During the excavations in the Ancient City of Hadrianopolis in Karabük’s Eskipazar district, two bone playing stones belonging to a military strategy game, thought to date back to the 5th century, were unearthed.
In the ancient city, which was used as a settlement during the Late Chalcolithic, Roman and Early Byzantine periods, Karabük University Faculty of Letters Archeology Department Lecturer Assoc. Dr. Excavation and restoration works carried out under the direction of Ersin Çelikbaş continue.
In the ancient city, which is famous for the mosaics depicting many animals at the base of all the structures unearthed during the excavations and therefore called “Zeugma of the Black Sea”, there are two baths, two churches, a defense structure, rock tombs, an inner castle, an underground rock settlement, a fountain. Structures such as structures, arched structures, monumental cultic niches (caves in the walls), walls, villas, other monumental buildings and some cult (sacred) areas were found.
Lastly, bone game pieces belonging to a military strategy game, estimated to date back to the 5th century, were unearthed during the excavations.
– “WE HAVE FOUND IMPORTANT FINDINGS SO FAR”
Assoc. Dr. Çelikbaş told the AA correspondent that they had come across important finds so far during the excavations carried out by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism within the scope of the “Heritage to the Future Project”.
Stating that they recently found 2 game pieces, Çelikbaş said, “These bone objects are in the form of lentils and disks. One stone has a symbol with 4 arms and the other has a symbol with 8 arms. These symbols actually show us that the stones can be game pieces.” he said.
Explaining that there were games played with bone stones in the past and that the stones they found belonged to a military strategy game, Çelikbaş continued as follows:
“The emergence of strategy games in Hadrianopolis further concretizes the existence of the military union there, because it is known that the strategy games played with bone stones in ancient times were ‘Ludus Latrunculi’ and ‘Doudecim Scripta’. Both games are based on strategic foundations. Anatolia is the ancient cities where the games emerged.” It is also known that these games were strategy games that soldiers enjoyed and that the military union existed in Hadrianopolis for many centuries. “These clearly support the existence of a Roman headquarters, a Roman union, and the existence of a Roman Castle in Hadrianopolis from the 2nd century to the 5th century AD. We believe that our work will continue in 2025.”
Çelikbaş stated that a few of the game pieces that were fondly played in ancient times have survived to the present day and said, “These are games played based on military strategy. We see that military strategy games are frequently played today. Some of these are checkers, which almost everyone knows and play, admiral sank, minefield played digitally.” .” he said.
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Source: www.star.com.tr
