Dice Players in Antiquity
It is well-known that the Mishnah in Sanhedrin 3:3 states that dice players are invalid witnesses. If you were wondering what one of these dice may have looked like, here is one that was for sale at an auction a few years ago. It sold for $17,000.
(hat tip)
For more on the subject see Joshua Schwartz, “Gambling in ancient Jewish society and in the Graeco-Roman world,” in Jews in a Graeco-Roman World (1998) 145-165.
June 17th, 2008 at 8:47 am
MM,
I always understood the word Kubia (as in the mishna “mesachek b’kubia”) to be a cube because it sounds similar. Is that wrong?
June 17th, 2008 at 9:08 am
No, it’s probably not wrong. It’s probably from Greek kvβos, which meant both a cube and die.
Jastrow, incidentally, writes χνβεια.
The Aruch doesn’t seem to have an entry on it, but perhaps the Aruch Ha-shalem does.
June 17th, 2008 at 9:24 am
I’ll try and check J. Schwartz’s article in the next few days and see what he says about the etymology. It could be that the above picture was of a different type of die, since these pictures are of six-sided dice, and see the entry “Tessera” in Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities.
June 17th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Since this is a 10 sided die (pictured), one thing is for sure: they played Dungeons & Dragons in the Graeco-Roman world!
June 19th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
S:
No, it’s a D-20. It has triangular faces; the only regular polyhedra with triangular faces are D-4, D-8, and D-20.