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Ancient Dodecahedron's Purpose Remains Secret


Big Bad Voodoo

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Can you do what the world's archaeologists can't? Can you explain this -- thing?

It’s been called a war weapon, a candlestick, a child’s toy, a weather gauge, an astronomical instrument, and a religious symbol -- just to name a few. But what IS this mystery object, really?

Can you do what archaeologists can't? Can you help solve the mystery?

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/06/10/dodecahedrons-purpose-remains-mystery/

Roman%20Dodecahedron.jpg

Hm.I posted news.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_dodecahedra

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodecahedron

Edited by the L
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Hi The L,

well what I would use it for, after heating it in a pool of hot water,I would have a masseuse use it to relieve spasms and knots on my back. My guess is it is a massage aid

Bonny

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Nine o'them were tied to the nine ends of a cat o'nine tails.

Nice massage.

Harte

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Ancient groin cup. Stylish even. Lol

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Honestly though it looks like a broken incense burner. Fill it with material and start it smoldering. Would make sense though I doubt that is what it was used for.

What are the dimensions? Size may help figuring out purpose.

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THE ROMAN PENTAGON DODECAHEDRON AN ASTRONOMIC MEASURING INSTRUMENT FOR DETERMINING THE OPTIMAL SOWING DATE FOR WINTER GRAIN

http://www.dodecaeder.nl/en/hypothese

@Aus

I guess from 4-11 cm.

@Bonneville

Hi Bonny and welcome to the site. :w00t:

Edited by the L
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They were used in magic having cosmic powers...

http://www.georgehart.com/virtual-polyhedra/neolithic.html

http://www.georgehart.com/virtual-polyhedra/roman_dodecahedra.html

The most interesting point in the theory is, however, the use made of the dodecahedron. It was identified, we are told, with the "sphere of the universe," or, as it is put in the Philolaic fragment, with the "hull of the sphere." Whatever we may think of the authenticity of the fragments, there is no reason to doubt that this is a genuine Pythagorean expression, and it must be taken in close connection with the word "keel" applied to the central fire. The structure of the world was compared to the building of a ship, an idea of which there are other traces. The key to what we are told of the dodecahedron is also given by Plato. In the Phaedo, which must have been written before the doctrine of the regular solids was fully established, we read that the "true earth," if looked at from above, is "many-colored like the balls that are made of twelve pieces of leather." In the Timaeus the same thing is referred to in these words: "Further, as there is still one construction left, the fifth, God made use of it for the universe when he painted it." The point is that the dodecahedron approaches more nearly to the sphere than any other of the regular solids. The twelve pieces of leather used to make a ball would all be regular pentagons; and, if the material were not flexible like leather, we should have a dodecahedron instead of a sphere. That proves that the dodecahedron was well known before Theaetetus, and we may infer that it was regarded as forming the "timbers" on which the spherical hulk of the heavens was built.

The tradition confirms in an interesting way the importance of the dodecahedron in the Pythagorean system. According to one account, Hippasus was drowned at sea for revealing "the sphere formed out of the twelve pentagons." The Pythagorean construction of the dodecahedron we may partially infer from the fact that they adopted the pentagram or pentalpha as their symbol. The use of this figure in later magic is well known; and Paracelsus still employed it as a symbol of health, which, is exactly what the Pythagoreans called it.

Proclus, in his Introduction to Books II and III of Plato's Republic , says: "But the former (Vulcan) artificially fabricated the whole sensible order, and filling it with physical reasons and powers. He also fashioned twenty tripods about the heavens, that he may adorn them with the most perfect of the many sided figures and fabricates various and many-formed sublunary species." To which Thomas Taylor, the great Cambridge Platonist, adds, "Viz.: the dodecahedron, which is bounded by twelve equal and equilateral pentagons, and consists of twenty solid angles, of which the tripods of Vulcan are images; for every angle of the dodecahedron is formed from the junction of three lines."

The dodecahedron, then, was a form having enormous significance for Neo-Pythagoreans, and quite possibly for the Druids as well. It was the atomic shape of cosmic spirit, with the twelve pentagonal faces corresponding to the signs of the zodiac while also outlining hidden pentagrams that everywhere revealed the golden section.

For Druids, the form had the added significance of having 20 corners - as students of French learn in their first year, the Celts used a base-20 number system (remember quatre-vingt?). This significance may help to explain the prominent knobby little feet the Druids attached to each corner of their dodecahedra.

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Can you do what the world's archaeologists can't? Can you explain this -- thing?

It’s been called a war weapon, a candlestick, a child’s toy, a weather gauge, an astronomical instrument, and a religious symbol -- just to name a few. But what IS this mystery object, really?

Can you do what archaeologists can't? Can you help solve the mystery?

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/06/10/dodecahedrons-purpose-remains-mystery/

Roman%20Dodecahedron.jpg

Hm.I posted news.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_dodecahedra

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodecahedron

How big is it? Because it looks to me like the great granddaddy of the beloved bowling ball.

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Honestly though it looks like a broken incense burner. Fill it with material and start it smoldering. Would make sense though I doubt that is what it was used for.

What are the dimensions? Size may help figuring out purpose.

:tu:

Ornaments for holding sticks or cones of incense. As the wiki page states, the dodecahedrons were between 4 to 11 cm in size.

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Can you do what the world's archaeologists can't? Can you explain this -- thing?

It’s been called a war weapon, a candlestick, a child’s toy, a weather gauge, an astronomical instrument, and a religious symbol -- just to name a few. But what IS this mystery object, really?

Can you do what archaeologists can't? Can you help solve the mystery?

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/06/10/dodecahedrons-purpose-remains-mystery/

Roman%20Dodecahedron.jpg

Hm.I posted news.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_dodecahedra

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodecahedron

Its the worlds first Football.

The extra bits are so the goalie can keep his hands on it.

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Its the worlds first Football.

The extra bits are so the goalie can keep his hands on it.

4" football? back to the drawing board!

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Can you do what the world's archaeologists can't? Can you explain this -- thing?

It’s been called a war weapon, a candlestick, a child’s toy, a weather gauge, an astronomical instrument, and a religious symbol -- just to name a few. But what IS this mystery object, really?

Can you do what archaeologists can't? Can you help solve the mystery?

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/06/10/dodecahedrons-purpose-remains-mystery/

Roman%20Dodecahedron.jpg

Hm.I posted news.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_dodecahedra

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodecahedron

Toss a few handfuls of those into a cannon and fire them at a group of advancing enemies and they would do some real damage...

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  • 2 months later...

the earliest known chia pets. :w00t:

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  • 8 months later...

Can you do what the world's archaeologists can't? Can you explain this -- thing?

It’s been called a war weapon, a candlestick, a child’s toy, a weather gauge, an astronomical instrument, and a religious symbol -- just to name a few. But what IS this mystery object, really?

Can you do what archaeologists can't? Can you help solve the mystery?

http://www.foxnews.c...emains-mystery/

Roman%20Dodecahedron.jpg

Hm.I posted news.

http://en.wikipedia....man_dodecahedra

http://en.wikipedia....ki/Dodecahedron

These could be ancient cow bells / horse bells.

The clapper would have hung within on a flexible (leather?) thong, and the whole would have been attached to a wide strap of cloth or leather (neither of which would be preserved).

Switzerland has a long tradition of ornate cow bells that may go back 200 years or so.

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It reminds me of something used for mixing. Kinda like those balls used in clothes dryers to keep the clothes sufficiently moving around. Or those balls in nail polish to keep the formula mixed up.

  • Like 1
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These could be ancient cow bells / horse bells.

The clapper would have hung within on a flexible (leather?) thong, and the whole would have been attached to a wide strap of cloth or leather (neither of which would be preserved).

Switzerland has a long tradition of ornate cow bells that may go back 200 years or so.

Hello and welcome to the site tadchem.

Nice idea. I personally dont have a clue.

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It reminds me of something used for mixing. Kinda like those balls used in clothes dryers to keep the clothes sufficiently moving around. Or those balls in nail polish to keep the formula mixed up.

I thought this thread is gone for good.

Maybe its

AAAADAknZDkAAAAAAW2NaQ.jpg?v=1311299250000

bra protector. :lol:

Edited by Melo
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These could be ancient cow bells / horse bells.

The clapper would have hung within on a flexible (leather?) thong, and the whole would have been attached to a wide strap of cloth or leather (neither of which would be preserved).

Switzerland has a long tradition of ornate cow bells that may go back 200 years or so.

You Perv!

A leather thong strapped on horse balls... wait.... what? Oh.

Sorry. Nevermind. :blush:

Harte

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Wow; a Lazurus thread..

I think the object may have originally contained a ball and that the holes were each once marked with different colors. When the object was rolled, bets could be taken on which color the ball would come to rest in. My guess...ancient gambling device.

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These are referred to as crotal bells...

http://en.wikipedia....iki/Crotal_bell

The "S" must have been dropped over time ;)

Nah.

It's hard to make the "s" sound when you ain't got no theeth.

Harte

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I found similar thing in Archaelogical museum in Zagreb but this one dates from stone age.

http://www.unexplain...n-zagreb-museum

Can you do what the world's archaeologists can't? Can you explain this -- thing?

It’s been called a war weapon, a candlestick, a child’s toy, a weather gauge, an astronomical instrument, and a religious symbol -- just to name a few. But what IS this mystery object, really?

Can you do what archaeologists can't? Can you help solve the mystery?

http://www.foxnews.c...emains-mystery/

Roman%20Dodecahedron.jpg

Hm.I posted news.

http://en.wikipedia....man_dodecahedra

http://en.wikipedia....ki/Dodecahedron

First of all, love your name and your picture: Death Note :tu:

Secondly, i saw you mentioned something about Zagreb. You were in my capital? Or did u just browse it on the web :)

And thirdly my opinion that is some kind of a candlestick holder :D

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