Sophocles, a Greek poet and tragedian, accredited the Greek, Palamedes, with the creation of dice. This happened around the time of the siege of Troy. Herodotus, a historian and acquaintance of Sophocles, contradicted Sophocles’s claims and believed that the first dice were invented by the Lydians of Asia Minor. However, archeologists have found dice in Egyptian tombs that date back to 2,000 BC and some archeological digs have produced dice that date as far back as 6,000 BC. Thus, dice have been found in many places over various time periods and a concrete and definitive answer of who created dice and where it was first introduced has been unattainable to date.

Dice and Culture

In ancient civilizations, the throwing of dice was not viewed as an act that attributed luck top its outcome. Rather, the gods were supposed to be in charge of the dice’s fate. Fortuna, the Roman goddess and daughter of Zeus, was thought to be the overseer of the way in which the dice fell. In modern times, Fortuna has become known most commonly as lady luck. Before the invention of dice, natural objects such as small fruits, stones, and nuts were thrown by ancient people playing games that revolved around luck. Greeks and Romans soon moved to the use of animal bones as a substitute for dice. The Romans developed what they called Tali. Tali were made of sheep ankle bones and had four sides. This is why modern day dice play is still referred to as rolling bones.

Roman Emperors are historically noted for being gamblers and were some of the most early and often users of dice. The French saw a boom in the use of dice for game playing during the middle ages. England saw had its fare share of royal gamblers as Richard the Lion Heart and King John often gambled with dice. It is said the King Henry VIII lost the bells of St. Paul’s church in a bout of dice throwing and English inns have been the site of dice throwing since the 15th Century. The advent of dice soon spawned dominos. The domino was a Chinese invention and made its way west sometime during the 18th century.