Abstract
This paper presents the complex history of the names given to knucklebones by differ- ent ancient civilizations. During the whole of antiquity these particular gaming tools had precise cultural and symbolical connotations, which influenced their gaming use and crossed many social, chronological, geographical and cultural boundaries.
The peculiar role played by knucklebones within human gaming practices stretches across several millennia. In western Europe during the early Middle Ages, their use went into decline in favour of cubic dice. Over the centuries scholarship has over- lapped and confounded the terminology relating to these two different gaming tradi- tions, causing many misunderstandings and translation issues.
However, thanks to advances in the field of game studies and through the examina- tion of literary, iconographic and archaeological data, it is possible to establish the original names given to games using astragals and also the complex signifiers and implications that they had for classical culture.