Ancient Roman

The second century AD was a flourishing time for the Romans in the Netherlands. The limes, the Roman border that ran along the great rivers, was secured to a certain extent and only needed to be guarded. To guard a border that ran through the whole of the Netherlands from Germany to the North Sea, many soldiers were required. A river is a natural border, which is both difficult to cross and 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 army camps (castra) were established. These settlements primarily served to protect the borders, but they also offered space for trade. Trade took place between the various limes settlements, usually via the river. The Romans also conducted trade with the native tribes on the other side of the border. The Romans did not live 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 boundary and, hopefully, a deterrent than an impregnable division. In the second century AD it was relatively calm in the southern part of the Netherlands (the province Germania Inferior). The soldiers in the army camps, forts and watchtowers must have been terribly bored at times. The Roman commanders kept the soldiers busy with cooking, cleaning and gymnastic exercises. Of course, you can get tired of that eventually. One of the things the Roman soldiers were smart at was finding distractions. They were known for their love of dice, gambling and other games of chance. They often challenged each other to stake money or other belongings. That quickly makes a game exciting! In several places where Roman settlements once stood, remains of games have been found. Many of these games are still familiar to us today. A beautiful example are these dice, on display in the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden. The dice found looked not 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 surely not have been happy about that. Dimensions: 11 x 11 x 10 mm Weight: 1.90 g Material: bone Condition: excellent, a very fine die that is actually even more beautiful in person. Shipping method: this lot will be excellently packaged and shipped via DHL or UPS using Catawiki’s smart shipping.

Estimation:€210

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