What is "alea"

Alea may refer to:

• ALEA (WorldWide Infosoft Services), a Web Desktop Management Tool
• ALEA Ensemble, Austrian ensemble for contemporary music
• Alea (game publisher), originally a game-publishing subsidiary of Ravensburger, now purchased by Heidelburger
• Alea (Greek soldier) - origin of name "aleatoire" (random)
• Alea, Argolis, a small town in Argolis, Greece
• Alea, Arcadia, a village in the municipal unit Tegea, Arcadia, Greece
• ALEA, American Law and Economics Association
• ALEA, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency

According to the Etymologiae by Isidore of Seville, Alea was a Greek soldier of the Trojan War who invented the dicing game Tabula. French sociologist Roger Caillois uses the term "alea" to designate those games which rely on luck rather than skill in Man, Play and Games. While Caillois notes the term is the Roman word for games of chance, Robert C. Bell suggests that the Greek game Tabula, a precursor to modern backgammon, became more commonly known as "alea" "towards the end of the sixth century". However, games historian H. J. R. Murray asserts the shift in nomenclature was in the other direction and the game "alea" was later referred to as "tabula".