Seega

Seega, a game similar to Ludus Latrunculorum, was widely practiced by the fellaheen of Egypt in the early XIX century; currently, still popular among Somali tribes. It may be a survival or reminiscence of the Soldier’s Game in the peripheral territories of the Roman Empire. It plays in the same style, except the board has a grid layout of five-by-five squares, and each player has 12 pieces.

• No. of participants: 2 players
• No. of pieces: 12 for each player.
• Goal: Eliminate all opponent’s pieces

Rules:

1st Stage

• On his turn, each player places two pieces on the board, on free spaces, except the central square, which is left empty in this first phase. Once all checkers are in place, the player who made the last move starts the second phase.

2st Stage

• Each player may move one piece horizontally or vertically to an adjacent square, including the central one, but never diagonally;
• A piece is captured and removed from the board whenever your opponent succeeds in “custódia”, i. e. blocking it between two of his checkers; under no circumstances can a piece on the central square be captured;
• The player can make consecutive moves with the same piece while captures occur; the piece which moves successively is the one that allows the captures;
• When a player cannot move any of his pieces, his opponent will have to make an additional move to create an opening in the board;
• Each player can create a barrier by filling a complete row so that behind it are only the remaining pieces of the same set. When this happens, the player with more pieces wins.
• The distribution of the pieces in the 1st stage is an important factor for planning the barriers in the 2nd stage;
• When these barriers appear, and the players have the same number of pieces, there is a draw, a common situation in this game;
• A “big victory” is achieved whenever a player eliminates all of his opponent’s pieces, and a “small victory” when a player has more checkers than his opponent when creating a barrier. Total victory occurs when a player captures all of his opponent’s pieces.

Symbology of the pieces

Triumphal Crown – the triumphal or laurel crown is a symbol of victory and triumph, made with two branches of laurel leaves. The custom seems to come from Ancient Greece, where triumphal crowns were given to Olympic winners but also to the most celebrated poets. In Rome, during both the Republic and the Empire, victorious commanding generals and even Emperors entered the Eternal City in triumphal parades along the Via Sacra and toward the temple of Jupiter Capitolineus, wearing their showy crowns. During the parade, a slave would lift the wreath above the head of the honouree and repeat the expression memento mori, thus reminding him that glory is fleeting and fading. Sometimes, to the two laurel wreaths was added a third, in gold, sent by the provinces and whenever the triumph was recognized by decree of the Senate. When a commander won a campaign he would also inform the Senate by sending a scroll wrapped in gold leaf.

The origins of this tradition lie in Greek mythology, specifically in the myth of Daphne. According to this myth, Apollo, god of the Sun, music, poetry, male beauty, and other attributes, would have fallen in love with the beautiful nymph Daphne who, nevertheless, did not have the same feelings for Apollo. Thus, to escape his seduction attempts, Daphne decided to flee to the forest hills where she met her father, the river god Peneus, who decided to turn her into a laurel tree. Despite this setback, Apollo’s passion did not wane, and made the laurel his tree, dedicating songs and poems to it. The Pythoness of Delphi, famous for her prophecies inspired by Apollo, chewed laurel leaves before her divinations and is often presented with laurel branches in one hand.

Capitoline Wolf – a bronze statue depicting a she-wolf nursing two infants, kept in the Capitoline Museums in Rome, and associated with the founding myth of the Eternal City.

For many years, the sculpture of the she-wolf was considered an Etruscan art piece created by the sculptor Vulca of Velos (6th century BC). However, recently, researchers from the University of Salento contested this chronology, suggesting a late medieval origin for its creation, specifically between the 11th and 12th centuries, a hypothesis that was also refuted by other scholars. In any case, the lower piece, representing the two children, is indeed later, dating from the late 15th century.

According to legend, the foundation of Rome resulted from events that took place after the fall and destruction of Troy. The hero Aeneas, fleeing from the Greeks, traveled through the Mediterranean accompanied by his father and founded the city of Lavinium, near the mouth of the Tiber River, marrying the daughter of King Latinus, with whom he had a son, Ascanius. Years later, Aeneas’s son founded another city, Alba Longa, with twelve kings succeeding him until a monastic crisis occurred during the usurpation of the throne from Numitor by his brother Amulius. To ensure that Numitor’s descendants would not seek revenge, Amulius ordered the assassination of his nephews. As for his niece, Rhea Silvia, he ordered her to become a Vestal Virgin. However, due to the intervention of the god Mars, Rhea Silvia gave birth to twin sons, Romulus and Remus. Upon learning of this, Amulius imprisoned Rhea and ordered the newborns to be cast into the river in a basket, which eventually got stuck on the banks at the foot of the Palatine Hill, where a she-wolf found and nursed them, saving them from death. Years later, a shepherd named Faustulus discovered the boys at the entrance of the Lupercal cave and, along with his wife Acca Larentia, adopted and raised them as their sons. The twins, like their adoptive father, became shepherds, and years later, in a dispute with other shepherds working for Amulius, Remus was captured and taken to Alba Longa. Faustulus then decided to tell the truth to Romulus, who promptly went to the city, executed Amulius, and freed his brother, his grandfather Numitor, and his biological mother from prison.

The two brothers then decided to found a new city near the place where they had been abandoned. However, they could not agree on the specific location or the name: Romulus wanted the new city on the Palatine Hill and to name it Rome, while Remus preferred it to be on the Aventine Hill and called Remora. This disagreement between the brothers culminated in Remus’s murder at the hands of Romulus, who finally founded the city that would become the capital of one of the greatest empires of antiquity, becoming its first king, with the conventional date being April 21, 753 BC.

The importance of this symbol is such that there are many replicas of the original statue, and it is also present on the shield of one of the city’s major institutions, the club A.S. Roma.