Alfonso X the Wise: The Book of Games

The Game of Astronomical Tables
illustration from the Book of Games
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Alfonso_LJ_97V.jpg)
no copyright infringement intended

El Libro de los Juegos (The Book of Games), known also as El Libro de acedrex, dados e tablas (The book of Chess, Dice and Tables) was written in the thirteen century. There was a king, Alfonso X the Wise of Castile, León, and Galicia who had commissioned it, and the book was completed in 1283: ninety-three leaves of parchment, integrating text and miniatures. Several Arabic sources had been compiled, their text translated into Castilian, and illustrations added to ease the understanding. Alfonso X remained known in history as a great king, a poet, a musician, a legislator, and an astrologist. The Alphonsus Crater on the Moon is named after him.

illustration from the Book of Games
(http://www.tabladeflandes.com/frank_mayer/frank_mayer144.html)
no copyright infringement intended

The book is a treatise of how to play three board games: the game of skill (chess), the game of chance (dice) and the game of skill and chance (backgammon). The final part of the book takes the board games to a higher level, giving them an astrological interpretation. Hundred and forty-four games are explained and illustrated in a functional structure based on the numbers seven and twelve, mirroring the King's interpretation of the Book of Revelation, which was modeling (so believed Alfonso) the universe of seven planets and twelve zodiacal signs.

illustration from the Book of Games
(http://www.tabladeflandes.com/frank_mayer/frank_mayer144.html)
no copyright infringement intended

The only known original is held in the library of the monastery of San Lorenzo del Escorial. A 1334 copy is held in the library of the Royal Academy of History in Madrid. To make your task easier, here is a link to an English translation of the book:

http://jnsilva.ludicum.org/HJT2k9/AlfonsoX.pdf

NOTE: I used the info provided by Wikipedia and by the introduction to the English version of the book.


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