Published in Games from Antiquity to Baroque

Keywords: Keywords: Alexander Neckam, Christianity, De naturis rerum, Dice games, Games of chance.

In the first centuries of Christianity, theologians and philosophers viewed with suspicion and contempt both games in general, because they were considered pagan superstitions, and board games in particular, which, associated with gambling, made any Christian lose his head. Aleae or games of chance, where dice were used, were forbidden, and condemned by numerous councils and moral treatises. In this sense, at the end of the 12th century, the English philosopher Alexander Neckam, as a continuator of an antiludic Christian tradition, included in a chapter of his encyclopedia De naturis rerum a section dedicated to dice players where he explains their negative consequences: robbery, fights, economic ruin, and blasphemy. This paper presents, together with an introductory study, the only translation in Spanish, as far as we know, of chapter 183 of book II of De naturis rerum.