Ep 56: Dice! Astragalomancy pt 1

RJ and Elle begin their coverage of Astragalomancy, divination with Dice. RJ begins by describing his father's passion for Craps and Elle describes a dice tarot variant that used to be available in her store. RJ then begins the long, complex history of dice which goes well into pre-history. RJ describes the egyptian game of Senet and the Royal Game of Ur as some of the earliest examples of board games we know of. RJ then describes Astragali, the earliest dice which were made from a very specific knucklebone from a sheep. He then describes the ancient greek practice of Astragalomancy, where these bone dice were rolled to divine messages from the gods. RJ describes the statue of Hermes which has 56 different dice rolls and what they mean. Next, RJ describes the culture of gambling that grew from this divination practice and how it eventually grew into the Craps tables we know of today. RJ and Elle then roll the Astragali and see what messages the statue of Hermes has for them.

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