I’m eventually going to redo my video on this, people say I talk like a robot because I am reading off the screen lol, among other things. Also the sound messed up. Video is here if you want to see my visual aids (I have bone tali, tesserae, and drew the triangle thing in chalk on the ground)., but you’ve been warned! I will probably add some stuff before I eventually try to make a better video also, and get my tesserae + tali simulator that I made in Unity/C# finished and up on itchio or somewhere. Apologies in advance. it’s been 30 years since I’ve had a Latin class, still relearning grammar and vocab. I know there are some grammar errors in my video.
Mostly I am interested in researching some older games and making some short texts and videos about these, and I found some cool bone dice on Etsy, as well as coyote bones to show the more primitive forms of the same. I want to talk about using dice and the frittilus (dice cup) to choose the arbiter bibendi and some things like that, and eventually chess also, but working up to that with simpler things.
But before that, here is a section of “Nux” that I also quote in the video describing one of 5 or 6 games for reference:
“fit quoque de creta, qualem caeleste figuram
sidus et in Graecis littera quarta gerit.
haec ubi distincta est gradibus, quae constitit intus
quot tetigit virgas, tot capit ipsa nuces.”
-Nux
(so from what I can gather, the gist of this is that we draw a triangle in chalk (not sure of the constellation referred to, but I can figure out the delta part anyway), divide it with some lines/bars, and when your nut or bone crosses lines, you win that many. I didn’t have any nuts to use so I am using cayote footbones, which were also an early type of dice, along with the longer footbones which had “four sides,” which is to say, 4 long sides that could be numbered)
Liberi Romani cum nucibus et cum talis ludebant. Multi ludi erant.
Hic est ludus. Nuces non habeo. Habeo talos, itaque hodie ludo cum talis, cum ossibus.
Multi homines scribebant, Ovid, Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō, librum nomine “Nux” scripsit, sed fortasse alius scriptor librum scripsit*. Nescio.
Describe triangulum cum creta. Nux scriptoris scripsit, literra graeca nomine delta erat. Disco litteras Graecas. Describe virgas, lineas, in triangulum.
“virgatus” significat “lineas habere.”
Nucem in triangulum iace. necesse est, nux in triangulo restare. Si nux extra triangulum movet, male est. Perdis. Si nux lineas multas transit, bene est. Nux quae duas lineas transit melior est quam nux quae unam lineam transit. nux quae tres lineas transit melior est quam nux quae duae lineas transit. Si nux tui duae lineas transit, lucraris duas nuces. Si nux tui tres lineas transit, lucraris tres nuces. Si plurimas nuces habes, vincis.
Facio ludum in Unity cum talis et cum tesseris. non est perfectus.
dictum est: “nuces relinquere” et significat “adolescere:”
Non puer vel puella esse; sed iam vir vel femina esse.
Tamen quoque viri et feminae cum nucibus ludere possunt.
Propediem faciam plus pelliculas de ludis, pars/impars, tali, tesserae etc.
Other sources I used:
-*http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0063%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DT%3Aentry+group%3D1%3Aentry%3Dtalus-cn
-Ecce Romani 2, p 204
-http://www.intratext.com/IXT/LAT0330/_P1.HTM
Semi-related:
canis est! (also called vultur)
“senio” was sixes I think, but there are many named throws
Venus est! (all four different possible numbers, this is the best throw)
2 posts - 1 participant