2012.1.7: Die

Identification and Creation

Object Number

2012.1.7

Title

Die

Classification

Recreational Artifacts

Work Type

game piece

Date

1st-4th century

Period

Roman Imperial period

Culture

Roman

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/178272

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Ivory

Technique

Carved

Dimensions

1.4 x 1.3 cm (9/16 x 1/2 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

Walton Brooks McDaniel, New Jersey (?-1943/46), gift; to the Department of the Classics, Harvard University (1943/46-2012), transfer; to the Harvard Art Museums, 2012.

Note: Walton Brooks McDaniel gave a portion of his collection to the Department of the Classics in 1943 and the rest in 1946. The Collection is named for his late wife, Alice Corinne McDaniel.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Transfer from the Alice Corinne McDaniel Collection, Department of the Classics, Harvard University

Accession Year

2012

Object Number

2012.1.7

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Descriptions

Description

Six-sided ivory die. The numbers on each side are indicated by patterns with incised concentric circles and a central dot. Intact, some wear at the corners.

Commentary

LIVE LIKE A ROMAN: DAILY LIFE OBJECT COLLECTION

Cubical six-sided dice in bone and ivory, which were used as games as well as for casting lots, are common throughout the Greco-Roman world from at least the seventh century BCE. Most bone dice are small in size, due to the dimensional limitations of the material. On a cubical dice, values were marked with dots, drilled holes that could be filled with colored paste, or ring and dot motifs, as in this case. Double ring and dot motifs are by far the most common. The values were arranged so that opposite faces total seven (6-1, 5-2, 4-3). Dice are rarely perfectly cubical in shape, and values are often not regularly spaced.

Publication History

• John Crawford, Sidney Goldstein, George M. A. Hanfmann, John Kroll, Judith Lerner, Miranda Marvin, Charlotte Moore, and Duane Roller, Objects of Ancient Daily Life. A Catalogue of the Alice Corinne McDaniel Collection Belonging to the Department of the Classics, Harvard University, ed. Jane Waldbaum, Department of the Classics (unpublished manuscript, 1970), BI54, p. 146 [J. A. Lerner]

Exhibition History

• 32Q: 3620 University Study Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 02/13/2015; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/22/2022 - 05/08/2022; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/20/2024 - 05/05/2024

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