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Roman Game Boards from Abu Sha’ar (Red Sea Coast, Egypt)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2015

Lynda Mulvin  and
Steven E. Sidebotham
Lynda Mulvin
Affiliation:
History of Art Department, John Henry Newman Building, University College Dublin, Belfield Campus, Dublin 4. Ireland
Steven E. Sidebotham
Affiliation:
University of Delaware, Department of History, 236 John Munroe Hall, 46 W. Delaware Ave. Newark, DE 19716-2547, USA
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Abstract

The discovery of twenty game boards – including some in a dedicated den or gaming room – in the late Roman fort at Abu Sha’ar, on the Red Sea coast of Egypt, conjures up images of daily life at a well established, but remote Roman military station. Here, during the long hot days and cool nights, soldiers no doubt played board games and gambled incessantly. This paper describes the boards, the likely games played on them and the areas of the fort where they were played.

Keywords

RomanEgyptboard games
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 78 , Issue 301 , September 2004 , pp. 602 - 617
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2004

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