Bizarre 12-sided object from Roman Empire baffles scientists: ‘A cosmic symbol’

There are many sides to this story.

Scientists remain baffled over a mysterious 12-sided bronze object dating back to the Roman Empire — theorizing it could be everything from a candle holder to a “cosmic symbol.”

The first Roman dodecahedron was discovered in 1739 in the English Midlands. Since then,120 of the geometric enigmas have been unearthed from the former Northwestern Provinces of the Roman Empire with scientists noting that all of the specimens date back to the late second and fourth centuries, Live Science reported.

Classical archaeologist Michael Guggenberger, who has published several studies on the objects, described them in a 2000 study as a pentagonal dodecahedron, which is created when 12 pentagons form surfaces of the hollow object, intersecting at 20 different corners.

Meanwhile, each pentagonal face has a hole of a varying size while each corner is studded with a ball, like an ancient model of a viral pathogen.

The multifaceted anomalies range in size from a golf ball to the size of a grapefruit, as was the case with a dodecahedron that was exhumed in Norton Disney, Lincolnshire, during the summer of 2023, Smithsonian magazine reported.

Richard Parker, secretary of the Norton Disney History and Archaeology Group, told the outlet that the metal artifact was in “excellent condition — considering it’s been buried for 1,700 years — and complete with no damage.”

Despite the treasure trove of evidence, scientists remain no closer to pinpointing the purpose of the mysterious object.

“Nobody knows for certain how the Romans used them,” wrote Smithsonian in 2023.

Interestingly, the objects were discovered in countries ranging from Austria to France and Luxembourg –but not Italy — leading Guggenberger to postulate that they could be traced back to the Celtic tribes of the Roman Empire.

The dodecahedrons have been found everywhere from men’s and women’s graves to trash piles, further complicating the search for an explanation as to their function. As the baubles aren’t depicted in ancient art, there is no historical record of their origin or use.

So far, researchers have floated 50 different theories regarding their purposes, suggesting that they could be weapons, range finders, candlestick holders or even dice.

However, many researchers believe that the objects’ ornate design and their relatively pristine condition demonstrate that they were no run-of-the-mill implement.

“A huge amount of time, energy and skill was taken to create our dodecahedron, so it was not used for mundane purposes,” wrote the Norton Disney group. “They are not of a standard size, so will not be measuring devices. They don’t show signs of wear, so they are not a tool.”

Guggenberger believed that the dodecahedron occupied a more symbolic role related to the theories of Greek philosophers such as Plato and Pythagoras.

In Platonic-Pythagorean symbolism, four solid shapes corresponded with four elements — tetrahedrons with fire, octahedrons with air, icosahedrons with water, and hexahedrons with earth — while “the dodecahedron served as an all-encompassing symbol representing the universe,” Guggenberger said.

A breakthrough possibility emerged in 1966, when scientists discovered a dodecahedron next to a rod-shaped bone artifact in a woman’s grave in Germany.

That suggested the dodecahedron could have adorned it like a staff or symbolic scepter for use in Druidic rituals.

Guggenberger theorized that, for now, the most likely interpretation of the dodecahedron is “as a cosmic, all-encompassing symbol” with “a function comparable to an amulet.”