ANCIENT NANOTECHNOLOGY!
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/this-1600-year-old-gob...
A Roman Glass Gaming Die
11–20 of 36 posts
Re: A Roman Glass Gaming Die
#12This is as likely a magical object as a gaming die. Glass would have been expensive for a mere gambling device, whereas bone dice were cheap. It's a Platonic solid found in Egypt, the epicenter of Neoplatonism. And the symbols on the sides are astrological.
Magical, in the sense of an Oracle casting a prediction. Which makes it pretty much the same as a D&D dungeon master rolling to determine the outcome of an event, except the players (and maybe the DM) believed it was real.
Could have been rolled as an oracle. Although glass strikes me as not the best material for that. Especially ancient glass that didn't have all of the chemical strengtheners that modern glass does
It might have been just an object of contemplation. Like, you can see how all of the heavenly bodies fit snugly into a perfect geometric figure and just wonder at it.
If there's any rhyme or reason to how the symbols are arrayed on the sides, it could have been a mnemonic or instructional device for casting horoscopes.
And, while it's probably too opaque to have been used for scrying, there's that too.
Re: A Roman Glass Gaming Die
#13Pity the British museum doesn't make a nice replica of that I know a few gamers who woudl buy them.
Re: A Roman Glass Gaming Die
#14I wonder how biased it is, and what lengths they took to make it unbiased.
Re: A Roman Glass Gaming Die
#15Wonderful. You can get so much Maths out of probability. The fifth most popular page on my personal Web site is http://sohcahtoa.org.uk/pages/rolling-two-dice-experiment.ht...
Off-hand, I would say you can't use chi-square unless you rolled at least 360 pairs of dice. Chi-square assumes a normal distribution and the rule-of-thumb you need at least ten hits and ten misses before the sample distribution approaches normal. Source: just helped my daughter pass her AP Stat mid-term.
Re: A Roman Glass Gaming Die
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
Magical, in the sense of an Oracle casting a prediction. Which makes it pretty much the same as a D&D dungeon master rolling to determine the outcome of an event, except the players (and maybe the DM) believed it was real.
Could have been rolled as an oracle. Although glass strikes me as not the best material for that. Especially ancient glass that didn't have all of the chemical strengtheners that modern glass does It might have been just an object of contemplation. Like, you can see how all of the heavenly bodies fit snugly into a perfect geometric figure and just wonder at it. If there's any rhyme or reason to how the symbols are ar…
Dude (or dudette?), what do you practice?
(Can take this to PM if you prefer).
Re: A Roman Glass Gaming Die
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
Could have been rolled as an oracle. Although glass strikes me as not the best material for that. Especially ancient glass that didn't have all of the chemical strengtheners that modern glass does It might have been just an object of contemplation. Like, you can see how all of the heavenly bodies fit snugly into a perfect geometric figure and just wonder at it. If there's any rhyme or reason to how the symbols are ar…
Dude (or dudette?), what do you practice? (Can take this to PM if you prefer).
[deleted]
Re: A Roman Glass Gaming Die
#18Wonderful. You can get so much Maths out of probability. The fifth most popular page on my personal Web site is http://sohcahtoa.org.uk/pages/rolling-two-dice-experiment.ht...
Off-hand, I would say you can't use chi-square unless you rolled at least 360 pairs of dice. Chi-square assumes a normal distribution and the rule-of-thumb you need at least ten hits and ten misses before the sample distribution approaches normal. Source: just helped my daughter pass her AP Stat mid-term.
We are getting there (250 rolls now), I'll put the extra throws up. Your finding may come as a surprise to many geneticists however...
Re: A Roman Glass Gaming Die
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
Could have been rolled as an oracle. Although glass strikes me as not the best material for that. Especially ancient glass that didn't have all of the chemical strengtheners that modern glass does It might have been just an object of contemplation. Like, you can see how all of the heavenly bodies fit snugly into a perfect geometric figure and just wonder at it. If there's any rhyme or reason to how the symbols are ar…
Dude (or dudette?), what do you practice? (Can take this to PM if you prefer).
[deleted]
Re: A Roman Glass Gaming Die
#20> Acquired by the current owner's father in Egypt in the 1920s
I think the ethics of trading such goods (at high prices) are bit questionable. It is a piece of local cultural heritage which more than likely was acquired in a more or less exploitative way.