Games and Leisure Activities

The ambassador’s three main duties of representation, negotiation, and information all required his presence as a participant, or at least as a witness, to a variety of leisure activities that were part and parcel of contemporary daily life, but could also be organized specifically within the framework of diplomacy. This was particularly significant in the context of the contemporary practice and conceptualization of such activities, which were not confined to the role of occupying spare time (though avoiding boredom was one of the preoccupations of the upper classes), but could serve much less trivial social functions, including the rulers’ display of power, wealth, taste, and skills. Before the emergence of leisure and pastimes conceived as a distinct dimension of social life, the predominant setting within which similar activities took place was the culture of festival, with its characteristic rituals, mixing of people, and overlapping of functions and meanings.