What place did play have in the life of the Greeks from antiquity to Byzantium? This is the subject of an outstanding volume, richly illustrated and the result of long and painstaking research, which unfolds unknown aspects of the private life of our ancestors. “Greeks, you are ever children!”
This famous saying, attributed to Plato’s Timaeus, clearly contains a timeless truth: play, as a distinct cultural product, played a decisive role in shaping the Greek psyche and character, and may even have served as an escape in difficult times.
Thus, play in its historical continuity—from prehistoric antiquity to Byzantium, a span of roughly 3,000 years—offers us an opportunity to once again recognise the intelligence and inventiveness of our ancestors, and to better understand their everyday needs and habits.
Children’s games, for both young and old, for mind and body, erotic and games of chance… the list is long and astonishing for yet another reason: how many of them have survived through time and reached our days. Dolls, football, chess, and backgammon are among the most well-known.
Their recording and presentation, supported by undeniable evidence in contemporary visual depictions, broadens our knowledge in an entertaining way and creates a thread of continuity within our culture.
