engleski

Board Games as a Reflection of Ancient Near Eastern Society

Board games are a complex form of entertainment. Abundance of archaeological remains confirm that ancient Near Eastern societies practiced board games as a way of competition and entertainment. Our knowledge of board games is limited because detailed study of them only began during mid 20th century. Historians were not inclined to study those objects and there aren't many relevant papers about them. Today, historical research is getting a more wider perspective and studying board games is a way to a better understanding of ancient societies. Board games include different interactions between the players, enhance knowledge and skill, allow strategic planning and tactics and so on. There are many elements of a game, depending on the size of the board, rules, and all sorts of parts that make it complete. This paper will represent several board games from the Near East, particularly race and dice games with an emphasis on board games found in Petra, Jordan as a way to explain their role in everyday life and their influence on certain social classes. Also, we find it interesting to note how tracking history and origin of a simple board game can help understand cultural interactions between different nations. Using interdisciplinary methods of research we can gain a better understanding of the complexity and importance which board games held in ancient societies.

board games; dice games; society; Petra; Jordan

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