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GAME LIKE A ROMAN : make your own dice tower
Nathalie Roy
The first time I saw a picture of this artifact , I had to look up what it was . Once I understood its function , I realized I had seen modern versions in use at gaming tables .
Players of Dungeons and Dragons and other role-playing games like the practicality and efficiency of dropping dice into a dice tower and not losing them in a wild roll on the table . The dice go in the top and come out the bottom in a nice little contained tray . Dice towers give that air of professionalism and experience every dungeon master wants . They ' re just cool .
After I started reading up on this particular one , I was hooked on turning it into a Roman Technology lesson for my students . The Romans called these towers FRITILLI , PYRGI , or TURRICULI , and soldiers loved them because they prevented cheating that happened more easily with manual rolling .
Archaeologists found this particular one near a Roman fort in Germany , and it ' s named after the nearby villages of Vettweiss and Froitzheim . The artifact sits in the LVR-Landes Museum in Bonn , Germany , and I don ' t think it ' s been published .
It is a STUNNING object . The Latin on it says " PICTOS VICTOS HOSTIS DELETA LUDETE SECURI " ( on the front ) and " UTERE FELIX VIVAS " ( around the top sides and back ).
The Vettweiss-Froitzheim Dice Tower , Rheinisches Landesmuseum , Bonn
These lines may hint at where the tower was used originally and who owned it . " The Picts ( an ancient British tribe ) have been conquered . The enemy has been destroyed . Play in safety . Use ( me ) and live lucky ."
Could a Roman soldier stationed in ancient Britain have brought his treasured dice tower with him to his new station on the German frontier ? Possibly . It ' s so endearing that the dice tower talks to the player / owner - I could not have left behind my friendly dice tower that told me to use him either !
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