(There is at least one example of an icosohedron, although I’ve no idea if it’s considered canonical or not)
I’m curious (like you I have an anthropology degree, but we never cared about Europe and I have not followed current research on this so I may just not have been able to turn it up): is there, somewhere, a survey of the measurements of the existing dodecahedra? I know they come in different sizes, but is there a comprehensive list of those sizes and the hole measurements to see if there is (for example), at least a constant ratio between faces and holes, or between opposing holes?
I still think the use of the dodecahedra as forms for knitting/crocheting gloves (and possibly) other items is the likeliest explanation – it explains the “knobs” at the vertices and would be consistent with their presence in cold climates.
But I’ll throw something else out there. This may simply be coincidence, but when I looked at the distribution of dodecahedra on a map it reminded me of something else – the distribution of underground temples to Mithras (called mithreaea, plural of mithraeum ):
Distribution of dodecahedra
Distribution of mithreaea:
I acknowledge that the distribution of Mithraea is broader, and extends farther to the south and west (and even into Africa), but both maps have concentrations near the border with Germania, and are prominent in modern-day France and Britain.
The dodecahedra date from the 2nd to 4th centuries CE, which overlaps with the spread of Mithraism through the Roman empire in the 1st through fourth centuries CE.
Exactly what Mithraism believed and practiced is still heavily discussed – they didn’t call it a “Mystery Religion” for nothingg. Very little in the way of writing has come down to us. I personally thin that David Ulansey was onto something when he wrote The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries, which saw in it a new Roman religion that used images from earlier eastern Mithraism in a new context. But, in any case, there’s no denying that Roman Mithraism had heavy astronomical symbolism, and in particlar zodiacal images. So it wouldn’t be hard to see a twelve0-sided object as ghaving particular significance to them.
I’ll add that Mithraea tended to be found near military encampments – Mithraismn was evidently a “soldier’s religion”, and the army helped spread it through the Empire. So the dodecahedra might v ery well be associated with the army, as well, since they’re found in the same places. Even if they might not be associated with Mithraism.
I note that it’s not just the distribution (which shows concenbtrations in the same places), but also the coincidence of dates and the zodiac imagery/twelve sides coincidence.
No, it describes it in the text. If you want a map, you’ll need to read German and have academic journal access.
As you yourself noted, there are no dodecahedra in Dacia, Italy, Africa or Spain etc. So this is just a distribution of where the Roman Army was, whereas the dodecahedron distribution is way more restricted.
Also, were any of the D12s found with Mithraic cult items?
The Romans had a 12-month year and 12 constellations. This is not unique to Mithraism. And the dates are similar - just the timing for the occupation of, and Romanization of, the Gallo-German frontier.
Damned if I know – I’m pointing out the juxtapositions.
Right. But that might mean they haven’t found them there yet, or that some other factor contributed.
Of course. But the fact that Mithraism was so concerned with the zodiac and the dodecahedrons have twelve sides is yet another interesting coincidence.
That would be very unusual - as I’ve pointed out before, preservation conditions were better in those other parts of the Empire. Mithraism was certainly big in the rest of the Empire.
That’s just some God of the Gaps-level arguing from ignorance. If you don’t have a suggestion for such a factor, it’s a red herring.
The Romans went through various periods when astrology was all the rage. This isn’t unique to Mithraism. And what reason do you have to associate the twelve sides here with the zodiac? There are no markings to indicate any links to the signs…
Why just twelve unmarked sides? We can see other Roam dodecahedrons that are so marked. And why the 12, but nothing for the as-important-to-Mithraism number seven? Where’s the bull symbolism? Or Sol & Lunar symbology?
Other than the not-even-a-correlation of distribution and the number 12, what links these artefacts to Mithraism? Have they ever been found in a cult site? Been mentioned in texts describing the cult?
It’s really, really hard to put prices on things from the past, but - comparing it with the ubiquity of other cast bronze articles I’ve already covered, like lamps and fibula, but allowing for the bespoke nature of these - I’d guess something like this would cost more than a few day’s pay , less than a month’s (after expenses, a soldier saw around 12 denarii a month). Around 8-10 denarii, I’d guess. Around the same or slightly more than the high end of a good basic tunic (5-7 d.)
The Greeks and Romans didn’t really know about Rangers or Druids, they pretty much called anyone who wasn’t a Fighter, Cleric, Rogue, or Wizard a “Barbarian”.
Articles about the “Pompeiian Sorceress Kit” also often call it a jewelry box, so it sounds like those are the two main theories for that collection of items.
Y’know, the more I think about it, we really should see some of these in ceramic, or at least recognizable fragments. Ceramic is cheaper and easier to make than bronze, and in one key regard, it’s more durable, too: If you have something ceramic that you don’t want any more, then you just toss it in your trash pit, where it can be found by later archaeologists, but if you have something bronze that you don’t need any more, you can melt it down to recast it into something that you do need (or more likely, sell it to the local metalworker for the same purpose), in which case it would leave no trace. If we’ve found hundreds of the bronze ones but zero ceramic ones, then it must be something that can’t be made out of ceramic.
I’m wondering what one of these would be worth today. I found an auction sale with a value of £33,000 (about $42,000) but that didn’t have provenance. Anyone hazard a guess for an authenticated Roman dodecahedron in good condition?