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THE GALLO-ROMAN DODECAHEDRON AND THE RECEPTACLE OF ALL BECOMING

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 November 2025

Michael Guggenberger  and
Stephen Leach
Michael Guggenberger
Affiliation:
Michael Guggenberger, Österreichischer Alpenverein, Olympiastraße 37, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria. Email: michael.guggenberger@alpenverein.at
Stephen Leach*
Affiliation:
Stephen Leach, 1 West Park Road, Derby, DE22 1GG, UK. Email: s.d.leach@outlook.com
*
*Corresponding author: Email s.d.leach@outlook.com
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Abstract

Discussions of the Gallo-Roman dodecahedron often note the significance of the dodecahedron in Platonic and Pythagorean philosophy, but they tend not to relate the archaeology to the textual evidence in any detail. We attempt to do that in this paper. We argue that, whilst it remains the case that there is no contemporaneous description of the Gallo-Roman dodecahedron, there are several texts – including an overlooked passage in Iamblichus’ On the Pythagorean Life – that point to its possible inspiration. We relate these texts to the location of dodecahedra in Gaul and Britain and to the interest of the Druids in Pythagoras, which was frequently remarked upon by Roman commentators.

Keywords

dodecahedronPlatoPythagorasIamblichusdivinationDruids

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Type
Research paper
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , First View , pp. 1 - 24
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Society of Antiquaries of London

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References

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