What Were the Dodecahedrons of the Roman Era For?
The Gallo-Roman dodecahedrons are a class of small, hollow bronze (copper alloy) objects, cast in the form of a regular dodecahedron — a twelve-faced polyhedron with pentagonal faces. Each face contains a circular hole of varying diameter, the holes connecting to the hollow interior, and each of the twenty vertices typically bears a small knob or projection. The objects range in size from approximately 4 to 11 centimetres across and have been found in quantities now exceeding 130 documented examples, with the distribution concentrated in the former Gallo-Roman provinces of the Roman Empire: modern France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Britain. Virtually none have been found in the Mediterranean core of the empire — Italy, Spain, Greece, or North Africa — suggesting a distinctively northern European function or tradition.
Introduction
The Gallo-Roman dodecahedrons are a class of small, hollow bronze (copper alloy) objects, cast in the form of a regular dodecahedron — a twelve-faced polyhedron with pentagonal faces. Each face contains a circular hole of varying diameter, the holes connecting to the hollow interior, and each of the twenty vertices typically bears a small knob or projection. The objects range in size from approximately 4 to 11 centimetres across and have been found in quantities now exceeding 130 documented examples, with the distribution concentrated in the former Gallo-Roman provinces of the Roman Empire: modern France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Britain. Virtually none have been found in the Mediterranean core of the empire — Italy, Spain, Greece, or North Africa — suggesting a distinctively northern European function or tradition.