Board Games as Social Lubricant: Cases from Medieval Anatolia and Iberia

Abstract

This research aims at demonstrating the positive role of board games in contributing to the complex cross-cultural social environments in late medieval Iberia and Anatolia. This research utilizes the theory of social normative behavior (TSNB) while explaining the role of board games as social lubricant among otherwise divergent groups. According to the Theory of Social Normative Behaviour, game playing is considered outside the normative social behavior and facilitates interaction between divergent groups. The theory proved to be useful in explaining the role of board games in cross-cultural interaction in the Bronze Age Levant. In the late medieval historical context of Anatolia and Iberia, many chance-based and skill-based games are known to be widely played among not only the upper and lower classes but also culturally divergent groups. Various books on board games from the Abbasid era, such as Al-Adli al-Rumi’s tenth-century Kitab ash-shatranj (Book of Chess), Ar-Razi’s Latif fi ‘sh-shatranj (Entertainment with Chess), As-Suli’s Kitab ash-shatranj (Book of Chess), and Alphonso X’s thirteenth-century Libro de los Juegos (Book of Games) provide evidence for vertical and horizontal social interactions occurring around the board. In this regard, this research defends the idea that board games as social lubricants helped create a rather peaceful atmosphere shared by players coming from divergent cultural backgrounds in late medieval Anatolia and Iberia.