01-24-2024, 04:23 AM
New member here and first post. I'm not a reenactor myself but want to tap into your expertise. So this post isnt appropriate for the begginers section. I hope you will read far enough to understand why I am posting to this particular group.
Some of you will already be familiar with the type of artifact known as the Roman Dodecahedron. People have been speculating about what they were used for for many years. For those that aren't familiar, they are cast bronze dodecahedron, hollow, with holes in each face, making 6 pairs of coaxial holes. The holes are almost always a mixture of larger and smaller holes. There are always rounded posts or spheres on each of the 20 corners.
One theory that's been around for a long time is that they were some kind of distance measuring device, for surveying or possibly for military use. So far, none of these theories has made a very strong case. They all tend to fall apart when examined closely. They don't adequately explain all of the features or make a compelling case for how the Dodecahedron would provide more utility than other simpler alternatives.
I'm working on a more detailed theory that addresses these issues. Numerical analysis of a number of Dodecahedrons based on this new mode of use suggests that that they were intended to measure distances in Roman feet (pedes). Natural divisions of 5 pedes and 10 pedes were common. I have to admit this was pretty exciting to discover!
When I extended my study to the 12 Dodecahedrons with the best quality published dimensions, I was puzzled that although Roman pedes still seemed to underlie all of the data there were quite a few cases were it was in natural divisions of 6 pedes or 12 pedes. Fathoms? Yards? This didn't make much sense for my proposed application as a range finder for the ballista. Which gets me to all of you reenactors.
Vegetius calls for spacing men on the line 3 pedes apart and uses that to determine the total number required to man a line an entire Roman mile long. I assume that the men would have a practical means to adjust their spacing at an individual level. But if it requires redistributing men over a much longer line, and if the right number of men aren't already clustered in about the right spots, I can imagine it could quickly turn into something resembling a Monty Python skit as men are pushed left or right to claim their 3 ft of space along a very wide front.
So could a simple distance estimating device be an aid to distributing men along a wider front? Especially if it actually measures in units of men? Os that a real need? Might a commander use it, for example, to position the ends of a line and distribute the right number of men to the right locations, so when the men do space themselves, it wouldn't require long and awkward shifts in position?
The usual reenactment isn't going to have to deal with such large numbers of men or such long lines, but I'm hoping there will still be some insights here as to how what may be a relatively minor issue for a small group of men, might be need to be dealt with by a larger group of men. I admittedly know nothing about centuries and cohorts and the like. So ANY insights about how you might accomplish this would be appreciated. I know that's a bit vague but feel free to answer the question you think I SHOULD have asked!
My primary use case remains the ballista. But I can imagine the Dodecahedron could have demonstrated its usefulness with the ballista and then could have been adapted for other uses. It may well be over-engineered for the application we're talking about here. So this is just one possible use that I'm looking at because the data supports it.
Some of you will already be familiar with the type of artifact known as the Roman Dodecahedron. People have been speculating about what they were used for for many years. For those that aren't familiar, they are cast bronze dodecahedron, hollow, with holes in each face, making 6 pairs of coaxial holes. The holes are almost always a mixture of larger and smaller holes. There are always rounded posts or spheres on each of the 20 corners.
One theory that's been around for a long time is that they were some kind of distance measuring device, for surveying or possibly for military use. So far, none of these theories has made a very strong case. They all tend to fall apart when examined closely. They don't adequately explain all of the features or make a compelling case for how the Dodecahedron would provide more utility than other simpler alternatives.
I'm working on a more detailed theory that addresses these issues. Numerical analysis of a number of Dodecahedrons based on this new mode of use suggests that that they were intended to measure distances in Roman feet (pedes). Natural divisions of 5 pedes and 10 pedes were common. I have to admit this was pretty exciting to discover!
When I extended my study to the 12 Dodecahedrons with the best quality published dimensions, I was puzzled that although Roman pedes still seemed to underlie all of the data there were quite a few cases were it was in natural divisions of 6 pedes or 12 pedes. Fathoms? Yards? This didn't make much sense for my proposed application as a range finder for the ballista. Which gets me to all of you reenactors.
Vegetius calls for spacing men on the line 3 pedes apart and uses that to determine the total number required to man a line an entire Roman mile long. I assume that the men would have a practical means to adjust their spacing at an individual level. But if it requires redistributing men over a much longer line, and if the right number of men aren't already clustered in about the right spots, I can imagine it could quickly turn into something resembling a Monty Python skit as men are pushed left or right to claim their 3 ft of space along a very wide front.
So could a simple distance estimating device be an aid to distributing men along a wider front? Especially if it actually measures in units of men? Os that a real need? Might a commander use it, for example, to position the ends of a line and distribute the right number of men to the right locations, so when the men do space themselves, it wouldn't require long and awkward shifts in position?
The usual reenactment isn't going to have to deal with such large numbers of men or such long lines, but I'm hoping there will still be some insights here as to how what may be a relatively minor issue for a small group of men, might be need to be dealt with by a larger group of men. I admittedly know nothing about centuries and cohorts and the like. So ANY insights about how you might accomplish this would be appreciated. I know that's a bit vague but feel free to answer the question you think I SHOULD have asked!
My primary use case remains the ballista. But I can imagine the Dodecahedron could have demonstrated its usefulness with the ballista and then could have been adapted for other uses. It may well be over-engineered for the application we're talking about here. So this is just one possible use that I'm looking at because the data supports it.
