No 10D

Location: South-western exedra of the south gallery, on the marble balustrade of the sixth lodge (counting from east to west).

Material: Marble surface, 6th century.

Dimensions: 14.5 cm in width by 14 cm in length. 

Condition: Shallow carving, not intersected by other marks.

Technique: Incised.

Description: The design consists of three squares—small, medium, and large—placed one inside the other and connected by four lines that pass  through the centers of their sides.  The squares are also divided by two diagonal lines. The board appears poorly designed: the sides of the squares are not straight, and the gaps between them vary in size.

Attribution: Game board for alignment games, known as Merels (or Twelve Men’s Morris).

Publications: Thomov, Th. The Game of “Nine-Mens Morris” in the Church of St Sophia, Constantinople, in Bulgarian Middle Ages: Alliance, Power, History, ed. by Georgi Nikolov and Angel Nikolov (Sofia: University of Sofia St Kliment Ohridski Press, 2013), 437-452.

Commentary: Thomov, The Game of “Nine-Mens Morris”, 437-452.

Date: Unknown.