History of Latrunculi.

Latrunculi is a board game originating from the ancient Roman Empire. The name comes from the word latrones which originally meant `mercenaries' and which referred to `soldiers' in early Roman times. However, in later Roman times the term came to be used for highwaymen, or `robber-soldiers' as they were known. The earliest known mention of the game of Latrunculi in literature was by Varro between 116 to 27 B.C., and the most recent mention was by Macrobius around 400 A.D.

In ancient times, the development of new games was influenced a great deal by games already in existence in other parts of the world. Latrunculi most certainly derives from the Greek game Petteia (translated to mean `pebbles' or `stones'), also known as City or Polis, with the possibly unary distinction being the presence of a King piece, or Dux, of each colour in Latrunculi. The image of Achilles and Ajax, two popular figures in ancient Greek literature, playing Petteia may be found on many Greek artifacts, especially pottery. The capturing strategy used in Petteia, and also Latrunculi, is thought to have inspired the unique capturing technique of the pawn in Chess. Plato tells us that Petteia originally came from Egypt. If so, he was probably referring to the Egyptian precursor game called Siga (or Seega).

There is no single description available nor is there a consensus regarding the exact rules governing the game of Latrunculi. Game historians rely on archaeological finds, primarily in Britain and Italy, and on explicit and implicit references to Latrunculi, Petteia, and other closely-related games buried in classical literature in order to infer the rules of play. However, a general consensus does exist that Latrunculi was a game of strategy rather than one of chance. Plato suggests in the Republic that the mastery of the game of Petteia demands long and continuous practice, and Philostratus states in Heroica, 2.2, that Petteia is `no idle sport, but one full of shrewdness and needing great attention'. The dimensions of the board used for the game is also not agreed upon. However most believe, based on physical remains of the game found throughout the former Roman Empire, that there was no universal size; boards of 7 x 7, 7 x 8, 8 x 8, 8 x 12, 9 x 10, 10 x 11, 10 x 12, and 10 x 13 have been documented.

The following poem, known as Laus Pisonis, was written by Saleius Bassus during the middle of the 1st century A.D.:

Cunningly the pieces are disposed on the open board and battles are fought with soldiery of glass, so that now White blocks Black, now Black blocks White. But every foe yields to thee, Piso; marshalled by thee, what piece ever gave way? What piece on the brink of death dealt not death to his enemy? Thousand-fold are thy battle tactics: one man in fleeing from an attack himself overpowers him, another, who has been standing on the look-out, comes up from a distant corner; another stoutly rushes into the melee and cheats his foe now creeping on his prey; another courts blockade on either flank and under feint of being blocked, himself blocks two men; another's objective is more ambitious, that he may quickly break through the massed phalanx, swoop into the lines and, razing the enemy's rampart, do havoc in the walled stronghold. Meantime, although the fight rages fiercely, the hostile ranks are split, yet thou thyself are victorious with serried lines unbroken or despoiled maybe of one or two men and both thy hands rattle with the prisoned throng.