The Mysterious Dodecahedrons of the Roman Empire
Within the first episode of Buck Rogers, the Eighties tv collection about an astronaut from the current marooned within the twenty fifth century, our hero visits a museum of the long run. A employees member brandishes a mid-Twentieth-century hair dryer. “Early hand laser,” he opines. As an remark of how widespread information will get misplaced over time, it’s each humorous and poignant. As a result of our museums additionally inventory objects from the previous that utterly baffle the specialists.
One of many Strongest Clues: The Map
Few are as intriguing because the hundred or so Roman dodecahedrons that we’ve got discovered. We all know subsequent to nothing about these mysterious objects—so little, actually, that the assorted theories about their which means and performance are themselves a supply of leisure.
One of many strongest clues we’ve got is that this map, which tells us that they have been significantly widespread in a single nook of the Roman Empire: northern Gaul and Roman Germany.
So, what do we all know?
Roman dodecahedrons—extra correctly known as Gallo-Roman dodecahedrons—are 12-sided hole objects, both sides pentagonal in form and virtually all the time include a gap. The outer edges usually characteristic rounded protrusions.
Many of the objects are produced from bronze, however some are in stone and don’t have holes or knobs. The dodecahedrons are sometimes fist-sized but can range in peak from about 1.5 to 4.5 inches (4 to 11 centimeters). The scale of the holes additionally varies, from 0.2 to 1.5 inches (6 to 40 millimeters). Two opposing holes usually are of differing sizes.
Objects of this sort have been unknown till the primary one was present in 1739 in Aston, Hertfordshire. In all, at the least 116 have been dug up from websites as far aside as northern England and Hungary. However most have been present in Gaul, significantly within the Rhine basin, in what’s now Switzerland, jap France, southern Germany, and the Low International locations. Some have been present in coin hoards, indicating their house owners thought of them worthwhile. Most could be dated to the 2nd and third centuries A.D.
A Toy, a Instrument, a Calendar?
No point out of the dodecahedrons from Roman occasions has survived. Any idea as to their operate relies solely on hypothesis. Some strategies:
- A selected sort of cube for a recreation since misplaced to historical past.
- A magical object, presumably from the Celtic faith. An identical small, hole object with protrusions was recovered from Pompeii in a field with both jewelry or objects for magic.
- A toy for youngsters.
- A weight for fishing nets.
- The top of a chieftain’s scepter.
- A sort of musical instrument.
- A instrument to estimate distances and survey land, particularly for navy functions.
- An instrument to estimate the dimensions of and distance to things on the battlefield for the advantage of the artillery.
- A tool for detecting counterfeit cash.
- A calendar for figuring out the spring and autumn equinoxes and/or the optimum date for sowing wheat.
- A candle holder. (Wax residue was present in one or two of the objects recovered.)
- A connector for steel or picket poles.
- A knitting instrument particularly for gloves. (That may clarify why no dodecahedrons have been discovered within the hotter areas of the Empire.)
- A gauge to calibrate water pipes.
- A base for eagle requirements. (Every Roman legion carried a symbolic fowl on a employees into battle.)
- An astrological machine used for fortune-telling. (Inscribed on a dodecahedron present in Geneva in 1982 have been the Latin names for the 12 indicators of the zodiac.)
An Indochinese Connection
The geographic unfold of the dodecahedrons we all know of is explicit: They have been all present in territories administered by Rome, inhabited by Celts. That enhances the speculation that they have been particular to Gallo-Roman tradition, which emerged from the contact between the Celtic peoples of Gaul and their Roman conquerors.
Intriguingly, archaeologists within the Sixties discovered comparable objects alongside the Maritime Silk Street in Southeast Asia, besides smaller and manufactured from gold. They don’t seem to predate the Gallo-Roman artefacts and could also be proof of Roman affect on the traditional Indochinese kingdom of Funan.
For now, and maybe ceaselessly, the thriller of the Roman dodecahedrons stays unsolved.
This article initially appeared on Big Think, dwelling of the brightest minds and largest concepts of all time. Sign up for Big Think’s newsletter.