Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/01/23/another-mystery-roman-dodecahedron-found-in-england.html
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Tabletop gaming, got it.
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One word: Stricklisel.
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For knitting twelve-fingered gloves?
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Socks for dodecapods?
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Dodecapodes.
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“Brutus, you come around the corner and find a tribe of heathen orcs. Roll a sextilius die for initiative!”
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Hey, no one cheers for the ”Podes”.
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yes that’s the first thing the picture of it made me think of too
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So you are an antipode?
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I wonder what would happen if you put balls the same size as the different holes and roll it? Would it then select the ball as per the side it lands on? Could be similar to Kau chim i.e. fortune telling for the afterlife?
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Like many, I had liked the theory that these might actually have been used for knitting. However, it does seem that theory doesn’t quite fit history.
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I knit, and I crochet too. The first time I saw one of those artefacts I thought “that looks like a knitting tool”. And… then I found the videos of people doing gloves on them, or on replicas of them. That seems reasonable to me. I agree, it’s possible that it could be wrong! But if you found one of those french knitting gizmos, which in my young day would be an empty cotton thread reel, made of wood, with four short nails driven into one end, what would you make of it? I mean, what would you make of it if you knew nothing about knitting? Or if you had only heard of knitting? You’d get exactly the same kind of ideas as are presented for this dodecahedron.
And to the notion that knitting wasn’t around in Roman times, I reply: “absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.” People have been weaving since time immemorial. People have been making string out of nettles since time immemorial. (My wife and I did that last month!) Just because knitting appeared (or, possibly, REAPPEARED ) in the UK from Scandinavia in the 16th century, doesn’t mean it wasn’t used elsewhere earlier. I seem to recall evidence of knitting in China, long before a strong European presence. No knititng in ancient Rome? I just don’t believe it.
But, in the interests of clouding the issue, I present you with this idea.
What if it was part of a structure where the rest of it was perishable, or even edible? What if it was the central structure for some kind of cake? Or even, pasta construction?
Gaming dice? Pfffft!
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Looks like a craft-person’s circumference or more general size gauge to me. Gotta love it - we don’t know what it is so, religion.
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A dormouse server?
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Obviously a Roman magic 8-ball
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It’s clearly a gift from Romulus and Remus to Lupa. They insisted she was a very good girl.
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But the little balls at each corner mean it would strongly tend not to roll, I believe.
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I thought these had been positively identified as a device used for knitting gloves:
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This article points out the main reason the knitting theory doesn’t make sense - the pegs are evenly placed - which means only one size cylinder can be knit with it. Another reason the ‘glove fingers’ doesn’t make sense is that gloves are knit from the cuff up to the fingers, not the other way around. Double-ended knitting needles are where it’s at for knitting cylinders of differing sizes. I know some folks like using two circular needles for this task, but I find that method super clumsy for knitting the fingers of gloves.
This object reminds me of tools for measuring spaghetti servings, but with 12 options instead of the modern-day 3-4 options.
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