Roman Dice Tower

Anything worth sharing with us but not gaming related goes in here.

Moderators: The Heralds, The Loremasters

Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
Karak Norn Clansman
Posts: 647
Joined: Fri Oct 18, 2013 11:25 am

Roman Dice Tower

#1 Post by Karak Norn Clansman »

Courtesy of Bloodbeard, who shared this piece of news:

Image
Archaeologist Ticia Verveer wrote:A Roman throwing tower found at Vettweiß-Froitz-heim in Germany. The sides have been worked open, so that the players could see the dice rolling. Invented to prevent cheating. Text on the back reads: utere felix vivas ('use it and live as a lucky man').

4th century

On the front it says Pictos victos hostis deleta ludite securi ('The Picts have been defeated, the enemy destroyed, play carefree').

The text refers to a Roman victory over the Picts in Scotland, north of Roman Britannia.

At LVR Museum, Bonn, Germany http://www.landesmuseum-bonn.lvr.de/en/startseite.html
https://www.wissenschaft.de/magazin/wei ... im-museum/
SpellArcher
Green Istari
Posts: 13841
Joined: Sat Sep 13, 2008 11:26 am
Location: Otherworld

Re: Roman Dice Tower

#2 Post by SpellArcher »

Karak Norn Clansman wrote:The Picts have been defeated,
Karak Norn Clansman wrote:Germany
Shows the internationalism of the Empire I guess. At one point holding off the Painted People would have been the job of the forces on Hadrian's Wall but things were more fluid by the C4th I suppose.
Luna Guardian
Pendragon
Posts: 1700
Joined: Mon Aug 09, 2004 6:52 am
Location: Cold, miserable and expensive Finland

Re: Roman Dice Tower

#3 Post by Luna Guardian »

I saw that! Thought that it was a cheese grater at first :lol:
Prince Deral Lionbane, head of the House of Lionbane, Lord of Lionstone and Warden of Tor Charta

Luna, try not to beat them too hard. They are proud about their pseudo-glorious past and their present nothingness, you know.
-Elmoth, about Caledorians
User avatar
Elithmar
Young Eataini Prince
Posts: 3669
Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2011 7:41 pm

Re: Roman Dice Tower

#4 Post by Elithmar »

I'm most interested in the grammar. :roll:

It's clearly a lot less tidy and correct than in textbooks or classical authors. I wonder if it's just heavily abbreviated, or whether changes in Latin by the 4th century are somewhat responsible. I wonder what form of Latin they were actually speaking then.

Fairly boring thoughts, I'll admit. :lol:
"I say the Eatainii were cheating - again." -Aicanor
"Eatainian jerks…" -Headshot
"It was a little ungentlemanly." -Aicanor (on the Eatainii)
"What is it with Eataini being blamed for everything?" -Aicanor
Shannar, Sealord
Very Helpful Elf
Posts: 4031
Joined: Sun Jun 06, 2004 2:10 am
Location: Patroling the Sea Lanes

Re: Roman Dice Tower

#5 Post by Shannar, Sealord »

Don't forget the effects of Latin as a 2nd language
Post Reply