The Roman dodecahedron is the size of a golf ball, made of some copper alloy, and has no writing on it or signs of wear and tear. Dozens of these objects have been discovered in Europe, all from Roman times. They are not mentioned in a single written source and their function remains a mystery 1/ - ThreadSky

helendecruz.net • 14 days ago

The Roman dodecahedron is the size of a golf ball, made of some copper alloy, and has no writing on it or signs of wear and tear. Dozens of these objects have been discovered in Europe, all from Roman times. They are not mentioned in a single written source and their function remains a mystery 1/

Comments

rayoday.bsky.social•14 days ago

Early Covid modelling

whoniversal.bsky.social•14 days ago

Out of interest, what patterns and shadows do you get If you put a candle or light source in it?

broudsov.bsky.social•14 days ago

I suspect they are some kind of tool or instrument. Very much like the following one in the picture below. Like the dodecahedron it has openings of different specific sizes.

jessicaferris.bsky.social•14 days ago

Oh that’s cool. They’d be handy to have for erecting frameworks — like for temporary shelters, or tripods or cooking setups — with poles held at various angles.

adsquires.bsky.social•14 days ago

Yes, I was thinking that. For wooden sticks that have since degraded away?

michaelcarniol.bsky.social•14 days ago

This hypothesis makes sense to me. Bury the bottom half. Those bumps catch the dirt underneath for stability and show the distance that an inserted pole must protrude through. Easier than trying to dig deep holes for poles. They are pentagonal, like a fort. But doesn’t explain the one without holes.

riwallis.bsky.social•14 days ago

The context of the discoveries suggests connection to money. Found with coin hoards and in notable trading locations. While the lack of any record in the center of Roman empire suggests they could have been illicit.

That tells me this was about gambling.

mullaneygem.bsky.social•14 days ago

Used in games of chance?

riwallis.bsky.social•13 days ago

That's the most likely to me. I did think maybe they were a kind of "license" to trade or handle large sums (rarity/difficulty of manufacture preventing counterfeiting), but then surely there would be some record.

A silver one has also been found. Poss denoting success/status in the game.

joesimons.bsky.social•14 days ago

brandontbishop.bsky.social•14 days ago

Fairly restricted part of Europe for the most part, if I remember right.

Not so much "Roman" as a specifically regional thing.

chiliconkarma.bsky.social•14 days ago

They seem to all be blunted.

polyphemuswinks.bsky.social•14 days ago

First one in with "it's for knitting gloves"!

And no, I don't bother reading other people's comments, it takes time away from me talking about what I think, because that's why the Internet exists.

thinkbetter.bsky.social•14 days ago

Supposedly it's a knitting tool. 🪡🧵🧤

ericlinuskaplan.bsky.social•14 days ago

maybe each one had a different function?

michellefranklin.bsky.social•14 days ago

They are absolutely NOT for knitting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmjTnRPzdVQ

piglet.bsky.social•14 days ago

bless you!! and thank you.

truth chasing rumor, as it were. a good fight.

netibitu.bsky.social•14 days ago

They are to assit knitting gloves. Their purpose is not a mystery. Just like roman concrete and Damascus steel.

helendecruz.net•14 days ago

of course archaeologists have speculated. They may be used in magic, children’s toys (always a last resort in explaining mystery objects), even knitting patterns for Roman gloves. What do you think? Since we don’t know your guess may be as good as any /end

rivertalesien.bsky.social•14 days ago

Roman fidget toys

raymondgibson.bsky.social•14 days ago

Sinker for fishing nets?

michelbestaat.thereforeiam.eu•14 days ago

Maybe they found them too and asked the same question.

infovoy.bsky.social•14 days ago

I like this explanation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7hBDqCsLuk

keithng.bsky.social•14 days ago

i've got ideas

commonmugwort.bsky.social•14 days ago

I’ve always thought they were for making cord, but the one without holes in the picture troubles me.

chirila.bsky.social•14 days ago

Having trouble figuring out how this might be used for knitting or weaving. Knitting with needles is more recent than Roman times. Could be a way to twist threads for cord weaving though. Maybe?

auntbenjy.bsky.social•14 days ago

I was thinking kid of like a knitting dolly

jsthrill.modphi.com•14 days ago

The knitting tool proposal seems fairly plausible to me.

piglet.bsky.social•14 days ago

as a knitter (and almost everything else involving string) and as an experimental archaeologist (Bronze age through Migration era), no. all the no.

mattweiner19.bsky.social•14 days ago

I regret to say that my immediate reaction was "oh I know what that's for"
https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-184

felipedebrigard.bsky.social•14 days ago

Maybe they played D&D! 😆

nannus.bsky.social•14 days ago

I suspect a connection to (Neo-)Platonism, but that is of course pure specutlation.

theotherjustin.bsky.social•14 days ago

I'm Team Knitting Patterns.

piglet.bsky.social•14 days ago

that was a heckuva theory. pure imagination.

jwerther.bsky.social•14 days ago

Are we sure it’s not just an early one of these?

davgar51.bsky.social•14 days ago

I was thinking that too, because in the first picture the holes are different sizes

helendecruz.net•14 days ago

One of the hypotheses is children's toy .... But metal was rather than it is now hard to think they used that material for toddlers.

jwerther.bsky.social•13 days ago

(I was being facetious 🤪)

chrisrose.bsky.social•14 days ago

Tool for measuring pasta?

hotoynoodle.bsky.social•14 days ago

they didn't have pasta in ancient rome. :-)

texasepee.bsky.social•14 days ago

Fill it with spices and stick in in the cavity of a roasting pig?

sheepassisted.bsky.social•14 days ago

I thought ritual/religion was the last resort. Or sometimes the first. 😂

sylviawenmackers.be•14 days ago

In secondary school, we visited the Gallo-Roman museum in Tongeren, which had a *fantastic* temporary exhibition about Roman dodecahedra (designed by a film director). The objects fascinated me massively! I even made a cardboard replica. Meanwhile, I prefer the spool knitting hypothesis. 🧶

rocabatus.bsky.social•14 days ago

They seem like borgesian objects. Some use in divination, perhaps?

joseph-yossarian.bsky.social•14 days ago

The third one is an icosahedron not a dodecahedron.

helendecruz.net•14 days ago

Yes see alt text

warnkekim.bsky.social•14 days ago

Clearly a foot massager....

looly.bsky.social•14 days ago

twelve-sided die with some kind of organic material that has long since rotted away that marked the numbers or dots or whatever.

looly.bsky.social•14 days ago

i don't think they are weighted properly, but maybe you could approximate randomness by throwing/spinning them higher in the air than modern dice.

looly.bsky.social•14 days ago

they wouldn't have had the precise engineering to make a 12 sided die that was true, but we know they had four sided die, why not 12 sided this way?

soniafocke.bsky.social•14 days ago

They did, actually, have twenty-sided dice. They persisted into the Middle Ages where Alfonso X‘s Book of Games mentions them. The Roman version seems to be linked to divination, as they had symbols rather than numbers. But they look nothing like the dodecahedrons.

looly.bsky.social•14 days ago

Cool, thanks for sharing!

jamtoday.bsky.social•14 days ago

Its a knitting tool for making gloves.

aerrante.bsky.social•14 days ago

divination

waywornwyrm.bsky.social•14 days ago

Some archeologists digging at a Roman fort on the south edge of the Alps showed some locals and the old women of the nearby town said it was for making gloves, and brought out their versions that looked almost exactly the same.

fimo.bsky.social•14 days ago

https://youtu.be/lADTLozKm0I?si=apy8YjiJU_JXvXPx

landbeyond.bsky.social•14 days ago

Seems plausible. I would not have guessed but seeing the video it makes a lot of sense. I do a lot of sennits and weaves as part of traditional seamanship, and it is very similar, the fundamentals are the same.

landbeyond.bsky.social•14 days ago

A fine string of gold or other valuable metal would make a good "purse", easy to carry and unravel a short length to cut as part of a barter.

fimo.bsky.social•14 days ago

Sorry, that was a bit click-baity, but the video is worth watching. Her theory looks good - the device can be used for weaving wire cords/ ornamental 'chains', which are known from archaeological records.

thegogglesdonowt.bsky.social•14 days ago

There's some Platonic mysticism re. dodecahedrons & the structure of the universe.

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato-timaeus/

thegogglesdonowt.bsky.social•14 days ago

"He selects as the basic corpuscles...four of the five regular solids: the tetrahedron for fire, the octahedron for air, the icosahedron for water, and the cube for earth. (The remaining...dodecahedron, is “used for the universe as a whole,”...since it approaches most nearly the shape of a sphere.)"

thegogglesdonowt.bsky.social•14 days ago

https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0180%3Atext%3DTim.%3Asection%3D55c

patricksamphire.bsky.social•14 days ago

The holes appear to be all different sizes, so maybe for measuring something?

sheepassisted.bsky.social•14 days ago

I like the idea that they are a diz for attenuating spinning fibre. I don’t think they were though. Possibly a way of drawing out wire, would make more sense.

deleca.bsky.social•14 days ago

Prostate tickler

americaninlisbon.bsky.social•14 days ago

Game.

taojonesing.bsky.social•14 days ago

Jacks.

fustbariclation.bsky.social•14 days ago

I see the holes are different sizes, which supports the gold chain knitting hypothesis - allowing different sized chains.

carlosamammal.bsky.social•14 days ago

For selling or measuring amounts of pasta? 1 serve, 2 serves, 3 serves etc.

goniah.bsky.social•14 days ago

This is obviously a dog toy - for kibble inside 😉

tinydoctor.bsky.social•14 days ago

They bring to mind dryer balls.

looly.bsky.social•14 days ago

alternate: a clock. number on each side. you're sitting at your desk, the temple rings the bells that it's 4 o'clock, you move the clock to the correct hour, you're home in time for super.

felix uxor, beatam vitam.

looly.bsky.social•14 days ago

*supper, dang it.

looly.bsky.social•14 days ago

makes sense with the varying quality. all kinds of people need clocks, it's a decor item. the rich would have highly ornate ones. just like now!

juliaringma.bsky.social•14 days ago

Early Legos.

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