Disputatio:Ludus potatorius

Alexander the Great seems to have liked drinking games as well, as Plutarch describes in his biography s:el:Αλέξανδρος#70 (ch. 70):

[70] Ὁ δ’ Ἀλέξανδρος ἀπὸ τῆς πυρᾶς γενόμενος, καὶ συναγαγὼν πολλοὺς τῶν φίλων καὶ τῶν ἡγεμόνων ἐπὶ δεῖπνον, ἀγῶνα προὔθηκε καὶ στέφανον ἀκρατοποσίας. ὁ μὲν οὖν πλεῖστον πιὼν Πρόμαχος ἄχρι χοῶν τεσσάρων προῆλθε· καὶ λαβὼν τὸ νικητήριον, στέφανον ταλαντιαῖον, ἡμέρας τρεῖς ἐπέζησε· τῶν δ’ ἄλλων, ὡς Χάρης φησί, τετταράκοντα καὶ εἷς ἀπέθανον πιόντες, ἰσχυροῦ τῇ μέθῃ κρύους ἐπιγενομένου.

--UV 23:13, 24 Septembris 2006 (UTC)

English translation from [1]:

[70] But Alexander, after returning from the funeral pyre and assembling many of his friends and officers for supper, proposed a contest in drinking neat wine, the victor to be crowned. Well, then, the one who drank the most, Promachus, got as far as four pitchers; he took the prize, a crown of a talent's worth, but lived only three days afterwards. And of the rest, according to Chares, forty-one died of what they drank, a violent chill having set in after their debauch.

--UV 21:29, 25 Septembris 2006 (UTC)

Hmm, shocking for a man who spent his life as a soldier =].--Ioshus ^(disp) 22:55, 25 Septembris 2006 (UTC)

Cottabus

Cottabus is described in a number of sources besides Plato, and there are a lot of variations. A colleague of mine once wrote a paper on this... but probably there's a sufficient article in the OCD. --Iustinus 21:57, 25 Septembris 2006 (UTC)

en claimed this was the first reference we have of a drinking game, I took it on faith. I'll have a look at the ocd tomorrow night at class.--Ioshus ^(disp) 22:54, 25 Septembris 2006 (UTC)

Oh, that it is the first reference I would not doubt. It's just not the only one by a long shot. --65.27.110.56 23:19, 25 Septembris 2006 (UTC) (er, that's me, Iustinus. Logging in on this computer is just too inconvenient.)