Mystery 6 of 15
6. What Were Roman Dodecahedrons Actually For?
The Roman Empire left behind enormous quantities of written material and physical artifacts. That makes it especially strange that historians still cannot explain these objects.
Roman dodecahedrons are small, hollow metal objects with 12 pentagonal faces. The faces contain circular openings of different sizes, while small knobs usually project from the corners.
Examples have been discovered across parts of the former Roman Empire, particularly in northwestern Europe.
The problem is that no known Roman writer bothered to explain what they were.
That has produced an extraordinary range of theories. They have been described as surveying tools, range-finding devices, candle holders, religious objects, fortune-telling devices, knitting tools, measuring instruments, children’s toys, and demonstrations of a metalworker’s skill.
Some individual theories can explain certain features. None explains all of the evidence well enough to end the debate.
Why It Is Still a Mystery
No surviving contemporary text or illustration clearly identifies a dodecahedron or describes how one was used. Archaeological context has not supplied a decisive answer either.
Whatever their purpose was, it may have been so ordinary to the people using them that nobody thought it was worth writing down.
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