PLAYING THROUGH TIME – ANCIENT GREEK AND BYZANTINE TOYS

After going through 3,200 years of sources, 150 games were recorded. A fascinating journey through space and time, which is also an unpredictable game for the reader and the researcher who dared it. The author dared to embark on a unique venture in Greek literature – to record the games of our ancient and Byzantine ancestors. And the result was astonishing: one hundred and fifty games were recorded, covering a period of about 3,500 years in a 770-page volume, with rich photographic material. We discover the importance and significance of games in the life of ancient Greeks, the ingenuity that distinguished their playing and, above all, how many games have reached our days, equally dear and popular to all of us. We will meet Ajax and Achilles playing chess, Zenon playing a game of backgammon, courtesans playing kottabos, boys and girls playing ball games, we will read myths and stories about games, we will envy the beautiful ancient dolls, learn about unknown games and, finally, we will conclude that the playful nature of the ancient Greeks knew no boundary.