"Playing with Life Uncertainties in Antiquity", in Marciniak K. (ed.), Our Mythical Hope: The Ancient Myths as a Medicine for the Hardships of Life in Children's and Young Adults' Culture, series "Our Mythical Childhood", Warsaw, Warsaw University Press, 2021

In Classical Greek vase-painting, young individuals of both sexes play several skill and chance games at a prenuptial age, a risky time, especially for girls. The aim of the painters is not to represent a real game, allowing the reconstruction of rules. Ludic activities transpose in a virtual world the critical phase of courtship and the hope for its successful result: marriage. Play and games create a metaphorical space where maidens display their agency over life uncertainties under the patronage of Eros and Aphrodite.