Jeux d’adultes et jeux d’enfants dans l’Histoire Auguste

Abstract

The Historia Augusta mentions a few games for adults or children. Dice and gambling seem to characterize bad emperors whereas ball games are seen as likely improve the moral and physical capacities of an adult emperor. The hoop, an attribute of boys, refers to a child-emperor, incapable of exerting power. The latrunculi game, the imitation of a magistrate by children and a pseudo child game imitating soldiers concern contemporaneous people in high position, political targets for the Historia Augusta.

Keywords

• ball
• dice
• Historia Augusta
• gambling
• hoop
• imperial ideology