Games - Play in antiquity

The game, a fascinating topic that occupies an important part of our existence. Although not all have done the same way, no man who has not passed as part of his time. To play always and at all ages, but of course games and interests vary. The adult baby and man do not have identical tastes and does not relax the same way: for the child in the bands are colored rattle ol'animaletto an introduction to life, sounds simple and familiar, and the distraction to the enjoyment of pure a beloved object, and past a certain age, you start to look more complicated hobbies that require a certain skill and provide a competition.
The game is as old as the world, is part of and necessary. Also in the caves had to play, although not with real toys. Probably you used what nature offered: pebbles, shells, sticks. There was no time to lose to beautify, not games that were then able to leave the track. On the other hand at that time life was short and difficult, and almost all the efforts of cavernicoli had to focus in their search for food and, very often for them, the dangers and toil of hunting were added those of the defense of prey caught.
Thus, the youngest of the few free moments that were not devoted to sleep, or that were not spent in helping the tribes in the small daily tasks, such as the collection of herbs and transport of water, were probably used in measuring up companions in the animated body to body or nell'esibirsi in imaginative imitations of the hunters. The more you play, they were prepared to fight for an existence that there are hard and dangerous for everyone. Do not know how to fight or how to capture the prey would have meant certain death. In every age the child was a good game preparation for life. With the centuries changed the problems and situations - and continue to change even now - so they are also adapted modes of play. Today for example, hunting is no longer the importance it had in prehistoric times, and no more fighting with guns or arquebuses ball while it is essential to know how to quickly use a wide range of technological tools. So if once the kids are practicing with a bow, arrows and traps, today the young are much maligned engage in videogames: on the other hand they are a good preparation to face a series of maneuvers and issues that require concentration, speed decision making and coordination of movements. As you see, every time the world was his playground and they were always different and adapted to age and gender of the players.
How you played in antiquity, and what were the favorite games in that time, we see objects that emerge from the excavations and the representations that are found in pottery and bas-reliefs adorn posts to the graves of deceased children.

MEDIEVAL ANCIENT GAMES
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In the Italian cities of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries was practiced a wide variety of games of chance with dice or with other instruments and the pleasure of playing inspired new inventions, these games were added, then those with the cards, another great fun game of chance. These games all belong to the category of pure chance, ie the category of games banned in the medieval period. Other games, like chess, instead requiring a certain skill, then were allowed, provided they are practiced in open places, namely in the squares and streets. It is played everywhere: loggias, arcades, and above all the cross streets with markets were the focal points of the play, and private houses, shops, the semi-spaces were forbidden places to play. In fact, both the civil and ecclesiastical authorities will act against gambling, the reason for the frequent quarrels, the fights, fraud and imprecations against God, who often felt in the places where they played. In addition to this we wanted to avoid the destruction of people who lost every game to have!
One of the places where the game was most popular was the Tavern. In major cities of that era usually find different, but there were also "taverne mobile", consisting of a wagon, barrels of wine, a stool, by which a host is moved from a fair to the other. The signs, painted the entrance, were usually dedicated to animals: The Falco Bianco, Falco d'Oro, Il Pavone, etc.. With the wine, which flowed a river, the words "flying" free, even in this case, often related to the game of dice, the fights were frequent.
A number of games and sport in question was reserved for nobility. Children playing with pebbles, blades of grass, shells, or with tufts of flax or hemp with which built dolls. Staves recover from shops, making circles and transformed into balls of clay pots in the kitchen rubacchiati or pig bladders that their father gave them when the pigs killed. The artisans making clay whistles in the shape of birds and bird animated metal. Tops manufactured dolls and clay or wood. Another toy was the wings sculpted to reel in a large walnut, or more elaborate small windmills made by the children themselves. The figurines were made of wood, clay or lead and did not have the softness of fur: the preferences were for "peluches" in flesh and bones. Children are happy to offer pet instead, girls, domesticated squirrels or birds in cages. The young aristocrats children prefer to have a hawk, soon learn to grow, the children instead of some castle play with monkeys. Games of skill were made with animellas, ie stone fruit and ruellas (discs run as far as possible). The toy is being used to target those who use them to their future profession or trade. The children themselves are sensitive to this educational game and the toys on the beach when they are the future riders build sand castles, while children who are able to be used for the religious life of the building rather Abbey. They give you small boats, miniature bows, wooden swords and always stick to the horse-riding to be running. Classic gifts for girls are Canocchi miniature and a bucket to draw water. For the little ones who lived in the countryside, was presented stilts, the wooden carts miniature drag from the yard of the farm and miniature boats carved in wood and designed with a hole in the bow, but you can pull in the channels with the aid of cords. Games and toys apply in hundreds of manuscripts, frescoes and sculptures because their performance was highly appreciated by the nobility that from the fourteenth century do not hesitate to adorn their castles and upholstery with silver having to subject the play of children.

The games are generally divided into:

• Roundabouts
• Championship
• Carousel
• Pas d'Arme
• Hunting
Caccia col falcone
• Pallacorda
• Chess
• Soccer
• Palio
• Nuts
• Cards
FILLET O MULINO

This is a game that has very ancient origins. The game of the mill is for two people. Each has nine pieces, white and black, which will put 24 points on the board. Before you play a lot you pull the first move. At first the players must have in turn each of their nine pieces on a chessboard free. Then, when the pieces have been positioned, the pawns are moving towards the adjacent points free. The goal of the game is to form the "mills" a file of three pieces ( "fillet"). Every time a player completes a "windmill" takes away from the game an enemy piece.
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DOLLS IN THE MIDDLE AGES

There were different types of dolls, each suited to a different age. Those intended for babies were not very expensive, roughly modeled nell'argilla were filled with balls of clay and used as rattles. The girls of two or three years to get a wrap for this reason they are received intact until today. In Italy there are reports of wooden dolls-size, plus dummies, balocchi intended to appear at fairs. In an era dominated by magic, pupae were made with the roots of the mandrake. Other wax, probably brought to Europe by the Crusaders, served to obscure incantations: the popular fantasy dolls were intended to defeat enemies in the dark black masses.
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The DICE

The Roman word alea, meaning dice faces six episodes 1 to 6, in the Middle Ages lost its meaning to become synonymous with the donor or game of chance and skill based on the use of a board of checkers and dice is the Ludus Tabularum or play the tables.
The same is Petrarch called the game of the tables "alea de ludus et calculorum"
Medieval coins a new word derived from the name of the foot bone of the rear leg of lambs (Talus), this word is medieval TAXILLUS nut!
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THE ZADAR

We can say that it still occurs in our speech when we talk about games of chance.

Gambling
azzardum
zardum
zarrum
ZARA

For zara game (ludus azarj) need three 6-sided dice and a table plan (and a lot of money to lose because we played the underpants) during the game, the player calls a number and wins if the sum of the three dice run is equal to the number called Bets could be made relying on the money numbers written on the table as in a modern roulette, according to the combination exits the players saying the words AZAR Punctum PARTIES or others who often used to mask the game also prohibited, under the attentive ears of bailiffs time since with three dice combinations that can be manifest in one way more often are 1, 4, 17, 18 AZAR these calls were not included in the game
That the word represents the combination zara bad it can be inferred also dall'antichissimo proverb
"zara who has to play"
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THE SOZUM

Quite simply he was the winner with three dice that was the highest number
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LA MURBIOLA

Identical to zara only instead of numbers there could be some figures on the card on which the money was aimed
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THE MYSTERY

It is not possible to accurately reconstruct the rules by which we played at the tables
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Outperforms OR THE ROYAL TABLE

E 'for all intents and purposes the only variant of the game tables come down to us and to secure medieval
"Playground of the table with dice and thirty two checkers on a board with red and white arrows in which the winner is the one who first cleared the field by its own pawns"
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The spinning top

A typical child's play in which a wooden spinning top was made by rolling a piece of rope tied to a wooden handle (we suspect from our parents and we found that Tops had their peaks of iron and that the boy whose top was standing longer had the right to strike with the tip of his top spinning top of the other, a top unbruised witness so the top most skilled).
In the hands of an adult becomes the top game of chance: he drew a circle on the ground and was betting on his ability to keep within its top in rotation.
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THE OSSETTI

Other very old game, for children in the Easter period, was to obtain a certain number of shin / shank of lamb bleached in a porno in the back of the hand and the other to the ground, air-launched in the first one had racoglierne another surface, and Try out the fly: it went so with two OSSETTI in the air, then three four etc.
You bet he liked that too.
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GAMES WITH THE BALL

These numerous flower for both children and adults, taking in these cases often violent.
We have therefore a kind of hokey played with leather balls and wooden clubs (and clubs not only beat the ball and almost never was unintentional errors)
Among the toys we remember the similar to what we called "wall", which in turn throw the ball against a wall with the intention of preventing the opponent to take.
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LA RUZZOLA

Take a string of rope flat, a type of hard cheese or a round of wood, rolled the string around the diameter of the cheese and launch it before you roll it, this was where ruzzola won, along the roads of the country, who reached farther.
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Palette, TILES, SKITTLES, CONI, Pallottole

With these names were called the games of the launch of significant items which could now be bowls or launching a horseshoe.
We want to mention one in particular: LA LIPPI whereby strike on one end of a stick resting on the ground with a stick longer and then run, striking again in the air, as far as possible.

Research work conducted by Giuseppe Giancotti
Class I sez B