According to the Etymologiae by
Isidore of Seville, Alea was a
Greek soldier of the
Trojan War who invented the dicing game
tabula.[1][2] French sociologist
Roger Caillois uses the term "alea" to designate those games which rely on luck rather than skill in Man, Play and Games.[3] While Caillois notes the term is the Roman word for games of chance,
Robert C. Bell suggests that the Greek game tabula, a precursor to modern
backgammon, became more commonly known as "alea" "towards the end of the sixth century".[4] However, games historian
H. J. R. Murray asserts the shift in nomenclature was in the other direction and the game "alea" was later referred to as "tabula".[5]
^Barney et al. 2006, XVIII.lx–lxix.2 (p. 371): "lx. The gaming-board (De tabula) Dicing (alea), that is, the game played at the gaming-board (tabula), was invented by the Greeks during lulls of the Trojan War by a certain soldier named Alea, from whom the practice took its name. The board game is played with a dice-tumbler, counters, and dice."