Faience Polyhedron with Greek Letters in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, February 2008

Faience polyhedron inscribed with letters of the Greek alphabet
Roman, 2nd-3rd century AD

Accession # 37.11.3

A number of polyhedra made in various materials are known from the Roman world. They may have been used in conjunction with with an oracle inscribed on a pillar set up in a public place. The polyhedron was thrown in order to choose a letter at random. One consulted the inscription to find the matching letter and read the oracle's response. There would be twenty oracular messages, each beginning with a letter of the alphabet that corresponds to one side of the dice.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art electronic kiosk in the study collection.