢ κρείττων ἢ ἄνθρωπος· ὥσπερ καὶ ὁ ὑφ᾿ Ὁµήρου λοιδορηθεὶς “ἀφρήτωρ, ἀθέµιστος, ἀνέστιος”· ἅµα γὰρ φύσει τοιοῦτος καὶ πολέµου ἐπιθυµητής ἅτε περ ἄζυξ ὢν ὥσπερ ἐν πεττοῖς. "From these things therefore it is clear that the city-state is a natural growth, and that man is by nature a political animal, and a man that is by nature and not merely by fortune citiless is either low in the scale of humanity or above it （like the “ clanless, lawless, hearthless
” man reviled by Homer (Hom. Il. 9.63), for one by nature unsocial is also ‘a lover of war’） inasmuch as he is solitary, like an isolated piece at the game of the counters." (trad. H. Rackham, 1944. Emendate M. Tibaldini)
Confidence 100
Ages Adult
Social status All
Id DLP.Evidence.2208
Type Historical text
Location 41°53'00"N,12°30'00"E
Date 0206-01-01BCE - 0118-12-31BCE
Rules This text describes the military supremacy of the Carthaginian general Hamilcar above the mercenary rebels as the one of a good player. Considering the parallelism established by Polybius between game and warfare, and considering also that he refers at the practice of surround isolated enemies, it seems quite clear that the authors is referring to the Polis board game.
Content Polybius, Histories, I, 84, 6-8:
τότε γὰρ ἦν, ὡς ἔοικε, συνιδεῖν ἐπ᾽ αὐτῆς τῆς ἀληθείας πηλίκην ἔχει διαφορὰν ἐμπειρία μεθοδικὴ καὶ στρατηγικὴ δύναμις ἀπειρίας καὶ τριβῆς ἀλόγου καὶ στρατιωτικῆς. πολλοὺς μὲν γὰρ αὐτῶν ἐν ταῖς κατὰ μέρος χρείαις ἀποτεμνόμενος καὶ συγκλείων ὥσπερ ἀγαθὸς πεττευτὴς ἀμαχεὶ διέφθειρε, πολλοὺς δ᾽ ἐν τοῖς ὁλοσχερέσι κινδύνοις τοὺς μὲν εἰς ἐνέδρας ἀνυπονοήτους ἐπαγόμενος ἀνῄρει, τοῖς δ᾽ ἀνελπίστως καὶ παραδόξως ποτὲ μὲν μεθ᾽ ἡμέραν ποτὲ δὲ νύκτωρ ἐπιφαινόμενος ἐξέπληττεν: ὧν ὅσους λάβοι ζωγρίᾳ, πάντας παρέβαλλε τοῖς θηρίοις.
It was, in fact, a real and practical illustration of the difference between scientific and unscientific warfare: between the art of a general and the mechanical movements of a soldier. Like a good draught-player, by isolating and surrounding them, he destroyed large numbers in detail without coming to a general engagement at all; and in movements of more importance he cut off many without resistance by enticing them into ambushes; while he threw others into utter dismay by suddenly appearing where they least expected him, sometimes by day and sometimes by night: and all whom he took alive he threw to the elephants. (trad. Evelyn S. Shuckburgh, 1889).
Confidence 100
Ages Adult
Social status All
Id DLP.Evidence.2209
Type Historical text
Location 37°59'03"N,23°43'41"E
Date 0485-01-01BCE - 0406-12-31BCE
Rules This passage of Euripides don't mention expressly the Polis game, but the word 'polis', with reference to its political and administrative meaning, recurs before and after this passage. It seems that in this case Euripides was playing on the double meaning of the word 'polis', which could indicate both the game and the political institution.
Content Euripides, Suppliants, 409-410:
Κῆρυξ: τίς γῆς τύραννος; πρὸς τίν᾽ ἀγγεῖλαί με χρὴ λόγους Κρέοντος, ὃς κρατεῖ Κάδμου χθονὸς Ἐτεοκλέους θανόντος ἀμφ᾽ ἑπταστόμους
πύλας ἀδελφῇ χειρὶ Πολυνείκους ὕπο;
Θησεύς: πρῶτον μὲν ἤρξω τοῦ λόγου ψευδῶς, ξένε, ζητῶν τύραννον ἐνθάδ᾽: οὐ γὰρ ἄρχεται ἑνὸς πρὸς ἀνδρός, ἀλλ᾽ ἐλευθέρα πόλις. δῆμος δ᾽ ἀνάσσει διαδοχαῖσιν ἐν μέρει ἐνιαυσίαισιν, οὐχὶ τῷ πλούτῳ διδοὺς τὸ πλεῖστον, ἀλλὰ χὡ πένης ἔχων ἴσον.
Κῆρυξ: ἓν μὲν τόδ᾽ ἡμῖν ὥσπερ ἐν πεσσοῖς δίδως κρεῖσσον: πόλις γὰρ ἧς ἐγὼ πάρειμ᾽ ἄπο ἑνὸς πρὸς ἀνδρός, οὐκ ὄχλῳ κρατύνεται […]
Theban Herald:
Who is the despot of this land? To whom must I announce [400] the message of Creon who rules over the land of Cadmus, since Eteocles was slain by the hand of his brother Polyneices, at the sevenfold gates of Thebes?
Theseus:
You have made a false beginning to your speech, stranger, in seeking a despot here. For this city is not ruled [405] by one man, but is free. The people rule in succession year by year, allowing no preference to wealth, but the poor man shares equally with the rich.
Theban Herald:
You give me here an advantage, as in a game of of the counters; [...]
(Transl. E. P. Coleridge, 1938. Emendate, M. Tibaldini)
Confidence 100
Social status All
Id DLP.Evidence.2210
Type Historical text
Location 41°53' 00"N, 12° 30' 00"E
Date 0170-01-01 - 0250-12-31
Rules In this passage of the Heroicus, Philostratus don't mention directly the game of the Polis, but considering its strategical implications, it may be possible that this passage was referring to it.
Content Lucius Flavius Philostratus, Heroicus (Ἡρωικός) 33.3-4:
ὄντων δὲ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν ἐν Αὐλίδι πεττοὺς εὗρεν οὐ ῥᾴθυμον παιδιάν, ἀλλ᾽ ἀγχίνουν τε καὶ ἔσω σπουδῆς.
"When the Achaeans were in Aulis he (Palamedes) invented the game of the counters, which is not a frivolous one, but complex and intellectually demanding".
Confidence 100
Ages Adult
Social status All
Id DLP.Evidence.2211
Type Historical text
Location 37°59'03"N,23°43'41"E
Date 0428-01-01BCE - 0347-12-31BCE
Rules In this passage Plato refers to a board game intellectually demanding, mainly played in silence. He don't specify the name of the board game, but the Polis would fit quite well this description.
Content Plato, Gorgias, 450c-d:
Σωκράτης
πασῶν δὴ οἶμαι τῶν τεχνῶν τῶν μὲν ἐργασία τὸ πολύ ἐστιν καὶ λόγου βραχέος δέονται, ἔνιαι δὲ οὐδενὸς ἀλλὰ τὸ τῆς τέχνης περαίνοιτο ἂν καὶ διὰ σιγῆς, οἷον γραφικὴ καὶ ἀνδριαντοποιία καὶ ἄλλαι πολλαί. τὰς τοιαύτας μοι δοκεῖς λέγειν, περὶ ἃς οὐ φῂς τὴν ῥητορικὴν εἶναι: ἢ οὔ;
Γοργίας
πάνυ μὲν οὖν καλῶς ὑπολαμβάνεις, ὦ Σώκρατες.
Σωκράτης
ἕτεραι δέ γέ εἰσι τῶν τεχνῶν αἳ διὰ λόγου πᾶν περαίνουσι, καὶ ἔργου ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν ἢ οὐδενὸς προσδέονται ἢ βραχέος πάνυ, οἷον ἡ ἀριθμητικὴ καὶ λογιστικὴ καὶ γεωμετρικὴ καὶ πεττευτική γε καὶ ἄλλαι πολλαὶ τέχναι,
"Socrates: Then amongst the various arts some, I take it, consist mainly of work, and so require but brief speech; while others require none, for the art's object may be achieved actually in silence, as with painting, sculpture, and many other arts. It is to such as these that I understand you to refer when you say rhetoric has no concern with them; is not that so?
Gorgias: Your supposition is quite correct, Socrates.
Socrates: But there is another class of arts which achieve their whole purpose through speech and—to put it roughly—require either no action to aid them, or very little; for example, numeration, calculation, geometry, draught-playing, and many other arts [...]"
(trans. W.R.M. Lamb, 1967)
Confidence 100
Ages Adult
Social status All
Id DLP.Evidence.2212
Type Historical text
Location 37°59'03"N,23°43'41"E
Date 0428-01-01BCE - 0347-12-31BCE
Rules Plato don't mention the board game of the Polis, but makes reference to an unnamed game of counters whose strategical implications definitively recall it.
Content Plato, Republic, VI, 487c-d:
ὦ Σώκρατες, ἔφη, πρὸς μὲν ταῦτά σοι οὐδεὶς ἂν οἷός τ᾽ εἴη ἀντειπεῖν. ἀλλὰ γὰρ τοιόνδε τι πάσχουσιν οἱ ἀκούοντες ἑκάστοτε ἃ νῦν λέγεις: ἡγοῦνται δι᾽ ἀπειρίαν τοῦ ἐρωτᾶν καὶ ἀποκρίνεσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου παρ᾽ ἕκαστον τὸ ἐρώτημα σμικρὸν παραγόμενοι, ἁθροισθέντων τῶν σμικρῶν ἐπὶ τελευτῆς τῶν λόγων μέγα τὸ σφάλμα καὶ ἐναντίον τοῖς πρώτοις ἀναφαίνεσθαι, καὶ ὥσπερ ὑπὸ τῶν πεττεύειν δεινῶν οἱ μὴ τελευτῶντες ἀποκλείονται καὶ οὐκ ἔχουσιν ὅτι φέρωσιν, οὕτω καὶ σφεῖς τελευτῶντες ἀποκλείεσθαι καὶ οὐκ ἔχειν ὅτι λέγωσιν ὑπὸ πεττείας αὖ ταύτης τινὸς ἑτέρας, οὐκ ἐν ψήφοις ἀλλ᾽ ἐν λόγοις: ἐπεὶ τό γε ἀληθὲς οὐδέν τι μᾶλλον ταύτῃ ἔχειν.
“No one, Socrates, would be able to controvert these statements of yours. But, all the same, those who occasionally hear you argue thus feel in this way: They think that owing to their inexperience in the game of question and answer they are at every question led astray a little bit by the argument, and when these bits are accumulated at the conclusion of the discussion mighty is their fall and the apparent contradiction of what they at first said; and that just as by expert counter-players the unskilled are finally shut in and cannot make a move, so they are finally blocked and have their mouths stopped by this other game of draughts played not with counters but with words [...]"
(trans. P. Shorey, 1969. Emendate, M. Tibaldini)
Confidence 100
Ages Adult
Social status All
Id DLP.Evidence.2213
Type Historical text
Date 0347-12-31BCE - 0199-12-31
Content Pseudo-Plato, Eryxias, 395a-c:
Ἴσως γάρ, ἦν δ' ἐγώ, σὺ οἴει, ὦ Ἐρυξία, τουτουσὶ μὲν τοὺς λόγους, οὓς νυνὶ [b] διαλεγόμεθα, εἶναι παιδιάν, ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἀληθῶς γε οὕτως ἔχειν, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἐν τῇ πεττείᾳ εἶναι πεττούς, οὓς εἴ τις φέροιτο, δύναιτ' ἂν τοὺς ἀντιπαίζοντας ποιεῖν ἡττᾶσθαι οὕτως ὥστε μὴ ἔχειν ὅτι πρὸς ταῦτα ἀντιφέρωσιν.
"I would dare, Eryxias, that you can consider those argumentations of us like a sort of game. You think they are unrelated to the real facts, but indeed they are like counters that a player can move in a such way that his opponent can't do any countermove"
This passage is contained in a pseudo-platonic dialogue, in which a later scholar tried to imitate the literary style of the greek philosopher. To achieve this scope, also a quotation of a board game, of which Plato made great use, could help. In fact this passage seems to be a reprise of the genuine platonic dialogue Republic, VI, 487c-d, which looks quite clearly related to Polis game.
Confidence 100
Ages Adult
Social status All
Id DLP.Evidence.2214
Type Historical text
Location 37°58'43.34"N, 23°43'28.45"E
Date 0428-01-01BCE - 0348-12-31BCE
Rules During the antiquity was more usual to refer at board game using general terms like 'playing dice' or playing at counters', but in this case the proximity of the word 'polis' in the previous or following sentences led us to think that the game here alluded was the Polis.
In this passage, Plato don't cite expressly it, but this passage is contained into a wider speculation about politics.
Apart from this wordplay, the game to which Plato makes reference demanded a certain skill and experience, and the Polis fits quite well with this requirements.
Content Plato, Statesman, 292e-293a:
Ξένος: μῶν οὖν δοκεῖ πλῆθός γε ἐν πόλει ταύτην τὴν ἐπιστήμην δυνατὸν εἶναι κτήσασθαι;
Νεώτερος Σωκράτης: καὶ πῶς;
Ξένος: ἀλλ᾽ ἆρα ἐν χιλιάνδρῳ πόλει δυνατὸν ἑκατόν τινας ἢ καὶ πεντήκοντα αὐτὴν ἱκανῶς κτήσασθαι;
Νεώτερος Σωκράτης: ῥᾴστη μεντἂν οὕτω γ᾽ εἴη πασῶν τῶν τεχνῶν: ἴσμεν γὰρ ὅτι χιλίων ἀνδρῶν ἄκροι πεττευταὶ τοσοῦτοι πρὸς τοὺς ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις Ἕλλησιν οὐκ ἂν γένοιντό ποτε, μή τι δὴ βασιλῆς γε. δεῖ γὰρ δὴ τόν γε τὴν βασιλικὴν ἔχοντα ἐπιστήμην, ἄν τ᾽ ἄρχῃ καὶ ἐὰν μή, κατὰ τὸν ἔμπροσθε λόγον ὅμως βασιλικὸν προσαγορεύεσθαι.
"Stranger:
Does it seem at all possible that a multitude in a state could acquire this science?
Younger Socrates:
By no means.
Stranger:
But in a state of one thousand men could perhaps a hundred or as many as fifty acquire it adequately?
Younger Socrates:
No, in that case this would be the easiest of all the arts; for we know that a city of a thousand men could never produce that number of finished draught-players in comparison with those in other Greek cities, still less so many kings. For the man who possesses the kingly science, whether he rule or not, must be called kingly, as our previous argument showed."
(trans. Harold N. Fowler, 1921).
Confidence 100
Ages All
Social status All
Id DLP.Evidence.2215
Type Contemporary text
Date 0428-01-01BCE - 0347-12-31BCE
Rules In this passage Plato makes reference to an unnamed game 'of counters' as an allegory of the divine influence on human society. It was probably quite common, at his time, to consider the world as a board on which the humans were the counters and the gods the players.
The strategical framework of this allegory, in which some pieces could be placed into an unfavorable position according to the necessities of a greater design, could sound as a reference at the Polis board game for the Plato's contemporaries.
Content Plato, Laws, 10.903b-10.904a:
Ἀθηναῖος
πείθωμεν τὸν νεανίαν τοῖς λόγοις ὡς τῷ τοῦ παντὸς ἐπιμελουμένῳ πρὸς τὴν σωτηρίαν καὶ ἀρετὴν τοῦ ὅλου πάντ᾽ ἐστὶ συντεταγμένα, ὧν καὶ τὸ μέρος εἰς δύναμιν ἕκαστον τὸ προσῆκον πάσχει καὶ ποιεῖ. τούτοις δ᾽ εἰσὶν ἄρχοντες προστεταγμένοι ἑκάστοις ἐπὶ τὸ σμικρότατον ἀεὶ πάθης καὶ πράξεως, εἰς μερισμὸν τὸν ἔσχατον τέλος ἀπειργασμένοι: ὧν ἓν καὶ τὸ σόν, ὦ σχέτλιε, μόριον εἰς τὸ πᾶν συντείνει βλέπον ἀεί, καίπερ πάνσμικρον ὄν, σὲ δὲ λέληθεν περὶ τοῦτο αὐτὸ ὡς γένεσις ἕνεκα ἐκείνου γίγνεται πᾶσα, ὅπως ᾖ τῷ τοῦ παντὸς βίῳ ὑπάρχουσα εὐδαίμων οὐσία, οὐχ ἕνεκα σοῦ γιγνομένη, σὺ δ᾽ ἕνεκα ἐκείνου. πᾶς γὰρ ἰατρὸς καὶ πᾶς ἔντεχνος δημιουργὸς παντὸς μὲν ἕνεκα πάντα ἐργάζεται, πρὸς τὸ κοινῇ συντεῖνον βέλτιστον μέρος μὴν ἕνεκα ὅλου καὶ οὐχ ὅλον μέρους ἕνεκα ἀπεργάζεται: σὺ δὲ ἀγανακτεῖς, ἀγνοῶν ὅπῃ τὸ περὶ σὲ ἄριστον τῷ παντὶ συμβαίνει καὶ σοὶ κατὰ δύναμιν τὴν τῆς κοινῆς γενέσεως. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἀεὶ ψυχὴ συντεταγμένη σώματι τοτὲ μὲν ἄλλῳ, τοτὲ δὲ ἄλλῳ, μεταβάλλει παντοίας μεταβολὰς δι᾽ ἑαυτὴν ἢ δι᾽ ἑτέραν ψυχήν, οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἔργον τῷ πεττευτῇ λείπεται πλὴν μετατιθέναι τὸ μὲν ἄμεινον γιγνόμενον ἦθος εἰς βελτίω τόπον, χεῖρον δὲ εἰς τὸν χείρονα, κατὰ τὸ πρέπον αὐτῶν ἕκαστον, ἵνα τῆς προσηκούσης μοίρας λαγχάνῃ.
Κλεινίας
πῇ λέγεις;
Ἀθηναῖος
ἧιπερ ἂν ἔχοι ῥᾳστώνης ἐπιμελείας θεοῖς τῶν πάντων, ταύτῃ μοι δοκῶ φράζειν. εἰ μὲν γὰρ πρὸς τὸ ὅλον ἀεὶ βλέπων πλάττοι τις μετασχηματίζων τὰ πάντα, οἷον ἐκ πυρὸς ὕδωρ ἔμψυχον, καὶ μὴ σύμπολλα ἐξ ἑνὸς ἢ ἐκ πολλῶν ἕν, πρώτης ἢ δευτέρας ἢ καὶ τρίτης γενέσεως μετειληφότα πλήθεσιν ἄπειρ᾽ ἂν εἴη τῆς μετατιθεμένης κοσμήσεως: νῦν δ᾽ ἔστι θαυμαστὴ ῥᾳστώνη τῷ τοῦ παντὸς ἐπιμελουμένῳ.
Athenian:
Let us persuade the young man by our discourse that all things are ordered systematically by Him who cares for the World—all with a view to the preservation and excellence of the Whole, whereof also each part, so far as it can, does and suffers what is proper to it. To each of these parts, down to the smallest fraction, rulers of their action and passion are appointed to bring about fulfillment even to the uttermost fraction; whereof thy portion also, O perverse man, is one, and tends therefore always in its striving towards the All, tiny though it be. But thou failest to perceive that all partial generation is for the sake of the Whole, in order that for the life of the World-all blissful existence may be secured,—it not being generated for thy sake, but thou for its sake. For every physician and every trained craftsman works always for the sake of a Whole, and strives after what is best in general, and he produces a part for the sake of a whole, and not a whole for the sake of a part; but thou art vexed, because thou knowest not how what is best in thy case for the All turns out best for thyself also, in accordance with the power of your common origin. And inasmuch as soul, being conjoined now with one body, now with another, is always undergoing all kinds of changes either of itself or owing to another soul, there is left for the draughts-player no further task,—save only to shift the character that grows better to a superior place, and the worse to a worse, according to what best suits each of them, so that to each may be allotted its appropriate destiny.
Clinias:
In what way do you mean?
Athenian:
The way I am describing is, I believe, that in which supervision of all things is most easy for the gods. For if one were to shape all things, without a constant view to the Whole, by transforming them (as, for instance, fire into water), instead of merely converting one into many or many into one, then when things had shared in a first, or second, or even third generation, they would be countless in number in such a system of transformations; but as things are, the task before the Supervisor of the All is wondrous easy.
(trans. R.G. Bury, 1967-1968)
Confidence 100
Ages Adult
Social status All
Id DLP.Evidence.2216
Type Contemporary text
Location 37°59'03"N,23°43'41"E
Date 0525-01-01BCE - 0456-12-31BCE
Rules At the beginning of the Aeschylus' Suppliant Women the Chorus makes an allusion to a strategic board game in which was used counters. The text doesn't mention the use of dice.
Those verses actually are hardly understandable, but is possibile that for the contemporary audience of Aeschylus sounded as a reference to the Polis board game.
Content Aeschylus, Suppliant Women, 11-15:
Δαναὸς δὲ πατὴρ καὶ βούλαρχος καὶ στασίαρχος τάδε πεσσονοµῶν
κύδιστ᾿ ἀχέων ἐπέκρανεν, φεύγειν ἀνέδην διὰ κῦµ᾿ ἅλιον,
κέλσαι δ᾿ Ἄργους γαῖαν.
It was Danaus, our father, adviser and leader, who, well placing his counters, decided, as the best of all possible evils, that we flee with all speed over the waves of the sea and find a haven on Argos' shore.
(trans. Herbert Weir Smyth, 1926. Corrected M. Tibaldini)
Confidence 100
Ages Adult
Social status All
Id DLP.Evidence.2217
Type Contemporary text
Location 37°59'03"N, 23°43'41"E
Date 0480-01-01BCE - 0406-12-31BCE
Rules Strategic board game, use of counters.
Content The popular athenian tragedian Euripides wrote a drama in which the protagonist was Erechtheus, the sixth legendary king of Athens and son of Pandion, another legendary king mentioned by Cratinus with reference to the Polis board game.
Willing to attack the Thracians, asked at the oracle of Delphis about the success of the initiative. The oracle answered that he should have first sacrifice his daughter. The queen, his wife, accepted the sacrifice since it would have been in favor of her city.
The following passage alludes at a board game played with counters in the framework of a strategical and political situation. This fact, added to the direct mention of the word 'Polis' in the same sentence, let us think that for the audience of Euripides should have sounded like a direct allusion to the Polis board game.
Euripides, Fr. 360N2, 5-13 in Lycurgus, Speeches (100, against Leocrates):
[...] πρῶτα µὲν πόλιν οὐκ ἄν τιν᾿ ἄλλην τῆσδε βελτίω λαβεῖν·
ᾖ πρῶτα µὲν λεὼς οὐκ ἐπακτὸς ἄλλοθεν,
αὐτόχθονες δ᾿ ἔφυµεν· αἱ δ᾿ ἄλλαι πόλεις
πεσσῶν ὁµοίως διαφοραῖς ἐκτισµέναι
ἄλλαι παρ᾿ ἄλλων εἰσὶν εἰσαγώγιµοι.
ὅστις δ᾿ ἀπ᾿ ἄλλης πόλεος οἰκήσῃ πόλιν,
ἁρµὸς πονηρὸς ὥσπερ ἐν ξύλῳ παγείς,
λόγῳ πολίτης ἐστί, τοῖς δ᾿ ἔργοισιν οὔ.
[...] first there is no state
I count more worthy to accept my gift
Than Athens, peopled by no alien race.
For we are of this soil, while other towns,
Formed as by hazard in a game of counters,
Take their inhabitants from diverse parts.
He who adopts a city, having left
Some other town, resembles a bad peg
Fixed into wood of better quality,
A citizen in name but not in fact.
(trans. J. O. Burtt, 1962. Modified M. Tibaldini)
Confidence 100
Ages Adult
Social status All
Id DLP.Evidence.2218
Type Historical text
Location 38°28'56"N,22°30'05"E
Date 0046-01-01 - 0119-12-31
Content Plutarch, the exile, 604d-e:
τίς γὰρ εἴρηκε τῆς ἑαυτοῦ πατρίδος ἐγκώμιον τοιοῦτον, οἷον Εὐριπίδης:
ᾗ πρῶτα μὲν λεὼς οὐκ ἐπακτὸς ἄλλοθεν, αὐτόχθονες δ᾽ ἔφυμεν: αἱ δ᾽ ἄλλαι πόλεις
πεσσῶν ὁμοίως διαφορηθεῖσαι βολαῖς,
ἄλλαι παρ᾽ ἄλλων εἰσὶν εἰσαγώγιμοι.
For who has pronounced such an encomium on his native land as Euripides?
Where, first, the people are no immigrants
But native to the soil: all other cities,
Disrupted once, as in the game, have been
Pieced out by importation from abroad, [...]
(trans. H. De Lacy and Benedict Einarson, 1959)
Confidence 100
Ages All
Social status All
Id DLP.Evidence.2219
Type Contemporary text
Location 37°59'03"N,23°43'41"E
Date 0428-01-01BCE - 0347-12-31BCE
Content In this passage Plato explicitly refers to the Polis board game in the framework of a political and military-strategical consideration. This allow us to hypothesize that other passages which refers in a such way to an unnamed board game in Greek literature, were in fact allusion to the Polis.
Plato, Republic, IV, 422d-e:
[...] ἀλλ᾽ ἐὰν εἰς μίαν, ἔφη, πόλιν συναθροισθῇ τὰ τῶν ἄλλων χρήματα, ὅρα μὴ κίνδυνον φέρῃ τῇ μὴ πλουτούσῃ.
εὐδαίμων εἶ, ἦν δ᾽ ἐγώ, ὅτι οἴει ἄξιον εἶναι ἄλλην τινὰ προσειπεῖν πόλιν ἢ τὴν τοιαύτην οἵαν ἡμεῖς κατεσκευάζομεν.
ἀλλὰ τί μήν; ἔφη.
μειζόνως, ἦν δ᾽ ἐγώ, χρὴ προσαγορεύειν τὰς ἄλλας: ἑκάστη γὰρ αὐτῶν πόλεις εἰσὶ πάμπολλαι ἀλλ᾽ οὐ πόλις, τὸ τῶν παιζόντων. [...]
[...] “But,” he said, “if the riches of the others are gathered together into one city, I think that would bring danger to the city that is not wealthy.”
“You are blessed,” I said, “because you think it is appropriate to call something other than the kind we were establishing a city.”
“But what, then?” he said.
“It is necessary to address the others in grander fashion,” I said, “because each of them is a great many cities, but not a city, as said in the game.” (trans. Dobbs, 2018)
This passage of Plato was discussed also in by a Scholiast in Scholia ad Platonem, Respublica, IV 422e:
πόλεις παίζειν εἶδος ἐστι πεττευτικῆς παιδιᾶς· μετῆκται δὲ καὶ εἰς παροιμίαν
play the city: is kind of a game of counters from which came also a proverb.
Confidence 100
Ages Adult
Social status All
Id DLP.Evidence.2220
Type Contemporary text
Location 37°59'03"N, 23°43'41"E
Date 0428-01-01BCE - 0348-12-31BCE
Content In this passage Plato refers to a board game in which counters were used, which in the attic dialect were called 'pettoi' and 'pessoi' in standard greek. Christopher Dobbs prefers to not translate this word a present this game as a 'game of Pessoi', but considering the political framework of the passage, probably it alluded to the Polis board game.
Plato, Minos, 316b-c:
Ἑταῖρος:
οὕτω μέν, ὦ Σώκρατες, ὡς σὺ λέγεις, καὶ φαίνεται ταῦτα νόμιμα καὶ ἡμῖν ἀεὶ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις: ἐπειδὰν δ᾽ ἐννοήσω
ὅτι οὐδὲν παυόμεθα ἄνω κάτω μετατιθέμενοι τοὺς νόμους, οὐ δύναμαι πεισθῆναι.
Σωκράτης: ἴσως γὰρ οὐκ ἐννοεῖς ταῦτα μεταπεττευόμενα ὅτι ταὐτά ἐστιν.
COMPANION: In the way you are speaking, Socrates, the same things appear always lawful both to us and to others; but whenever I consider that we never stop changing the laws back and forth, I am unable to agree.
SOCRATES: Perhaps you do not understand that things moved in a game of pessoi are the same things.
(trans. Dobbs, 2018)
Confidence 100
Ages Adult
Social status All
Id DLP.Evidence.2221
Type Contemporary text
Location 38°28'56"N,22°30'05"E
Date 0046-01-01 - 0119-12-31
Rules in the following passage Plutarch quote an idea already expressed by Plato and Euripides (and probably quite common among the Greeks): the counters spread here and there were wasted and useless. This passage most probably refers to the game of Polis, which, as reconstructed by modern scholars, would correspond very well to this idea.
Content Plutarco, De communibus notitiis adversus stoicos, XX (1068c-d):
τουτὶ γὰρ λέγει Χρύσιππος, ὡς οὐ δέονται μὲν ἐνδέονται δ ̓ οἱ φαῦλοι, πεττῶν δίκην δεῦρο κἀκεῖ τὰς κοινὰς ἐννοίας μετατιθείς.
Crisippos says right that: the depraved has no necessities, but is in needy, spreading common notions here and there like counters.
Confidence 100
Ages Adult
Social status All
Id DLP.Evidence.2222
Type Contemporary text
Date 525-01-01BCE - 1194-12-31
Rules game of counters.
Content A selection of proverbs in use at Alexandria of Egypt, traditionally (but improperly) attributed to Plutarch, include a voice about the game Polis, which is quoted both as a plural ('poleis', cities) and singular ('polis', city).
Corpus Paroemiographorum Graecorum 1.323 n° 1.14.
Πόλεις παίζομεν· πόλις εἶδος ἐστι παιδιᾶς πεττευτικῆς.
Play the cities: 'city' was also a game of counters.
Confidence 100
Ages Adult
Social status All
Id DLP.Evidence.2223
Type Historical text
Location 41°53'00"N,12°30'00"E
Date 0117-01-01 - 0138-12-31
Content Zenobius was a scholar, lately considered a paroemiographer (collector of ancient proverbs). He probably was of Greek origin and lived and taught in Rome at the time of the emperor Adrian. His collection of proverb included surely works of previous collectors, but interestingly he tries to actualize some entries for his audience. The voice about the Polis in fact report a changing in the name given to the cases, from 'poleis' to 'korais':
Zenobius, Corpus Paroemiographorum Graecorum, 5.67:
Πόλεις παίζειν: μέμνηται ταύτης Κρατῖνος ἐν Δραπέτισιν· ἡ δὲ πόλις εἶδός ἐστι παιδιᾶς πεττευτικῆς. Καὶ δοκεῖ μετενηνέχθαι ἀπὸ τῶν ταῖς ψήφοις παιζόντων, ταῖς λεγομέναις νῦν χώραις, τότε δὲ πόλεσιν.
Play the cities: mentioned by Cratinus in his 'female runaways'. And, the 'city' is a sort of game with counters. It seems that (this name) has been modified by the players that move the pieces, since now are called 'cases' and once 'cities'.
Confidence 100
Ages Adult
Social status All
Id DLP.Evidence.2224
Type Historical text
Location 41°53'00"N,12°30'00"E
Date 0117-01-01 - 1194-12-31
Rules game played on cases with 60 counters.
Content Pausanias the atticist, Lexicon Attikon (Παυσανίου Ἀττικων ὀνομάτων συναγωγή), Π 26:
πόλεις παίζειν · τὰς νῦν χώρας καλουμένας ἐν ταῖς ἑξήκοντα ψήφοις
Play the cities, now called 'cases' in the game of the 60 counters.
(in H. Erbse, Untersuchungen zu den attizistischen lexica, 1950. Pag.204)
Confidence 100
Ages Adult
Social status All
Id DLP.Evidence.2225
Type Historical text
Date 0810-01-01 - 0893-12-31
Content Photios of Constantinople, Lexicon, π 1017:
πόλεις παίζειν· τὰς νῦν χώρας καλουµένας ἐν ταῖς ξʹ ψήφοις.
play the cities: today called cases in the 60 counters.
(in C. Theodoridis, Photii Patriarchae Lexicon, in 3 volumi, 1982-2013, Berlino, pag 246);
Confidence 100
Id DLP.Evidence.2226
Type Historical text
Location 31°12'00"N,29°55'00"E
Date 0400-01-01 - 0599-01-01
Content Among the ancient lexicon that has been preserved until our time, with its 51.000 voices, the Hesychius of Alexandria's one is the biggest.
It has been wrote in the eastern part of the Roman Empire during the V or VI century.
It includes also a voice about the Polis, which repeat information taken by different previous collections.
Hesychius insist on the ambivalence of the plural and singular form with which was possibile to refers at the game: city or cities.
The actualization "now called cases but once cities" seems to be spurious and probably was the result of a copying activity from the collections of previous authors. At his time the game was probably forgotten or changed name and this was probably the reason why he and the other lexicographers needed to include in their works a voice about this game. Eventually, for many scholars of the middle and late imperial period this expression quoted by several classics sounded too weird and needed to be glossed and explained.
Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, col. 1257:
πόλεις παίζειν· παροιµιῶδες. καὶ δοκεῖ µετενηνέχθαι ἀπὸ τῶν ταῖς ψήφοις παιζόντων ταῖς λεγοµέναις νῦν µὲν χώραις, τότε δὲ πόλεσι
πόλις· εἶδος παιδιᾶς, καὶ παροιµία. πόλεις παίζοµεν
Play the cities: is a proverb. Also, its metaphorical use is derived by the counters' players, for now are called cases, but once 'city'.
City: is a game from which derived the proverb 'play the cities'.
Confidence 100
Id DLP.Evidence.2227
Type Historical text
Location 41°00'50"N, 28°57'20"E
Date 0900-01-01 - 0999-12-31
Content Suda, Polis, voice π1911 (Adler):
πόλις· εἶδος παιδιᾶς, καὶ παροιµία. πόλεις παίζοµεν
Polis, a sort of a game and a proverb: 'they play the cities'
Confidence 100
Id DLP.Evidence.2228
Type Artifact
Location 31°35'35"N, 34°53'54"E
Date 0323-01-01BCE - 0112-12-31BCE
Rules Broken slab, grido of 11x8 squares
Confidence 100
Spaces Inside
Source Stern, I. 2019. Excavations at Maresha Subterranean Complex 169: Final Report Season 2000-2016: 127-128
Id DLP.Evidence.2229
Type Artifact
Location 37°04'01"N, 37°23'19"E
Date 0323-01-01BCE - 0400-12-31
Rules grid of 11x11 squares
Content A well preserved board games is displayed in the Archaeological Zeugma Museum of Gaziantep.
Its provenience should be the surrounding region and probably its original context has been submerged by the Euphrates waters after the building of the Atatürk Dam.
Unfortunately the archaeological museum is not responsive and since 2012 hasn't been possibile to get official information about this evidence.
Considering its eastern Anatolian provenience and the size of the board, which is quite unusual for the Ludus Latrunculorum, that generally presents a grid of 8x8 cases or similar, should be a board used for Polis. Its actually impossibile to define the chronological period of this item, it could date from after the hellenistic colonization of the region to its abandonment during the late imperial period.
Confidence 100
Spaces Outside
Id DLP.Evidence.2418
Type Artifact
Location 38°13'20.88"N, 24° 1'37.69"E
Date 0252-01-01BCE - 0100-12-31BCE
Rules 9x9 board.
Content Grid of 9x9 squares on a bench dated to 252 BCE at Rhamnous. Fachard 2021.
Confidence 100
Spaces Outside, Public
Source Fachard, S. 2021. Games in the Garrison Forts of Attica. Paper presented at the Workshop ERC Locus Ludi: The Archaeology of Play and Games. 21 January, 2021.
Id DLP.Evidence.2419
Type Artifact
Location 38°13'20.88"N, 24° 1'37.69"E
Date 0252-01-01 - 0100-12-31
Rules 8x10 board.
Content Grid of 8x10 squares from a bench dating to 252 BCE at Rhamnous. Fachard 2021.
Confidence 100
Source Fachard, S. 2021. Games in the Garrison Forts of Attica. Paper presented at the Workshop ERC Locus Ludi: The Archaeology of Play and Games. 21 January, 2021.
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