Roman Dodecahedron as dioptron: analysis of freely available data — mentioned by sparkie

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 18:48:35 GMT

Not being standardized doesn't necessarily rule out being a measuring tool. They could've each been crafted for a specific purpose, but using the same technique for measuring. Would be nice if there were a database of precise measurements of those discovered so far. The paper suggesting they may have been a dioptron[1] has a small sample data, but not enough to make any conclusions. [1]:https://arxiv.org/pdf/1206.0946

Paper and discussion history. A mention is not an endorsement.

Roman Dodecahedron as dioptron: analysis of freely available data — mentioned by bondarchuk

Tue, 23 Jan 2024 16:36:26 GMT

Furthermore this article only states: “They are not of a standard size, so will not be measuring devices.", which is incorrect since for use as a coincidence rangefinder (standardized to some standard) only the ratios between sizes of opposite holes would need to be standardized, not the size of the thing as a whole. The paper "Roman Dodecahedron as dioptron: analysis of freely available data" (https://arxiv.org/abs/1206.0946) collects measurements of opposite hole pairs for 7 artefacts for anyone wanting to do their own analysis.

Paper and discussion history. A mention is not an endorsement.

Roman Dodecahedron as dioptron: analysis of freely available data · HackerPapers discussions

Roman Dodecahedron as dioptron: analysis of freely available data — mentioned by sparkie

Roman Dodecahedron as dioptron: analysis of freely available data — mentioned by bondarchuk