Roman Geeks

I have still yet to watch Rome but a friend of mine simply won't shut up about how good it is. I had seen a few seconds of a few episodes last year but it didn't really catch my interest. He claims its just as good if not better than Deadwood. I will probably buy and download it from iTunes since I had so much fun watching Burn Notice on my iPod.

The reason I mention Rome is that I learned this weekend that those Romans... they were AD&D geeks. And for just under $20K you can buy one of their 20-sided dice.

A ROMAN GLASS GAMING DIE
Circa 2nd Century A.D.
Deep blue-green in color, the large twenty-sided die incised with a distinct symbol on each of its faces
2 1/16 in. (5.2 cm.) wide

Several polyhedra in various materials with similar symbols are known from the Roman period. Modern scholarship has not yet established the game for which these dice were used.

Can't you just imagine Ceaser yelling "Roll the dice to see if I'm getting drunk!"