natural XX

[Iago Planetarius]

Any idea what game Romans played with a 2'' d20 ?
This would make a great addition to a collection

 

[jdrakeh]

I suspect that it may have been used as an oracle.

 

[Iago Planetarius]

Yes, oracle makes sense. Only 8 sides are visible on that image, and most look vaguely astrological, rather than numerical.

Unfortunately, I can't find much info on what the full symbol set looks like on this thing (or any other die, for that matter). It would be intersting to see exactly what's drawn on it....

 

[Thunderfoot]

The RPGA issued a magic item long ago based on this (the picture is an exact replica only hand drawn) called the Fist of Emrikol. It was cast and various 'effects' happened.

However, with 20 sides something would be amiss as only the 10 (later 12) signs of the zodiac were recognized. Some of those signs are no where near astrological and some resemble Greek letters more than Roman. More than likely it was not an oracle stone but probably was some sort of gaming device, but who knows for what or it's true purpose.

 

[Woas]

Villa's & Visigoths?

 

[Korgoth]

Are you sure those aren't Greek letters? They look somewhat like Greek letters to me.

Egypt was still a Hellenistic culture, and the principal language was Greek. Greeks used the letters of their alphabet to count with ("Alpha" is one, "Beta" is two, etc.).

 

[Zander]

Are you sure those aren't Greek letters? They look somewhat like Greek letters to me.

Egypt was still a Hellenistic culture, and the principal language was Greek. Greeks used the letters of their alphabet to count with ("Alpha" is one, "Beta" is two, etc.).

I have a reproduction of a similar die from the reserve collection of the Louvre Museum in Paris. You are correct that they are the Greek letters used in Ptolemaic times for the numbers 1 to 20. According to F. N. David's book Gods, Games and Gambling, other icosahedral Roman dice of this period had Roman numerals from 1 to 20. I suspect that both the d20s with Greek letter-numbers and the ones with Roman numerals were used for gambling but that's just conjecture on my part. They may have been used for divination. Nobody knows for sure.
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[MortalPlague]

Wasn't OD&D out back then?

 

[dogoftheunderworld]

"Testament"

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Wasn't OD&D out back then?

Unless you have been time-traveling and mucking with the time-line again, I am afraid not.