Between the sacred and the mundane: The largest collection of ancient dice found in Israel – revealed near the Western Wall.HT Todd Bolen at the Bible Places Blog. Archaeologists have hit the jackpot with this dicover of 35 ancient gaming dice, including a loaded one. For other recent discoveries of ancient gaming pieces in Israel, see the links here.According to Antiquities Authority Archeologist Tehilah Lieberman: “The ancient dice are amazingly similar to those in use nowadays. Though they are made of bone rather than plastic, the marking system is similar to the one used now. In Roman times, use of dice in board games was very common. Finding dozens of dice teaches us that in the interval between battles, or between building a structure to paving a road, the soldiers, and later also the citizens of Roman Jerusalem, known as Aelia Capitolina, found time to have fun and enjoy games.
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