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Another Roman dodecahedron has been unearthed in England

smithsonianmag.com

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Re: Another Roman dodecahedron has been unearthed in England

#181

Post by monkeynotes »

layer8 wrote: post #176
mrob wrote: post #10

I like the theory that it's an examination piece to qualify as a master metalworker. Casting a flawless dodecahedron could have been a way to demonstrate your skill. The shape is somewhat arbitrary: anything that's both difficult to cast and easy to examine for quality would work, but once people started making dodecahedrons that's what people expected and it became a kind of standard.

That wouldn’t really explain why the holes have different sizes on different sides, and why some of the dodecahedrons were found in wealthy women’s graves.

Maybe all of those variations are ways to demonstrate mastery, like asymmetry of all the holes might demonstrate a certain skill.

I don't have an opinion of the overall hypothesis.

Re: Another Roman dodecahedron has been unearthed in England

#182

Post by Astraco »

dejj wrote: post #53
jhoechtl wrote: post #2

They are to portion noodles

No. > it’s been buried for 1,700 years https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti#History says: > The first written record of pasta comes from the Talmud in the 5th century AD > In the West, it may have first been worked into long, thin forms in Sicily around the 12th century

You must be fun at parties

Re: Another Roman dodecahedron has been unearthed in England

#184

Post by Aardwolf »

Levitz wrote: post #144
mrob wrote: post #10

I like the theory that it's an examination piece to qualify as a master metalworker. Casting a flawless dodecahedron could have been a way to demonstrate your skill. The shape is somewhat arbitrary: anything that's both difficult to cast and easy to examine for quality would work, but once people started making dodecahedrons that's what people expected and it became a kind of standard.

Maybe in some 2.000 years digital archeologists will wonder what in the world did we use fizzbuzz for

Wait until they unearth fizzbuzz enterprise edition...

Re: Another Roman dodecahedron has been unearthed in England

#185

Post by marcosdumay »

bee_rider wrote: post #127
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Romans had mass production facilities for some things. Possibly gloves. So a durable permanent jig is not an unreasonable suggestion.

I think the objection is not about unnecessary durability, but unnecessary complexity; you don’t need so many faces to make a glove.

If the thing was for making gloves, the faces would be for different finger sizes.

Re: Another Roman dodecahedron has been unearthed in England

#186

Post by throwway120385 »

godshatter wrote: post #90
anentropic wrote: post #22

A theory I saw recently suggested that they may have been used to hold candles, as night lights (could still have had some religious or ritual component too). The holes all being different diameters would then relate to different sized candles being needed to last all night, for longer and shorter nights at different times of the year. The twelve faces presumably corresponding to 12 months on the Julian calendar, whi…

The pegs do seem to lend themselves to steadying the object on a flat surface, placing one side up and one side down. This would make it easier for standing something up on the top side like a candle or letting something on the bottom side through (not sure what). If this were a candle holder, then it doesn't make a lot of sense. Wouldn't a candle just slip through to the bottom side, losing much of it's length insid…

If it's for a night light, you might want the light to go out while you sleep but before the candle is completely burned. You could save money on candles that way.

Re: Another Roman dodecahedron has been unearthed in England

#187

Post by ertian »

bee_rider wrote: post #127
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Romans had mass production facilities for some things. Possibly gloves. So a durable permanent jig is not an unreasonable suggestion.

I think the objection is not about unnecessary durability, but unnecessary complexity; you don’t need so many faces to make a glove.

Unnecessary complexity & expense, and if it were part of a mass production process you'd expect to find them clustered in production centers or something. These are found scattered randomly and individually in graves and border forts.

Re: Another Roman dodecahedron has been unearthed in England

#189

Post by tarikjn »

mrob wrote: post #10

I like the theory that it's an examination piece to qualify as a master metalworker. Casting a flawless dodecahedron could have been a way to demonstrate your skill. The shape is somewhat arbitrary: anything that's both difficult to cast and easy to examine for quality would work, but once people started making dodecahedrons that's what people expected and it became a kind of standard.

The equivalent today would be 3Dbenchy boats -- "we found an identical boat toy design in multiple sites made of different plastic materials, colors and sizes. It is spread universally around the World cities, found in sites of crafts, leading us to believe it is an idol of a new 21st century religion predominant among workers of the arts and crafts"
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