A rare assemblage of “astragali” – animal knuckle bones used for gaming and divination, dating from the Hellenistic period (2300 years ago), was uncovered by Dr. Ian Stern in the Maresha-Bet Guvrin National Park in southern Israel. ...The Beit Guvrin-Maresha National Park has produced an impressive corpus of ancient Greek and Aramaic inscriptions, especially in the caves. Alas, a large underground archive of papyri had disintegrated long before the archaeologists arrived. For background, see here (cf. here) and links. And for more on archaeological discoveries there, see here and links.Tens of the dice bore Greek inscriptions: some were engraved with the names of gods associated in ancient times with human wishes and desires: Aphrodite, the goddess of fertility, love, and beauty; Eros, the god of love; Hermes, the herald of the gods; Hera, goddess of marriage, women, the sky and the stars of heaven; and Nike, the goddess of victory. On other knuckle bones, game instructions and various game roles are engraved, such as “Robber,” “Stop!” and “You are burnt.”
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