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Indeed: >Several individuals have suggested that the dodecahedra are knitting aids, specifically for knitting gloves, with different sized holes intended for t

Indeed: >Several individuals have suggested that the dodecahedra are knitting aids, specifically for knitting gloves, with different sized holes intended for the different sizes of fingers, and the pegs serving as a lattice to hold the yarn. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_dodecahedron https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_dodecahedron But of course just because someone has managed to make a glove using one, does not really prove that it was their primary purpose.

masklinn 5y ago
This is mentioned in the article but treated as a joke: > Other internet researchers, perhaps less seriously, have used 3D-printed models of the Roman dodecahedrons for knitting experiments, and suggested that the true purpose of the objects was to create differently sized fingers for Roman woolen gloves. Although IIRC when it was first proposed the people who proposed it seemed very earnest and to see it as obvious. And it nicely explains a lot of the peculiarities e.g. the nubs make sense for attaching yarn, and different people have different finger sizes (up to layers) but the precise sizing is not super important as long as you have a gradation with steps which aren't too big. It also looks quite close to spool (or "french") knitting. Though there's the objection that the dodecahedra are serious overkill for those needs when a plank with a few nails would do the trick. There's also the "OOPArt" factor: knitting spools were invented in the 17th century or so, and known records for circular knitting are not that much older.
- sockfish 5y ago
  It does also explain why they are not found all over the Roman empire but mostly in the north (the article mentions England, Germany, and the Netherlands) where it is probably COLD for the average Roman legionnaire
- robocat 5y ago
  If this was the explanation, there would be wear patterns on the waist of the nubs, and inside the rings just near the nubs. Many of the potential suggestions can be discarded because they would cause very specific wear patterns that would be repeated across many dodecahedrons.

masklinn 5y ago

This is mentioned in the article but treated as a joke: > Other internet researchers, perhaps less seriously, have used 3D-printed models of the Roman dodecahedrons for knitting experiments, and suggested that the true purpose of the objects was to create differently sized fingers for Roman woolen gloves. Although IIRC when it was first proposed the people who proposed it seemed very earnest and to see it as obvious. And it nicely explains a lot of the peculiarities e.g. the nubs make sense for attaching yarn, and different people have different finger sizes (up to layers) but the precise sizing is not super important as long as you have a gradation with steps which aren't too big. It also looks quite close to spool (or "french") knitting. Though there's the objection that the dodecahedra are serious overkill for those needs when a plank with a few nails would do the trick. There's also the "OOPArt" factor: knitting spools were invented in the 17th century or so, and known records for circular knitting are not that much older.

sockfish 5y ago
It does also explain why they are not found all over the Roman empire but mostly in the north (the article mentions England, Germany, and the Netherlands) where it is probably COLD for the average Roman legionnaire
robocat 5y ago
If this was the explanation, there would be wear patterns on the waist of the nubs, and inside the rings just near the nubs. Many of the potential suggestions can be discarded because they would cause very specific wear patterns that would be repeated across many dodecahedrons.