Zatrikion: Knossos Board Game Shows Minoans Enjoyed Leisure and Play

The people of the ancient Minoan civilization on the island of Crete in the Aegean Sea enjoyed a sophisticated society that included fine art, agriculture, writing systems, royal palaces, and an apparent board game that indicates a life of leisure and recreation for at least some of the residents.

The Cretan businessman and antiquarian Minos Kalokairinos began excavating the Bronze Age ruins in the 1870s, about 3,100 years after Minoan society first flourished. He studied the palace at Knossos in 1878. Twenty-one years later, Arthur Evans, a British archaeologist, took over the excavations and did a richly detailed study of Minoan society. It was Evans who coined the term “Minoan,” after King Minos of Greek myth.

Zatrikion: Knossos Board Game

The ‘deluxe’ board game of Zatrikion, which Evans’ team found in 1901, consisted of ivory plated with gold leaf. The board was decorated with rosettes of crystal in blue glass paste settings with silver foil. The board likely had a wooden base, which had disintegrated before it was excavated. Four conical pieces of ivory unearthed near the board are assumed to be the play pieces because the game pieces match the size of the four large circles on the board. The game dates back to around 1600 BC.

The sun set on the Minoan civilization millennia ago, but the Minoans left behind a rich cultural legacy that is still being explored to this day. (Afrathianakis Emmanouil/CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Ludi game portal describes the Zatrikion Knossos board game:

The board consists of ten circles: three vertical, three more running perpendicular to those, two more perpendicular downward from those, and two above the central two circles of the horizontal row. Four more circles, arranged in a diamond, are separated from the rest of the board, above the two circles above the horizontal row.

The Ancient Origins handcrafted version of the Royal Game of Knossos is now available to buy at the Ancient-Origins shop.

The Influence of Minoan Culture Spreads

Though no other intact examples of the game have been unearthed, it is entirely possible that the board spread to other sites in the ancient world. Minoan civilization influenced other islands in the Mediterranean and even mainland Greece.

“It is a unique object, though fragments with similar decoration could point to its existence elsewhere in the Aegean,” says the Ludi Portal website.

Britannica says, “Minoan cultural influence was reflected in the Mycenean culture of the mainland, which began to spread throughout the Aegean about 1500 BC.”

Experts consider Knossos to be one of the oldest cities in Europe.

The ruins of Knossos palace, as they are today. (Ioannis Syrigos)

The Oldest Playable Board Game in the World

Zatrikion and Senet are not the oldest board games. The royal game of Ur, dating back to about 4,600 BC, is from ancient Mesopotamia. A Babylonian astronomer conveniently wrote the rules of the game in cuneiform around 177 BC, so it is considered the world’s oldest playable game.

A British Museum curator, who deciphered the game of Ur’s rules, said “two players compete to race their pieces from one end of the board to the other. The central squares were also used for fortune telling.”

In Case You Were Wondering about Chess

You may be wondering about the history of what is perhaps the ancient world’s most famous game: chess.

Experts say chess dates back to before 600 AD in India. Chess.com says chess had its origins in the game of chaturanga, which spread across Asia and Europe, eventually developing into the modern game of chess around the 1500s. In the early days of modern chess, game play remained primitive. The Chess.com article details the history of modern chess and touches on some of the great players and moves.

Zatrikion, like many of these ancient games, is based on strategy, tactics, and of course a little bit of luck. It was popular in the most ancient world and can be enjoyed just as much today.

The Royal Game of Knossos isn’t just a game, it’s a journey through history, offering a smarter and more stimulating alternative to hours spent on digital devices.

Are you ready to play like royalty?

Get your own Royal Game of Knossos today and make your game nights legendary!

Top image: A shot of Zatrikion, the Royal Game of Knossos from the Ancient Origins shop.       Source: Ancient Origins.

By Mark Miller