"Let the die be cast!" or "The die is cast!" Julius Caesar is said to have exclaimed on January 10, 49 B.C., and then crossed the Rubicon River with his army, marching towards Rome and the overthrow of the Roman Republic...
Centuries later, in the spring of 1984, a small die (Kybos) made of bone was meant to be discovered in the center of Thessaloniki, on 6 Metsaion Street, just east of the Ancient Agora (Inv. No MΘ 9958). By good fortune it was preserved in a remarkably good condition. It is not unique in its kind; on the contrary, it embodies all the typical characteristics of a regular die. It is square, measuring 0.019 meters by side, and according to the general rule, each side bears a marking of a different numerical value, from one to six, so that the sum of the points on opposite sides always equals seven. The markings are rendered as double engraved concentric circles surrounding a central dot, in a more elaborate variation of the usual plain dot marks.
Dice, Kyboi as they were calledin ancient -or zaria in modern- Greek, have been found in private houses, burials, and sanctuaries throughout the Mediterranean basin. Their origin is often attributed to King Palamedes of Euboea, who, during the siege of Troy, invented and taught the game to his Achaean comrades, so they could pass their free time pleasantly, a "delightful cure for idleness" according to Sophocles.
They were made of various materials such as lead, bone, glass, bronze, gold, ivory, rock crystal (quartz), amber, and various types of stone. Regular dice were square in shape and had six sides, each numbered form one to six. However, rectangular, rhomboid or polyhedral dice with 18, 19, and 20 sides also exist. In rare cases they even bear markings different than the usual shape and number.
Ancient sources provide conflicting information, but it appears that dice were primarily used for games of chance aimed at profit, described under the general term kybeia (playing dice). Less frequently, dice were also used in strategic board games played with counters (pessoi), such as the five lines (pente grammai). Occasionally, they served as amulets and for predicting the future, leading to a form of divination through casting the dice (Kybomanteia).
Hermes and Pan were considered to be patron gods of dice players (kybeutai). As a quintessential game of chance, Kybeia was a male affair. It was practiced in specific, usually disreputable, places, as well as in sanctuaries, although dice playing was never associated with religion. It soon became an epidemic, often leading players to lose great amounts of money or even their own freedom. Slaves, free citizens, nobles, aristocrats, generals, even emperors indulged in it with the same passion. From the Roman era onwards and later during the Byzantine period, strict legislative regulations were enacted to restrict or even prohibit games of chance, including dicing.
Dice, however, have maintained their dynamics over the centuries, remaining unchanged in form and use to this day.
You may see the exhibit in the permanent exhibition "Macedonia from the 7th c. BC to Late Antiquity", showcase 21.
