The game of Ajax and Achilles. A backgammon-like race across five parallel lines with dice, blot-hitting strategy, and the sacred centre line — reconstructed from Alcaeus, Plato, Theocritus, and the Exekias vase.
⬤ Ajax (AI)
0
You
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0
Ajax
⬤ Achilles (You)
Roll the die to begin your turn.
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Die
— Pente Grammai loaded. You are Achilles (white). Ajax (AI) plays dark. —
How to Play
Race all 5 pieces counter-clockwise around the board to reach the Holy Line (centre). You are Achilles (white); Ajax (AI) plays dark blue.
Click Roll Die to roll 1d6.
Click a highlighted piece to move it that many steps.
Land on the Holy Line to bring a piece home — pieces there are generally safe.
A lone piece (azux) is vulnerable — an opponent landing on it sends it back to start!
Two or more pieces on a point block the opponent.
First to place all 5 pieces on the Holy Line wins.
The Board
Holy Line — the sacred centre (ἱερὰ γραμμή). Reach it to win.
White — your pieces (Achilles). Start at bottom-right, move counter-clockwise.
Dark blue — Ajax (AI). Starts at top-left, moves counter-clockwise.
Red ring — a lone azux (blot). Vulnerable to capture!
Green ring — valid move destination.
Historical Note
Pente grammai ("five lines") is depicted on over 160 Greek vases, most famously the Exekias amphora (c. 540 BCE, Vatican Museums), where Ajax and Achilles play between battles at Troy. Ajax calls "three," Achilles "four." The game featured a single cubic die and five pieces per player. The central Holy Line was the winning destination — "holy" because pieces there were considered inviolable, like a suppliant at a sanctuary. The proverb "to move from the Holy Line" — attested in Alcaeus, Sophron, and Plato — described a desperate or aggressive gambit: abandoning safety to knock the opponent's blots.