Vol. 3 No. 13 (2025)
Articles

Pieces of gaming equipment from Roman Pannonia: The Collection of the Kuny Domokos Museum in Tata (Hungary)

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  • Linda Dobosi
Linda Dobosi
HUN-REN–ELTE Research Group for Interdisciplinary Archaeology, Institute of Archaeological Sciences, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17204/dissarch.2025.663

Published 2026-01-30

Keywords

  • Roman dice,
  • gaming counters,
  • marbles,
  • game boards

How to Cite

Dobosi, L. (2026). Pieces of gaming equipment from Roman Pannonia: The Collection of the Kuny Domokos Museum in Tata (Hungary). Dissertationes Archaeologicae, 3(13), 663–697. https://doi.org/10.17204/dissarch.2025.663

Abstract

Archaeological finds connected to gaming and play are seldom published in detail from Roman Pannonia, although these are frequently found during excavations. Therefore, the area of Pannonia along the Danube limes represents a blank spot in the research of the ludic culture of the Roman Empire. The paper presents a comprehensive study of the pieces of Roman gaming equipment in the collection of the Kuny Domokos Museum in Tata (Hungary) and discusses sixty hitherto unpublished gaming paraphernalia including six-sided cubic bone dice, bone, glass and ceramic counters, as well as ceramic marbles. As almost all objects were found in the settlement complex of Brigetio (Komárom/Szőny, Hungary), the close examination of the artefacts lets us gain insight into the gaming practices of Roman Brigetio.

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