Introduction

Probability owes its existence to gambling. It was game-theoretical problems, which was the main motivation for the pioneers of probability, and the notions of odds and numerical probabilities arose from the study of chance games. But let me begin the story at its beginning. The beginning seems to be a small bone, called astragalus, lying above the heel bone, called talus. ¹ The astragalus from sheep has form and size, which makes it suitable for dice games. The astragali is reported to be much more numerous (10–50 times) than other kinds of bones in prehistory archeological excavations and, moreover, many of the prehistoric astragali show clear signs of being used for some purpose. Since there is clear evidence that the astragalus was commonly used as a die from 3500 B.C. until 1600 A.D., ² it is a fair guess that primitive man used the astragalus for some kind of dice game. The earliest evidence of gambling with astragali is an Egyptian tomb painting from 3500 B.C. showing a nobleman and his wife using an astragalus in a board game, and in the tomb of Reny-Soube at Thebe in Upper Egypt archeologists have found a complete board game ³ containing three astragali. From the antique Greek and Roman authors, we know that the astragali was diligently used in many different kinds of games.