Sex and Dice: Approaching Girls with Games in Ancient Greece and Rome

Abstract

This paper describes how dice, knucklebones and board games could have romantic or sexual implications among ancient Greeks and Romans. It analyzes a series of literary sources taken from Greek and Latin literatures, and a few archaeological findings. Some of those pieces of literature are fictional and tell invented stories, but grounded on realistic facts, while others report real historical events related to famous figures, or to anonymous people. Based on these historical sources, this paper explains how ancients used games to approach new people and create the kind of atmosphere that preludes to romance, or sexual intercourse. It presents the different shades of this topic and, when possible, sheds light on its evolutionary process throughout Greek and Roman history.