The Roman Dice Tower

Border of the Yakto Mosaic, Turkey (5th Century AD). Photo: Dosseman, 2019. Wikimedia Commons

“Our most charming brother Domnicius had seized the dice

and was busy shaking them, ‘as a sort of trumpet‑call

summoning the players to the battle of the tower (ad pyrgum).’”

Sidonius Apollinaris, Letters V.XVII (5^th century AD)

In his 1931-2 excavations at the Royal Tombs of Qustul Walter Emery discovered a collection of objects that seemed to go together as a sort of companion set. One of those pieces was a strange box that would turn out to be the first of its kind to be identified in the archaeological record. It was a dice tower. Known to the Romans as “pyrgus” or “turricula” these dice towers helped to ensure fair play with dice, but they also added an extra charm to the game. Rather than just casting the dice with the hand, the senses would be delighted as the “alea”, or dice, tumbled through the baffles. Today, our replicas have been enjoyed by some, simply for the pleasing sound that they create, without any actual game being played.

To date there have been four dice towers found that are complete enough to recreate, and a smattering of artefacts that have been identified as parts of dice towers. The process of their discovery over the last 100 years has helped our understanding of this charming device and its place in ancient gameplay.

All of these finds date from the 4^th century, which has led some to suppose that, due to the absence of any earlier example in the archaeological record, that these were innovated in the 4^th century because of a rise in cheating.

However, whilst there are Roman writers that complain of cheating (Persius 1^st century AD), there doesn’t appear to be an increase of complaints in the literary record prior to these dice towers appearing.

Another consideration is that the dice tower (turricula) is referenced in the 1^st century AD:

“The Tower rolls dice.

The dishonest hand that knows how to throw loaded dice,

if he pitches through me, he will get nothing but hopes.”

Martial, Epigrams 14.16 (1^st century AD)

There aren’t that many literary references to the dice tower at all. That may be because it was an everyday object that didn’t seem important enough to write about, or it may be because any references that did exist are lost to history, we may never know.

Another point of confusion is that older historians confused the terms pyrgus/turricula with an object called a “fritillus” (a dice cup). Even Emery confused the terms in his reports and books because our understanding of these objects was still so new at the time.

Dice cup (fritillus), found at a pottery factory in Via di Nocera, Pompei. Cerulli Irelli 1977, pl. 28.9

So, dice towers didn’t have a monopoly on cheat prevention, the dice cup was already there, however the potential for showing off with your game collection was much greater with the dice tower.

Another possible reason for their absence in the archaeological record is that they are made of materials that can either be melted down to make other things or materials that are biodegradable and/or combustible.

In fact, parts of the baffles from a dice tower were found in a stoke hole at the villa at Great Casterton in the UK, implying that it was disposed of rather unceremoniously.

Whatever (and whenever) the reason for the dice tower’s appearance, they are a fantastic insight in the world of gameplay of our ancient ancestors.

Here are the towers…

The Qustul Tower

The Qustul Dice Tower. Photo from Walter B. Emery's report.

The Qustul dice tower was the first dice tower to be both discovered and identified. It was discovered by Walter B. Emery in tomb 3 at Qustul in Egypt in his 1931-2 excavations. In his report he said that it took months before they figured out how it went together and confirm what it was for. It was found with a game board for what we now refer to as “ludus duodecim scriptorum” (the game of twelve markings), 5 dice and 30 playing pieces (15 ebony and 15 ivory), so it appears that the items were intended to be used together in play.

The dice tower was made from wood and ivory with silver fittings and is the smallest of the four surviving examples at 160mm tall.

The original can now be found at the Nubia Museum in Aswan, Egypt.

You can buy the Qustul Dice Tower as a kit here.

Qustul Dice Tower Kit. Assembled and painted. Photo: Classroom Adventures

The Vettweiss-Froitzheim Tower

A photograph of the Vettweiss-Froitzheim dice tower. Photo: Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Bonn, Wikimedia Commons

This was the second dice tower to be discovered and identified and was found in 1985 in the remains of a villa between the modern day villages of Vettweiss and Froitzheim in Germany. Dating to the 4^th century AD, this area was the frontier of the Roman Empire at the time.

The tower is made of bronze and survives relatively intact making it easy to understand what it is.

It has a curious set of inscriptions. One on the front reads:

PICTOS

VICTOS

HOSTIS

DELETA

LUDITE

SECURI

"The Picts have been defeated,

The enemies destroyed,

Play in safety."

Around the top of the other three sides a second inscription reads:

UTERE

FELIX

VIVAS

"Use this happily, and may you live happily!"

The Picts were a tribe in the north of Britain, so there appears to be some curious link between this dice tower and Britain. What that story is though, we may never know…

The tower also had bells hung around the mouth so that as the dice exited the tower they would knock and ring the bells, giving a pleasing sound.

You can buy the Vettweiss-Froitzheim Dice Tower as a kit here.

Vettweiss-Froitzheim Dice Tower Kit. Assembled and painted. Photo: Classroom Adventures

The Richborough Tower

The remains of the dice tower from Richborough Roman Fort, UK. Photo: Neil Cozzi

The Richborough dice tower was really the first to be discovered but the third to be identified as such.

On excavations between 1928-31 bone fragments were discovered, possibly the casings of some kind of box, in one of the defensive ditches at Richborough Roman Fort in England. These sat in a box in the English Heritage Archives until one of their volunteers, Roly Cobbett, identified them as parts of a dice tower in 2006. He noticed the diagonal slits in the sides and recognised them as slots for the baffles of a dice tower.

The dice tower from Richborough was originally made from wood and encased in bone (you can still see some of the bone pins in the bone fragments) however, after being in the ground for 1,600 years the wood has long gone and only the bone casing remains.

The bone pieces are decorated with intricate ring and dot patterns throughout.

You can see the original remains at the in-house museum at Richborough Roman Fort, run by English Heritage.

You can buy the Richborough Dice Tower as a kit here.

Richborough Dice Tower Kit. Assembled and painted. Photo: Classroom Adventures

The Chaves Dice Tower

The remains of the dice tower found at Chaves, Portugal. Photo: Pedro Maia.

Discovered in excavations between 2006 - 2008 in the ruins of a Roman bath house in the town of Chaves, Portugal, this is the most recently discovered dice tower.

Whilst relatively complete the dice tower is disfigured, possibly from when the roof of the bath house collapsed, keeping it safe for it to be found over a 1,000 years later. Two bone dice were discovered nearby.

The Chaves dice tower is made from bronze and is covered in intricate fretwork. On the front is an inscription which reads:

FVSA VT CARCERIB-

VS QVONDAM QV-

ADRIGA ROTATVR

SIC PYRGI SCALIS T-

ESSERA PVLSA RV

IT EX OFICINA

SORICI VTERE FELIX

 

Which roughly translates as:

As the wheel spins when the chariot races from the starting gate,

so the cast dice falls through the steps of the dice tower.

From Soricus' workshop.

Use this with good fortune.

So, this is an exceptional find because it also gives us the makers name “Soricus”.

A kit of the Chaves dice tower is expected in early 2026

Honourable Mentions

There are fragments of other Roman dice towers that have been identified at:

• Piddington, UK

• Dorcester, UK

• Great Casterton, UK

• Colliton Park, UK

To Close

Dice Towers seem to disappear around the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and don’t make a come back into popular gaming culture until the late 20^th century and the proliferation of board games (they are very popular within the roleplaying games community). When confronted with one of these modern dice towers it is easy to assume them to be a very recent invention. However, now you know that the Romans were there first, at least 1,600 years ago…