4
That video of the Roman dodecahedron finally got me curious enough to research them
Saw that TikTok from the guy at the Lincoln Museum holding one of those weird bronze dodecahedrons. Nobody has a clue what they were for, maybe a knitting tool or a calendar or some religious thing. Found out they've dug up over 100 of them across Europe and they all date from the 2nd to 4th century. Has anyone here actually handled one at a dig or in a collection? What's your best guess for what they used them for?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
hollyscott9d ago
I used to be pretty convinced they were just some kind of fancy knitting tool, the kind of thing you'd toss in a drawer and forget about. Then I actually held one at a local museum event, and the weight and the precision of those holes changed my mind. It's way too deliberately crafted to be just a tool, the thing feels important and intentional, like some kind of ritual object or a calendar that's lost its meaning.
1
cora8139d ago
Fair enough, but if it's a calendar or ritual object, why do all the surviving examples look so much like the fancy knitting tools people used a few centuries later? Sometimes a thing is just a well-made tool that happens to look mysterious when you don't have the manual.
2
morganl718d ago
Holding one changes everything... that weight and those precise holes don't feel accidental. My aunt had an old lacemaking bobbin that looked similar from across the room, but up close the craftsmanship is totally different. The carved patterns and the spacing between the holes are too consistent, too deliberate for a tool you'd just toss in a sewing basket. Feels more like something you'd use to track seasons or phases of the moon than to knit a scarf.
0