GIOCHI DI RUOLO, COMPETIZIONE E INIZIAZIONE IN GRECIA E A ROMA

Abstract

Roleplaying games are well attested in Graeco-Roman mainstream culture. Ancient historiographical sources (such as Herodotus, Suetonius, Tacitus, Herodianus) mention the basilinda-game, where children played the role of a king in charge of his troops and servants; we have also literary and iconographic descriptions of ephedrismos, a piggyback ride that was often a punishment game for the loser. These performative rituals are linked to young boys’ initiation in adult life through the assimilation of social norms, rules and hierarchy, as Greek and Roman ancient historians clearly show.