Article
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Figure des Brifilians: allegory and utopia
Luiz Cláudio Moisés RIBEIRO; Bárbara DANTAS
Original title: Figure des Brifilians: alegoria e utopia
Published in Rhythms, expressions and representations of the body
Keywords: Allegory, Amerindian, Denis Diderot, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, John Locke, Michel de Montaigne.
The Americas were proof of a new way of life, that of the Amerindians. Since the 16th century, the French already knew Portuguese America and called its native inhabitants brifilians, that is, Brazilians. These Indians aroused curiosity, they were living proof of the beings that inhabited exotic and rich lands, places that, for Europeans, were ready to be conquered and explored. According to the function of entertaining and instructing linked to artists as political philosophers, this article presents the relationship between image and text through the vision of four European philosophers − John Locke, Michel de Montaigne, Denis Diderot, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau − about America and its inhabitants, eyes covered by their own conceptions and prejudices, but willing to understand the New World. Whether in philosophy or visual art, the medium used to represent this exotic place − therefore strange − was the allegory.
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KELLNER, Beate; REICHLIN, Susanne; RUDOLPH, Alexander. Handbuch Minnesang. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, 2021
Werner Ludger HEIDERMANN; Beatriz Passamai PEREIRA
Published in Rhythms, expressions and representations of the body
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Games from Antiquity to Baroque
Ricardo da COSTA; Nicolás MARTÍNEZ SÁEZ
Original title: Juegos desde la Antigüedad al Barroco
Published in Games from Antiquity to Baroque
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Forgotten games: lost forever or still salvageable?
Ulrich SCHÄDLER
Original title: Juegos olvidados: ¿perdidos para siempre o aun salvables?
Published in Games from Antiquity to Baroque
Keywords: Ancient Archaeology, Board games, Rules.
In this article we propose to reflect on the reconstruction of the rules of ancient board games. Is it possible to know the original rules? What can we do to reconstruct them? The research project Locus ludi deals with modules of game rules that, in theory, can be combined in any way. In this way, it is possible to test the functionality of game rule variants or reconstruction proposals, and even to create family trees.
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Astragalomanteion, Sortes Sanctorum, Sortes Monacenses: stratification of gaming practices and cultural traditions from Early Antiquity to the Middle Ages
Marco TIBALDINI
Published in Games from Antiquity to Baroque
Keywords: Ancient divinatio, Astragalomanteia, Astragals, Casting lots, Dice, Homeromanteia, Knucklebones, Lots, Medieval divination, Oracle, Sortes Monacenses, Sortes Sanctorum.
This paper analyses the complex relation between board games and divination, and the role those randomizing elements like dice and knucklebones played in it. It presents several literary quotations that show how the tradition of casting lots to take important decisions was diffused. It includes pieces of Sumerian and Akkadian, Hebrew, Greek and Latin literature referred to lots, and especially those related to the use of knucklebones and dice. It also outlines the stratification of divinatory practices based on gaming tools since the antiquity to the late Middle Age. It analyses the Astragalomanteia and Homeromanteia, and their points of contact with the Sortes Sanctorum and the Sortes Monacenses.
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Alexander Neckam (1157-1217): On dice players. Study and translation
Nicolás MARTÍNEZ SÁEZ; Lucía GARCÍA ALMEIDA
Original title: Alejandro Neckam (1157-1217): Sobre los jugadores de dados. Estudio y traducción
Published in Games from Antiquity to Baroque
Keywords: Alexander Neckam, Christianity, De naturis rerum, Dice games, Games of chance.
In the first centuries of Christianity, theologians and philosophers viewed with suspicion and contempt both games in general, because they were considered pagan superstitions, and board games in particular, which, associated with gambling, made any Christian lose his head. Aleae or games of chance, where dice were used, were forbidden, and condemned by numerous councils and moral treatises. In this sense, at the end of the 12th century, the English philosopher Alexander Neckam, as a continuator of an antiludic Christian tradition, included in a chapter of his encyclopedia De naturis rerum a section dedicated to dice players where he explains their negative consequences: robbery, fights, economic ruin, and blasphemy. This paper presents, together with an introductory study, the only translation in Spanish, as far as we know, of chapter 183 of book II of De naturis rerum.
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Flavors of Celebration: Food and Public Festivities in Al-Andalus
Mourad EL FAHLI
Original title: Sabores de Celebración: Alimentación y Festividades Públicas en Al-Andalus
Published in Games from Antiquity to Baroque
Keywords: Al-Andalus, Culinary Traditions, Cultural Elements, Entertainment, Festive Celebrations, Religious Diversity.
This scholarly investigation intricately navigates the captivating juncture where festive celebrations intersect with culinary traditions within the historical context of Al-Andalus, offering nuanced insights into their pivotal function as forms of public entertainment. By immersing into historical archives, literary compositions, and culinary manuscripts, this scholarly inquiry unveils the multifaceted interplay of Islamic, Christian, and Jewish influences, culminating in a vibrant and culturally intricate culinary panorama. The analytical exploration delves into iconic celebrations such as ʿĪd al-Fitr and ʿĪd al-Adḥā, where Islamic practices seamlessly intertwined with the fabric of Arabic culinary heritage. Similarly, festivities such as al-ʿAnṣara and Nawrūz, which emanated from Christian and Jewish traditions, eloquently demonstrated the harmonious convergence of diverse cultural facets. Manifested through opulent arrays of tantalizing gastronomic offerings, these celebratory banquets embodied notions of opulence, camaraderie, and collective elation. The Andalusi disposition, oscillating between restrained modesty and opulent abundance, contributed an additional stratum of intricacy. In its essence, the cultural synthesis discernible within Al-Andalus vividly underscores how the amalgamation of multifarious culinary traditions served as a bridge between communities, facilitating the commemoration of unity during an embrace of religious diversity.
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Tracing the Origins of Checkmate Patterns and Paths in Alfonso X’s Libro de los juegos
Sonja MUSSER GOLLADAY
Published in Games from Antiquity to Baroque
Keywords: Alfonso X the Wise, Checkmate Pattern, Chess, Libro de los juegos, Libro del acedrex, Retrograde Problem Analysis, Shatranj.
The present study interrogates Alfonso X’s bibliographic sources through his chess problems’ checkmates and move patterns.
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A kind of joy: the Wise King games
Braulio VÁZQUEZ CAMPOS
Original title: Manera de alegría: los juegos del Rey Sabio
Published in Games from Antiquity to Baroque
Keywords: Alfonso X the Wise, Astrology, Astronomy, Backgammon, Chess, Dice, Game, Middle Ages, Philosophy, Political thought, Worldview.
The «Book of Games» is one of the most luxurious works to have emerged from the scriptorium in the service of King Alfonso X the Wise, but it is also one of the most content rich. It constitutes the foremost evidence of the board games played in the Castilian court in the 13th century, especially chess, backgammon, and dice. Its pages not only encompass explanations of the mechanics and strategy of these recreational activities, but also display an entire world view through allegories, metaphors, philosophical discussions, and political interpretations. This paper endeavours to dissect each of these aspects.
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Army, game, and social order: an approach to the cosmic metaphor of the justification of war in De bello by Juan de Legnano
Emiliano ALDEGANI; Lucía GARCÍA ALMEIDA
Original title: Ejército, juego y orden social: una aproximación a la metáfora cósmica de la justificación de la guerra en De bello de Juan de Legnano
Published in Games from Antiquity to Baroque
Keywords: Game, Huizinga, Legnano, Middle Ages, War.
The aim of this paper is to point out the articulation between the celestial order and the military order expressed in the work of the medieval jurist John of Legnano (14th century) in the Tractatus de Bello, de Represaliis et de duello. In the introduction to his book, he states that ‘human war’ reflects war in the divine order, which leads the author to justify the military conflicts present in his time as coming from God, a hypothesis that he supports based on the testimonies offered by the Gospels. Thus, in the first chapter, he divides war into Spiritual, celestial, or human warfare and Corporal, universal or warfare. In addition, some central ideas of the medievalist Johan Huizinga, in his work Homo ludens, on the sacred meaning of victory in the context of medieval military confrontations, which is deeply related to the meaning of victory in the game, will be recovered. Based on this key reading, the aim is to contextualise Legnano's conception within the framework of the canonical understandings of the foundations of war conflicts that prevailed in the late medieval period.
