4 ms·
This is as likely a magical object as a gaming die. Glass would have been expensive for a mere gambling device, whereas bone dice were cheap. It's a Platonic
by slurry 13y ago
This is as likely a magical object as a gaming die.
Glass would have been expensive for a mere gambling device, whereas bone dice were cheap.
It's a Platonic solid found in Egypt, the epicenter of Neoplatonism.
And the symbols on the sides are astrological.
- thaumasiotes 13y agoFair enough on the symbols being astrological, but we do know the Romans used gaming dice. One of my favorite exhibits at a museum I visited in Bath was a pair of wooden dice from a Roman camp. There were two very cool things about them: they used the same dot pattern that we use today, and, as the plaque informed us, they were loaded, rolling 6 significantly more often than the other numbers.
- DougWebb 13y agoNot surprised that they were loaded that way; the 6 side has the most material removed, so it's the lightest. A fair die needs to be counter-balanced.
- thaumasiotes 13y agoI believe the dots were painted, not pitted.
- slurry 13y agoIn retrospect, those might just be Greek letters written a little fancy rather than astrological symbols. For instance, the circle with a dot could easily be a theta rather than a sun symbol. Current-day astrological glyphs don't seem to be well-attested before the middle ages.
- DougWebb 13y agoMagical, in the sense of an Oracle casting a prediction. Which makes it pretty much the same as a D&D dungeon master rolling to determine the outcome of an event, except the players (and maybe the DM) believed it was real.
- slurry 13y agoCould have been rolled as an oracle. Although glass strikes me as not the best material for that. Especially ancient glass that didn't have all of the chemical strengtheners that modern glass does It might have been just an object of contemplation. Like, you can see how all of the heavenly bodies fit snugly into a perfect geometric figure and just wonder at it. If there's any rhyme or reason to how the symbols are arrayed on the sides, it could have been a mnemonic or instructional device for casting horoscopes. And, while it's probably too opaque to have been used for scrying, there's that too.
- hosh 13y agoDude (or dudette?), what do you practice? (Can take this to PM if you prefer).
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- guard-of-terra 13y agoIn Middle Ages and before, games and magic and religion weren't separated. Even mundane games played in taverns were magically bound to your luck and well-being. More sophisticated (board) games were outright sacred and were seen as a way to communicate with gods.
- thret 13y agoWiki has several examples from the Bible, casting lots to see what God chooses. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleromancy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleromancy