The Katsambas astragalus
Ο-Ε349
Bone
Good
Length: 3.5 cm.
Katsambas, Heraklion
Tomb Η
Late Bronze Age. Final Palatial period, Late Minoan ΙΙ-ΙΙΙ period:
1450-1300 BC:
Gallery:
VICase:
56Exhibition thematic unit:
Late Bronze Age - Neopalatial period (1700-1450 BC). Private and public life. Bread and circusesDaily life. Personal care
Description
Knucklebones are one of the most best-known games of antiquity, known as astragalizein. The players threw the knucklebones (the ankle-bones of sheep or goats, called astragaloi) in the air and scored points depending on which side they landed on. Another version was artiazein or “odds and evens”. Knucklebones were a favourite children’s game from antiquity to the present day. They have been found at various Bronze Age sites. In Crete, however, relatively few are known from older excavation contexts; this is not because they were actually absent, but due to the lack of interest in recording bone objects in earlier times. The best-known astragalus from older excavations comes from Tomb H in the cemetery of Katsambas, where it was found with four conical gaming pieces from a board game. Each side of the astragalos bears one to four coloured dots and has holes pierced in the centre. It seems that the Katsambas astragalus was used to play Bronze-Age knucklebones (each side having a value of 1, 2, 3 and 4) rather than the game of the Classical period (1, 2, 3 and 6). According to the excavator Stylianos Alexiou, both the astragalus and the small gaming pieces may be associated with the child’s larnax and the phalanx of a child’s hand found in the same tomb. Arthur Evans, on the contrary, links the presence of astragaloi in Minoan tombs to the Egyptian custom of placing gaming-boards in tombs.Bibliography:
Alexiou, S., Υστερομινωικοί Τάφοι Λιμένος Κνωσού (Κατσαμπά). Athens: Βιβλιοθήκη της εν Αθήναις Αρχαιολογικής Εταιρείας, 1967, 56, 39-40, 349, pl. 36γ. Hillbom, N., Minoan Games and Game Boards. Lund University, 2005, 205, 312-314.Author:
K. A.Photographs' metadata