Nine mens morris
When opened, the box was used as a backgammon board. When the box was closed, one surface had a chessboard while the other had a Nine Men's Morris board. During the fourteenth century, Nine Men's Morris boards were a part of a set of games that were played on "shallow boxes with hinged lids" (Bell 8). The game was most popular in the 14th and 15th Century. The central square known as the Cauldron or Mill was a symbol of regeneration while the lines and squares coming out from the middle were symbols of "the four cardinal directions, the four elements and the four winds"(Mohr 30).Īlthough it is not known when Nine Men's Morris reached Britain, it was widely played during the Middle Ages, along with similar games such as Three, Six, and Twelve Men's Morris. To the ancient Celts, the Morris square was sacred. In the US, Kere, Tigua, Tew and Zuni Indians played a version of the game called paritariya, picarva, and pedreria. Evidence of the board scratched in the ground has also been found in the Bronze-Age Ireland, ancient Troy, and the Southwestern United States. In Ceylon two boards are cut on the steps leading to the hill at Mihimtali and others are found on a rock near Lankarama dagaba. AD 10) and in the Gokstad Viking ship (c.
Other boards have been discovered in Ceylon of Sri Lanka (c. The earliest known diagram of this game was found in an Egyptian temple in Kurna Egypt, dating around 1440 BC. Morris does not have to do with Morris dancers, instead it comes from the Latin word merellus, meaning the corruption of counters. It is an alignment and configuration game that is found widely around the world. Nine Men's Morris is believed to be one of the oldest games in history.