How did the Romans in Hispania have fun?

The people of Roman Hispania enjoyed dice, tabas (knucklebones) and board games such as ludus latrunculorum (the game of soldiers), as well as visiting baths, theatres, amphitheatres and circuses. Dice, counters and boards carved into stone found at sites across the Iberian Peninsula bear witness to those games.

Dice and knucklebones

Tesserae were six-sided dice very similar to ours; tali were knucklebones made from lamb bones, with four usable faces. Both were widely played with, although betting was restricted by law except during festivals such as Saturnalia. We explore their origins in who invented dice.

Board games

Ludus latrunculorum (‘the game of soldiers’) was a strategy game in which counters were captured by surrounding them. Another popular game was duodecim scripta (twelve lines), a predecessor of tablas (tables games) and backgammon. Some boards can be found carved into paving slabs in forums and on flights of steps, evidence that people played right out in the street.

The great spectacles

Cities such as Mérida, Tarragona and Itálica had theatres, amphitheatres and circuses. The theatre in Mérida is still in use today. Chariot racing, in particular, stirred passions much like football does.

A thread that reaches the present day

Playing cards would arrive many centuries later, but the pleasure of sitting down together over a game and passing the time was already there. We pick up the story with the arrival of playing cards in playing cards in the Middle Ages.