Jun 19 2008OLD: Even The Ancient Romans Played D & D
An ancient Roman gaming die went up for auction at Christie's recently. Per the description:
A ROMAN GLASS GAMING DIECirca 2nd Century A.D.
Deep blue-green in color, the large twenty-sided die incised with a distinct symbol on each of its faces
2 1/16 in. (5.2 cm.) wideSeveral polyhedra in various materials with similar symbols are known from the Roman period. Modern scholarship has not yet established the game for which these dice were used.
Stupid modern scholars. I mean really. They were playing D & D you f***wits. Gary Gygax had a time machine, yo.
Thanks Kristina, lets get together and play D20 Yahtzee sometime
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Reader Comments
1. Maximus - June 19, 2008 9:53 AM
FIRST!
P.S. dice were the poor man's form of entertainment in 2nd century AD. Anyone who was anyone was at the Colesium watching slaves be eaten by lions! It is probably not even properly wieghted... stupid Romans and their stupid empire.
2. Pilot - June 19, 2008 9:55 AM
Oh this is sweet. I wonder what rule set they used?
3. Sameul - June 19, 2008 10:23 AM
betting on it right now
4. Onyx Blackman - June 19, 2008 10:26 AM
If that gladiator's THAC0 is good enough, he might make his saving throw against that lion.
5. nullCRC - June 19, 2008 10:31 AM
Those are either chemical or element symbols. Supposedly used 3 or more dice at a time to mix random items to see what they would produce.
6. SmokingGirl - June 19, 2008 10:34 AM
Ahhhhh, Rome. *plays fiddle* I wonder if Nero partook in a rowdy game of dice and lost? That would explain his pissiness.
7. Freddy K - June 19, 2008 10:49 AM
Onyx, Hopefully the galdiator wasn't caught flat-footed. He'll have a much better chance.
8. Grievousfish - June 19, 2008 10:59 AM
And which mythology would they have based their D&D system on?
"7!"
"Not good enough! Dahaka, his three heads grinning evilly at you, continues to advance. He is close enough now that you can see the eyes of the scorpions and the lizards that crawl all over your body staring at you, hungrily."
"Umm.... run away!!!"
9. Momboelitist - June 19, 2008 11:14 AM
Yahtzee!!!!
10. Grievousfish - June 19, 2008 11:30 AM
Rats! Meant to say "that crawl all over his body". Oh well.
11. Tim Drake - June 19, 2008 11:54 AM
I roll ζs.
12. Amy - June 19, 2008 12:13 PM
"Gary Gygax had a time machine, yo"
It's true, I saw it on Futurama.
13. Amy - June 19, 2008 12:15 PM
Gary Gygax: Hello Fry. It's a (rolls dice) pleasure to meet you.
14. KC - June 19, 2008 12:27 PM
I rolled a natural XX.
15. Jas - June 19, 2008 2:35 PM
The Romans were notorious gamblers. This die probably was part of some sucker (probably a soldier) who lost his newly found wealth.
16. Derek - June 19, 2008 2:54 PM
Or maybe somebody just took a regular die, smashed the f*** out of it, an ]d said it was Roman. Or that.
17. Bronwyn - June 19, 2008 8:51 PM
This has been making the rounds on a lot of websites in the last week, why hasn't any of them noticed that this auction was way back in 2003? Or is 5 years classified as recent these days? Eh. Just saying.
18. anyone - June 19, 2008 8:56 PM
You tell me, Maximus!
These were happy days!...
BRING BACK THE LIONS!!!
19. Grinspoon - June 20, 2008 2:48 AM
It the Cairo Museum that have a bunch of difference dices and game pieces from ancient egypt.
There were dices like this one, and one's like standard 6 sided ones and different variations.
There were game pieces that look like a typical standard game piece.
So this stuff goes way back earlier than the romans.
20. Spiritwalker - June 20, 2008 11:03 AM
"P.S. dice were the poor man's form of entertainment in 21st century AD. Anyone who was anyone was at the STAPLES Center watching the Lakers be eaten by the Celtics! It is probably not even properly wieghted... stupid Americans and their stupid empire."