Rithmomachia

Rithmomachia (also known as Rithmomachy, Arithmomachia, Rythmomachy, Rhythmomachy, The Philosophers' Game, and other variants) is an early European mathematical board game. Its earliest known description dates from the eleventh century. The name comes loosely from Greek and means "The Battle of the Numbers."^[a] The game is somewhat like chess except that most methods of capture depend on the numbers inscribed on each piece.

The game was used as an educational tool that teachers could introduce while teaching arithmetic as part of the quadrivium to those in Western Europe who received a classical education during the medieval period. David Sepkoski wrote that between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, "rithmomachia served as a practical exemplar for teaching the contemplative values of Boethian mathematical philosophy, which emphasized the natural harmony and perfection of number and proportion, that it was used both as a mnemonic drill for the study of Boethian number theory and, more importantly, as a vehicle for moral education, by reminding players of the mathematical harmony of creation."^[2] The game declined sharply in popularity in the 17th century, as it was no longer used in education, and potential players were not introduced to it during their schooling.

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