Polis (board game)

Polis (Greek: πόλις, lit. 'city-state') was an ancient Greek board game. One of the earliest known strategy games, polis was a wargame resembling checkers. Its name appears in the Ancient Greek literature from around 450 BC to the 2nd century BC, and it seems to have been widely known in the region, particularly in Athens. The original rules of the game have been only partially preserved.

History

Achilles and Ajax playing a game, sometimes identified as polis (at other times, as five lines); a common subject in Ancient Greek painted pottery

Like with many ancient games, not much is known about polis, including where, when, and by whom it was invented. The earliest known reference to polis comes from Cratinos, an Athenian comedic poet, in his comedy Drapetides ("Female Runaways"), from 443/442 BC. The game was praised by Plato and Polybius, and possibly Philostratus, "as a game of strategy requiring great tactical skill". It was also likely referred to by Aristotle and Socrates. References to it are found in numerous other texts, suggesting that by mid-5th century BC it was a game well known to Ancient Greeks and played until at least 2nd century BC.

In Ancient Greek mythology and painted pottery, Achilles and Ajax are sometimes shown as playing a game (whose invention has been credited to Palamedes). No literary source is known to provide context for the illustrations on the painted pottery, however. This has led to the game being sometimes identified as polis, also at other times, as five lines (a dice game).

Rules

The rules of the game are not completely known. Many aspects of the game are unknown, such as the shape of the board, its initial setup, or how the pieces moved. The game can be seen as resembling checkers but with a different mode of capture (pieces were captured by enclosure from two sides).

Some rules of the game were described by Julius Pollux in his Onomasticon. The board, like the game, was called polis, and featured a grid (although it is also possible that each space on the board was called a polis as well). The pieces, which came in two colors and probably numbered thirty (per player, so sixty total - this claim however has been disputed), were called "dogs". Sources are contradictory on whether there were differences between pieces (some assume there were none; others are more cautious and state this was likely the case but that primary sources are unclear on this). It was a symmetrical game of elimination for two players, each playing with pieces of their color. It probably had no random elements, and the pieces moved in all directions on a square board. It is unclear whether the game involved dice rolling (such a claim was made by Eustathius of Thessalonica but it could have been a mistake).

The strategy involved maintaining formation and avoiding having one's pieces isolated.

The game may be similar to the Ancient Roman game of ludus latrunculorum and might have served as its inspiration; it has also been suggested that polis might have been one of the influences on chess. There might have also been connections to the traditional Egyptian game seega.

A plausible but speculative reconstruction of the game rules were suggested by Max Nelson in 2020.

Significance

Polis was seen as having educational value in learning how to learn and follow a set of rules. Leslie Kurke argued that the game had a cultural significance "playing the board game polis might help form a Greek boy as a citizen of the city". Learning to play polis is mentioned as part of a philosophical education in works of Ancient Greek philosophers.

Thierry Depaulis recognized the game as one of the oldest known strategy games (alongside the Chinese game of go, which is mentioned by Chinese sources that date to a similar era as the oldest mentions of polis and which unlike polis remains popular to this day). Depaulis argued that invention of such games was one of the signs of the Axial Age (emergence of more complex thinking patterns, such as philosophy), as people moved from playing pure games of chance (such as dice games and race games) to strategy games.

The game has also been called one of the earliest wargames. Max Nelson notes that "it the first known game of its kind (a war game on a grid-board)". He nonetheless suggested that thematically the game was less of a depiction of military conflict (wars between Greek city-states) and more of a celebration of the founding of the city state of Athens, with which he believes it was mainly associated.

According to an illustration in an article by Depaulis, a game board for polis was found in Rhamnous; however an article by Max Nelson from the same year (2020) states that no game board associated with this game has been found as of this date.