Tabula (game)

Tabula (Byzantine Greek: τάβλι), meaning a plank or board, was a Greco-Roman board game for two players that has given its name to the tables family of games of which backgammon is a member.

History

According to the Etymologiae by Isidore of Seville, tabula was first invented by a Greek soldier of the Trojan War named Alea. The earliest description of "τάβλι" (tavli) is in an epigram of Byzantine emperor Zeno (r. 474–475; 476–491), given by Agathias of Myrine (6th century AD), who describes a game in which Zeno goes from a strong position to a very weak one after an unfortunate dice roll. The rules of Tabula were reconstructed in the 19th century by Becq de Fouquières based upon this epigram. The game was played on a board with a similar layout to that of a modern backgammon board: there were 24 points, 12 on each side. Two players had 15 pieces each, and moved them in the same direction‍— anticlockwise‍— around the board, according to the roll of three dice. A piece resting alone in a space on the board (a singleton) was vulnerable to being captured. If a piece was moved to a point occupied by an enemy singleton, the latter was sent off the board and had to be re-entered on the next turn. The known differences compared with modern backgammon were: three dice were used, all pieces started off the board, both players moved in the same direction and there was no doubling die.