Roman dodecahedrons. Myths and facts

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Among the many outstanding inventions inherited by mankind from ancient mechanics and engineers, there are also mysterious objects, the purpose of which is still controversial and doubtful. These undoubtedly include the Roman dodecahedrons - small hollow objects made of bronze or stone, having 12 flat pentagonal faces …

About Roman dodecahedrons became known not so long ago - about 200 years ago. They were created approximately in the 2nd-4th centuries (or even earlier), but were discovered only in the 19th century. Moreover, dodecahedrons were found on the territory of Central and Northern Europe in places that can be called the outskirts of the Roman Empire.

By the beginning of the XXI century, about a hundred of these unusual gizmos were found in excavations, mostly in Germany and France, but also in Great Britain, Holland, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary - in the territories that were once part of the northern Roman provinces.

Four to eleven

Hollow dodecahedrons made of bronze or stone have a round hole in each face, and 20 small "knobs" (small balls located between the holes) in the corners. The hole diameter can be the same or different. Hole diameters for one dodecahedron - up to four.

Dodecahedron sizes range from 4 to 11 centimeters. They are arranged so as to stand stably on a plane in any position thanks to the "bumps". Judging by the number of finds, they were once very common. So, one of these items was found in a female burial, four - in the ruins of a Roman dacha. The fact that many of them were found among the treasures confirms their high status: apparently, these things were valued along with jewelry.

The big mystery is what exactly they were created for. Unfortunately, there are no documents on this score since the time of their creation, so the purpose of these artifacts has not yet been established. Nevertheless, in the time that has passed since their discovery, many theories and assumptions have been put forward.

Researchers endowed them with many functions: they say, these are candlesticks (wax was found inside one copy), dice, surveying instruments, devices for determining the optimal sowing time, tools for calibrating water pipes, elements of an army standard, decorations for a wand or scepter, toys for tossing and pole-catching or simply geometric sculptures.

In total, archaeologists have put forward about 27 hypotheses, although none of them have been proven. Now in the historical literature, the abbreviation UGRO is used for brevity (from the English. Unidentified Gallo-Roman Object - "unidentified Gallo-Roman object").

Astronomical determinant

According to one of the most accepted theories, Roman dodecahedrons were used as measuring devices, namely, as rangefinders on the battlefield. Say, the dodecahedron was used to calculate the trajectories of projectiles, and this explains the presence of different diameters of holes on the pentagonal faces.

According to another theory, dodecahedrons were used as geodesic and leveling devices. However, none of these theories are supported by any evidence. No explanation has been provided as to how the dodecahedrons could have been used for these purposes.

More interesting is the hypothesis that dodecahedrons served as astronomical measuring instruments, with the help of which the optimal sowing period of winter crops was determined. According to the researcher Wageman, “the dodecahedron was an astronomical measuring device with which the angle of incidence of sunlight was measured, and thus precisely one special day in the spring and one special day in the fall. The days thus defined seemed to be of great importance to agriculture."

However, opponents of this theory point out that the use of dodecahedrons as measuring instruments of any kind seems impossible due to their lack of any standardization. After all, all the objects found were of different sizes and designs.

However, among the many similar theories, there is one very plausible. According to her, these items belong not so much to the Roman conquerors as to the culture of local tribes and peoples who have inhabited the territories of Northern Europe and Britain since ancient times.

It is possible that there is some kind of direct connection between dodecahedrons of the Roman period and many much more ancient stone balls with regular polyhedrons carved on their surface. Such polyhedron balls, dating from the period between 2500 and 1500 BC, are found in Scotland, Ireland and Northern England.

The construction of the famous megalithic complex called Stonehenge dates back to about the same time. No one still knows for sure what the purpose of this building was. However, the clearly non-random arrangement of giant stones, tied to the cycles of the movement of the sun across the sky, suggests that Stonehenge served not only for religious and ritual rituals (the most likely purpose), but also for astronomical observations. It is possible that small polyhedral stone balls also played the role of "home Stonehenge" for the ancient inhabitants of Britain, personifying some spiritual ideas and secrets of the world order that were important to them.

The fact that dodecahedrons could be objects of this very purpose is also confirmed by the role of regular polyhedrons in the pictures of the universe created in Ancient Greece by the school of the Pythagoreans.

Thus, in Plato's Timaeus dialogue, the four main elements of matter - fire, air, water and earth - are represented as clusters of tiny particles in the form of regular polyhedra: tetrahedron, octahedron, icosahedron and cube. As for the fifth regular polyhedron, the dodecahedron, Plato mentions it somehow in passing, noting only that this shape was used "for a sample" when creating a universe that has a perfect sphere shape.

According to scientists, this is a clear reference to Pythagoras, who promoted the idea that dodecahedrons formed "beams" on which the vault of heaven was erected.

Twelve Facets of the Universe

In one of his early dialogues "Phaedo," Plato, through the mouth of Socrates, gives a "12-sided dodecahedral" description of the heavenly, more perfect earth that exists above the earth of people: sewn from 12 pieces of leather. " But in fact, this is a dodecahedron with 12 faces!

And in general, the dodecahedron was once considered by the Pythagoreans a sacred figure that personified the universe or ether - the fifth element of the universe, in addition to the traditional fire, air, water and earth. So, Iamblichus, the ancient philosopher-Neoplatonist, the head of the Syrian school of Neoplatonism in Apameia, in his book "On the Pythagorean life" claims that Hippasus of Metapont, who divulged the secret of the dodecahedron to ordinary people, was not only expelled from the Pythagorean community, but was also awarded the construction of a tomb alive.

When Hippasus died at sea during a shipwreck, everyone decided that this was the result of a curse: "They say that the deity himself was angry with the one who divulged the teachings of Pythagoras."

So, perhaps, the found dodecahedrons are cult objects that we inherited from the secret sects of the Pythagoreans. It is known that this secret society carefully concealed its existence. It is possible that they also removed from historical records any mention of dodecahedrons, considering them sacred figures explaining the meaning of the existing order of things.

However, the Pythagoreans could hide the true purpose of the dodecahedron, giving it another purpose: for example, using it as a candlestick or stand for storing writing pens.

In addition, the dodecahedron was also the personification of the zodiac with its 12 signs. So, on the territory of Geneva, they found a cast lead dodecahedron with edges 1.5 centimeters long, covered with silver plates with the names of the signs of the zodiac ("Virgo", "Gemini", etc.) in Latin.

A similar number of versions proves one thing with certainty: no one can yet understand the true purpose of the dodecahedron.