Historic Origins Of BG In Britain

by Mark Driver
11 September 2000

Historic Origins of Backgammon in Britain, including a Review of Edmond Hoyle's 'A Short Treatise On the Game of Back-Gammon' (1)

by Mark Driver

"Here you'll be ever sure to meet A hearty welcome, though no treat; A house where quiet guards the door, Nor rural wits smoke, drink and roar; Choice books, safe horses, wholesome liquor Billiards, Backgammon, and the vicar"
Soame Jenyns, 1735

The historic origins of the modern game of backgammon remain obscured by the filter of time. However, historians generally attribute the origins of backgammon to the ancient board games played by the Egyptians, Sumerians, Persians and the Romans.

The legacy of the Roman Empire contains artifacts of the board-game 'Ludus Duodecim Scriptorum', now popularly known as 'the game of the twelve lines'. Examples of leather game boards (2) have been found dating from around the second century A.D., though literary references provide evidence of the game's popularity prior to this period (3). The game was possibly derived from the Egyptian Senat possessing a similar matrix of 3 x 12 points. The renowned games historian H. J. R. Murray (4) is of the opinion that the game is a replica of the Greek 'Kubeia', which Plato assigns to Egyptian origin.

Around the first century A.D., a new variant of Ludus Duodecim Scriptorum appeared in Rome in which the 3rd row of 12 points was omitted. The generic term of 'Alea' which originally meant - 'the art of gambling with dice' - became attached to the new variant. Documentary evidence illustrates that Alea had become a popular pastime by the First century AD, at which time it was the favored game of Emperor Claudius who is reputed to have written a manuscript on the game (5). As the game increased in popularity the generic term of 'Tabula', meaning - 'Board' - became common currency, though the two names coexisted long into the new millennium. The reformation of the game-board to 24 points makes Tabula a strong candidate as the first true ancestor of backgammon
 

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