Chasing Ancient Pentagrams Part I: the Roman Dodecahedra

A "Roman Dodecahedron" found in the UK by Brian Campbell in 1987.

 

The Gallo-Roman Dodecahedra

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(This post was originally intended to be the first of the pentagonal phi series, and much of it was written early last year. It has been revised, however, and will contain new material. It may also run into two parts.)

 

"One August day in 1987, Brian Campbell was refilling the hole left by a tree stump in his yard in Romford, East London, when his shovel struck something metal. He leaned down and pulled the object from the soil, wondering at its strange shape. The object was small—smaller than a tennis ball—and caked with heavy clay. 'My first impressions,' Campbell tells Mental Floss, 'were it was beautifully and skillfully made … probably by a blacksmith as a measuring tool of sorts.'

Campbell placed the artifact on his kitchen windowsill, where it sat for the next 10 or so years. Then, he visited the Roman fort and archaeological park in Saalburg, Germany—and there, in a glass display case, was an almost identical object. He realized that his garden surprise was a Roman dodecahedron: a 12-sided metal mystery that has baffled archaeologists for centuries. Although dozens, and perhaps hundreds, of explanations have been offered to account for the dodecahedrons, no one is certain just what they were used for."

- Via an excellent article on Mental Floss found here. Inset right (above) is a Roman Dodecahedron exhibited in the Württembergisches Landesmuseum, Stuggart, Germany, and found in this article.


"A Roman dodecahedron or Gallo-Roman Dodecahedron is a small hollow object made of copper alloy which has been cast into a dodecahedral shape: twelve flat pentagonal faces, each face having a circular hole of varying diameter in the middle, the holes connecting to the hollow center. Roman dodecahedra date from the 2nd to 4th centuries AD.

Since the first dodecahedron was found in 1739, at least 116 similar objects have been found[1] from Wales to Hungary and Spain and to the east of Italy, with most found in Germany and France. Ranging from 4 to 11 centimetres (1.6 to 4.3 in) in size. A Roman icosahedron has also come to light after having long been misclassified as a dodecahedron. This icosahedron was excavated near Arloff in Germany and is currently on display in the Rheinisches Landesmuseum in Bonn.

No mention of them has been found in contemporary accounts or pictures of the time. Speculated uses include as a candlestick holder (wax was found inside two examples); dice; survey instruments for estimating distances to (or sizes of) distant objects; devices for determining the optimal sowing date for winter grain; gauges to calibrate water pipes, army standard bases, a coin measuring device for counterfeit detection. Use as a measuring instrument of any kind seems improbable since the dodecahedra were not standardized and come in many sizes and arrangements of their openings. It has also been suggested that they may have been religious artifacts, or even fortune-telling devices. This latter speculation is based on the fact that most of the examples have been found in Gallo-Roman sites. Several dodecahedra were found in coin hoards, providing evidence that their owners considered them valuable objects. Other suggestions include a knitting frame for creating gloves, supported by the fact that many are found in the northern range of the empire.

Smaller dodecahedra with the same features (holes and knobs) and made from gold have been found in South-East Asia along the Maritime Silk Road. They have been used for decorative purposes and the earliest items appear to be from the Roman epoch."

- Via the Wiki entry for Roman or Gallo-Roman dodecahedron. Inset left is a museum photograph of 2 Roman dodecahedrons and the icosahedron mentioned in the quote. In my eyes, the icosahedron, although a polyhedron and similar in size to the dodecahedrons, does not seem to be in the same family of objects as the former.

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Did you know there is a geometry in running water... or that small objects of equal mass - specifically small and lightweight - tend to fall into groups of three? Regarding the latter, at one point this year, I noticed this so often during my waking hours that I began to document these geometrical events, snapping photos with my cell phone whenever they occurred. Is this madness? Precisely. But it's a sort of "magical" madness involving a particular phenomenon which very likely spawned numerous oracles in the past; everything from casting knuckle bones, dice, sticks, coins, tea leaves, etc. for the purposes of divining or interpreting the resulting patterns as a narrative of the future.

In reality, small objects very often fall into rudimentary geometric patterns or figures - a little understood phenomena Jungian psychologist, Marie-Louise von Franz, 1915–1998, once described as a form of synchronicity or "meaningful chance" especially in regards to divination and the role of natural numbers.

Inset right is one example I shot with my cell-phone September 8, 2020; an interesting triangle formed by the random distribution of red pepper seeds scattered during the course of making a salad! I didn't see the figure at first; the pattern had formed on the far side of the table on which I was working. It was during clean-up that I came across it, and I swear I felt like some mystified farmer who discovers a crop circle in his field one day; it was eerie.

The X-file factor of this event was that the triangle bore a strong resemblance to the triangle I'd been working with over a year (and you've been encountering on this blog for months): the pentagonal golden triangle. Had it fallen out of my head and imprinted itself on the table? Who can say? But, I saw it as an affirmation of an artist's journey well taken. And, for an artist who faithfully follows the muse down one rabbit hole after another, affirmation is a much coveted thing... because, what is a "rabbit hole" other than some strange anomaly stumbled across during an intellectual excursion which might potentially lead one to the greatest of epiphanies or the most confounding of delusions?

But, while it may have ended that way, my journey down this particular rabbit hole did not begin with a random distribution of pepper seeds. It began with an online article regarding that unusual metal object currently staring at you from the top of this post... its empty cyclopean eye revealing just about everything we know regarding its existence...which is pretty much nada.

Now, the general opinion among experts (and one must always use this term loosely) is that a lot is known - and verified - about the past. Even the long past. But, don't be fooled. The past is as elusive (and illusive) as the future. New discoveries keep popping up each day with the potential to completely overturn all previous determinations. There are, after all, numerous newsworthy items. And, no, I 'm not referring to those well-documented abominations of the world's daily affairs. I'm talking about those little, weird tangible things - the products of human ingenuity - which emerged in the days before "artificial intelligence" was even a bad dream in somebody's head. This is not so say that the days of which I speak - and, no, none of us witnessed those days in any memorable way - were benign or utopian, but, intriguingly enough, ancient humans were admirably capable of flummoxing the oh-so-sophisticated humans of the future (us),  producing artifacts that we - with all of our modern expertise... and some highly sophisticated calculators - are unable to identify.

Which brings us back to that cyclopean object resting above - the subject of this section - the Roman dodecahedron inset left. No one seems to have a precise explanation for its presence on the earth - although the general drift is towards some practical, utilitarian instrument (such as a candle holder or knitting device) or complicated measuring device (such as a military range-finder) - and, yet, at least a few ancient folk across a number of countries - and all living in the earlier centuries AD - created these objects for reasons of which we can only speculate. Over a hundred of them have been dug up in parts of Europe and one imagines more may be found. I find this oddly exhilarating; there are still things the experts, admittedly, can't explain. In any case, I'm sure that all intuitive readers have realized by now that this mysterious little artifact is quintessential rabbit-hole material... and, yes, it most surely was!

In any case, "Cyclops" is actually believed to have been created around 200 AD... somewhere within the vast Roman Empire. Which is how it got its name: The Roman dodecahedron. The thing is,  despite archaeologists finding more than a hundred of them, no written reference to them has ever been discovered. And this might be a our most important clue: perhaps the objects had no practical use whatsoever and were never intended for the general public.

What's more, the object is an early example of a polyhedron - and the dodecahedron is the most complex of the Platonic solids - artifacts which we rarely see in the ancient world (despite the contributions of Pythagoras and Plato). As it so happens, this blogger loves polyhedra - even documenting a set of my very own (inset right, above: the dodecahedron, the icosahedron, and the pentakis dodecahedron). Not very long ago, I posted about some unusual Scottish sundials (example below the jump)...

There's a possibility that this Scottish sundial (inset left) had masonic connections... but, there is also something inherently Celtic about the use of geometric figures (see the Neolithic carved stone balls - also found in Scotland - in the same article). 

As it stands, most of the Roman dodecahedrons were found in Germany and France, and as distant as Wales in the north, and Asia in the south. Which kind of reminds me of the mysterious appearance of the 3-Hare symbol in medieval churches... another odd little unexplained phenomenon although not quite as ancient and far more diverse in depiction and the substances used to portray them.

Regarding the Roman dodecahedrons, however, there seem to be 2 important factors at work: the similarities between the design of the objects involved despite the disparity of size. All of them are quite small but some are very, very, small (slightly larger than an inch). They seem to be objects of some value and yet in most cases the metals they are made of are not fine (apart from their Asian counterparts); some sources say bronze and Wiki, "copper alloy." Another article mentions "and rarely stone," though, it seems it'd be impossible to cut hollow forms in stone unless they were much larger (a possibility that opens another can of worms).

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Ancient Roman Christian enameled Pentagram Fibula, 100-300 AD

(What follows is new material - 10/16/22.)

Then again, there may be no written reference to the Roman dodecahedrons, but, just the other day, I came upon this artifact currently being sold on Ebay (if it wasn't so pricey I'd want it).

It is a type of brooch, or fibula, used to fasten cloaks and is of such a fine quality it is thought to have belonged to one of the elite, possibly a member of the Roman Legion.

The thing is, the symbol is similar to the pentagonal faces found on Roman dodecahedrons... right down to the hole in the center and the knobs which lie at its vertices.

That the Roman Legion should come into the frame is not unprecedented. Apparently, a number of the dodecahedrons were found in the vicinity of ancient battlefields. Moreover, some speculate that the artifacts were related to the military - such as military range-finders. But then, others speculate it was a surveyors instrument. As it happens, in the spirit of Vitruvius, the Roman Legion wasn't all about gladiators. There was a separate branch known as the Immunes.

Immunes – ‘The Exempt’ - These were men who were excused the routine tasks such as ditch-digging and patrolling the ramparts because they possessed some specialized skill or trade which qualified them for special duties. Vegetius lists several skills which would qualify a soldier among the immunes; ‘engineers, carpenters, masons, wagon-makers, blacksmiths, painters and other artificers’. Other trades included farriers, surveyors, shipwrights, glaziers, fletchers, armourers, hunters, butchers, grooms, plumbers, bronze-smiths, lime and charcoal burners, and keepers of sacrificial animals. Many of these technical specialists were employed in the buildings of the latera praetorii of the camp, primarily the valetudinarium, the veterinarium, and especially the fabrica. It is very likely that these men were seconded to other units on a temporary basis when required." (Found here.)

I have also read other sources which add architects and musicians to this list! So, in terms of the legionaries, there are a number of possible sources for this strange artifact.

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10/24/22  - I just located another Roman dodecahedron article that makes a few interesting points which should be addressed before we move on to the next section. Here's a few quoted sections from The enigma of the dodecahedron, written by Tibor Grull (University of Pécs, Hungary) in 2016:

"All we are aware of is that among the sites where these objects have been found there are five military camps, two public baths, one theater, one tomb, one hoard, and one filled well. A dodecahedron was found at the Gallo-Roman temple near Schwarzenacker-Homburg (Germany); and three objects were discovered in riverbeds near Nijmegen, Trier, and Zürich, which probably hints to some religious (votive) function.

Another dodecahedron was found during the excavation at the city of Noviodunum (Jublains, France) in 1995, in a building consisting of a room and a cellar which has been dated on the basis of ceramics and coins to the turn of the second-third century AD. The object was 59 mm in diameter (without the knobs), weighed 81 grams, and was made of bronze with lost wax casting technique. It can be considered a unique type because two of its opposite holes are ellipse-shaped (A side 26 x 21.5 mm; B side 22.5 x 21.5 mm), all the other holes are geometrically perfect circles: the smallest is 10.5 mm, the largest is 22 mm in diameter. According to the archaeologists, the room where the dodecahedron was found could have served as a shop where precious metal objects were sold. If it is true, it supports the assumption that the dodecahedron could be a precious object, and is in agreement with the fact that one piece was found in a coin-hoard."

"Although the dodecahedron as a geometrical form -  the symbol of the Universe - was of great importance for the Pythagoreans and Platonists, it is conspicuous that the objects were mostly found in the northwestern provinces of the Roman Empire, with a focus on Gaul, that is, regions strongly influenced by Celtic traditions.

Michael Guggenberger proposed that the enigmatic bronze object derived from an environment characterized by the mutual influence of the Roman and Celtic cultures, but he also stressed that there is no evidence of any comparable [material] tradition in the Celtic world."

"In summary, we cannot say that in the last three hundred years we have gotten closer to the solution of the enigma, in spite of the fact that we are in possession of more than a hundred dodecahedra. The most we can say about this object is that it belongs to the Gallo-Roman or Celto-Roman Kulturkreis and it had a kind of a religious function... Experts usually emphasize the importance of the dodecahedron excavated in the cemetery of Krefeld-Gellep, because it implies that this enigmatic object was a kind of a scepter with the symbolic meaning of cosmic-astral power. The Druids cannot be considered as potential owners in this late period, but persons somehow connected to the Druidic traditions can be imagined."

Neolithic Scottish carved stone balls.

Regarding the lack of "comparable tradition in the Celtic world" we only have to look at the strange Neolithic objects above - of which, at least, 400 have been found in Scotland - to note that the Celts (or the Picts) certainly did have some variety of comparable artistic tradition. And, interestingly, these objects have remained as mysterious as (what we can now refer to and are presently referred to) the Gallo-Roman dodecahedra.*

And, as it so happens, I've just found a 2014 article written by Jeff Nisbet regarding the stone balls -  The Carved Stone Balls of Scotland - Who made them, and why? - which does make a connection with our dodecahedra, along with a lucid observation:

"The dodecahedrons do, however, fit nicely in the cupped hand, just like Scotland’s carved stone balls, and it is difficult for me to look at the two without feeling they were meant to perform the same simple function. Though separated by geography, time, and the materials of which they were made, I believe that each was meant to be nothing more than a portable example of an individual worker’s skill level - the carved balls for stonemasons, and the dodecahedrons for metalsmiths -- as well as a symbol of membership in the brotherhoods of their respective crafts. They functioned as résumés, portfolios, andunion cards, all combined in small, eminently portable and entirely mundane objects. If this is true, it would go a long way to explain why a practical use for these objects has eluded discovery for so long -- because other than their skill-assessment and trade-recognition use, there was none. They would be valuable and necessary objects to the individual craftsmen, to be sure, but would be entirely useless to anyone else."

I think, of all the varied explanations I've seen for the Scottish artifacts and the dodecahedra, Nisbet's is probably closest to my own take on the subject. However, while I do not think that either group of objects had a (formal) religious aspect - re: Tibor Grull's understanding - I do feel - especially in the case of the dodecahedra - that there was a very strong esoteric element involved... simply based on the history of the shape and nature of the object; an element which should not be overlooked. But, also based on what we know about the possible "brotherhoods" involved - and, even Nisbet mentions in passing the "arcane symbolism traditionally attached to those brotherhoods" - it's a symbolism that must be explored if we are to understand the real "value" of these mysterious creations.

In the Tibor essay we also hear some mention of the Druidic tradition, and, while I'm not utterly sold on the idea, I know of one mathematician - Martin Doutré - who has explored this possibility extensively starting on this page.

Meanwhile, I've decided that I will have to go into a Part II for this article. Effectively, then, this marks the end of Part I. The link to Chasing Ancient Pentagrams Part II: The Quintessence: The Egyptian Duat will appear here when it becomes active.

Thank you for your patience.

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* While I have revised some of the text to reflect the "Gallo" half of the equation, I have not done so extensively. When I first began this article 2 years ago, the dodecahedra were still referred to as (primarily) "Roman."