Ancient Roman, Empire Bone dice - Ancient Roman legionary bone gaming dice - 12 mm (No reserve price)

The second century AD was a flowering time for the Romans in the Netherlands. The limes, the Roman frontier that ran along the major rivers, was secured to a considerable extent and only needed to be guarded. To defend a border that stretched across the whole of the Netherlands from Germany to the North Sea, you needed many soldiers. A river is a natural boundary, difficult to cross but also easier to defend. Many Dutch cities, such as Utrecht, Nijmegen and Leiden, trace their origins to the Roman limes. Along this border, many forts (castella) and military camps (castra) were established.

These settlements primarily served to protect the borders, but they also provided space for trade. Trade took place between the various limes settlements, usually via the river. The Romans also conducted trade with the indigenous tribes on the other side of the border. The Romans were not in a constant state of war with their ‘barbarian’ neighbors, and peaceful contact was certainly possible. With many impressive watchtowers, the limes functioned more as a delimitation and hopefully a deterrence than an impregnable barrier.

In the second century AD it was fairly quiet in the southern part of the Netherlands (the province of Germania Inferior). The soldiers in the marching camps, forts and watchtowers must have been terribly bored at times. The Roman commanders often kept the soldiers busy with cooking, cleaning and gymnastic exercises. Of course, you can only be bored with that for so long. One thing Roman soldiers were clever at was finding distractions. They were known for loving dice, gambling and other games of chance. They often challenged each other to stake money or other possessions. That quickly makes a game exciting!

In several places where Roman settlements used to stand, remains of games have been found. Many of these games are still familiar to us today. A fine example are these dice, on display at the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden. The found dice did not look much different from our dice. There are even examples of dice that were weighted on one side, so the chance of landing on six was very high! Fortuna—the goddess of luck, chance and fate—would certainly not have been pleased.

Dimensions: 12 x 12 x 11 mm
Weight: 3.30 grams
Material: bone / bone

Condition: excellent, a very fine die that is actually even more beautiful in reality.

Shipping method: this lot is excellently packaged and shipped via DHL or UPS through Catawiki’s Smart Shipping.