Photograph of a Roman dodecahedron from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Schwarzenacker_Pentagondodekaeder1.jpg
Ever found one of these? Roman dodecahedra are believed to date from the second and third century AD, and range from 4 to 11cm in size. There are many theories about what they may have been used for, but I believe they were used as portable personal altars, possibly to a water god or spirit, others have said that they may have been used as candle holders. They are certainly one of the more strange items that you might uncover whilst metal detecting.
Roman dodecahedra are objects that may not be immediately recognizable to a lot of metal detectorists, and I have often wondered how many more of them might be out there! If you have ever found one, leave a comment or drop me an email.
Photograph of a Roman dodecahedron from wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Roman_dodecahedron.jpg
Other links:
- Roman dodecahedron forum thread
- http://www.romandodecahedron.com/
- Other images of Roman dodecahedra
- Wikipedia page
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Did someone dig one of these recently or is this a museum piece?
Hi Marc, those two are both in museums as far as I know, I’m hoping that there are more of them out there, currently unrecognized/unidentified because they are so odd. I found a news story about another one found in Herefordshire, theres a link to the story over on the forum.
One can only dream about finding something like the Roman dodecahedron. Wouldn’t that be something?