Stranger Than Fiction: Platonic Solids

A column dedicated to pointing out interesting tidbits of history, some of which would be cool to see in a fantasy novel or two.

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One of the things I've been studying this past year is the History of Science: Antiquity to 1700 course by Great Courses.  It's amazing how much ancient peoples discovered about the world, and how many ancient practices we still adhere to, even if we don't realize it.  For example the Babylonians chose a mathematical base of 60 for their calculations, which is where we get 60 seconds in a minute.

One of the most fascinating lectures was on Plato.  I avoided the medieval philosophy courses in university because I thought they'd be dry and boring.  Boy was I wrong.  (And yes, I understand Plato isn't a Medieval philosopher, but I suspect you can't study Medieval philosophy without studying the Greek philosophers, as they formed the basis of later works).  

What really caught my interest was Plato's 4 Element Theory.  I've heard variations on this (medieval medicine was based on the 4 humours that draw heavily on this), but never the full theory with a real understanding of it.

Basically Plato believed that there were 4 elements that made up the world and everything on it, when combined.  He also believed that each element had a shape that defined its role.

This is a chart about the elements I made up using information I got from the fascinating Alchemy of Paint: Art, Science and Secrets From the Middle Ages by Spike Bucklow.  If you want to get a decent understanding of Alchemy and the complexity of medieval thought, read that book.

ELEMENT	MODE	GEOMETRY	SIDES	QUALITIES	SHAPE	WEIGHT
FIRE	CONSUMING	TETRAHEDRAL	4	HOT DRY	SHARP MOBILE	SUBTLE
AIR	GASEOUS	OCTAHEDRAL	8	HOT WET	BLUNT MOBILE	SUBTLE
WATER	LIQUID	ICOSAHEDRAL	20	COLD WET	BLUNT MOBILE	DENSE
EARTH	SOLID	CUBIC	6	COLD DRY	BLUNT IMMOBILE	DENSE

The first thing that occurred to me when I thought about the different shapes was that they seemed familiar...

That's right, D&D dice.  Though, of course, there are a few more dice in the game than Platonic solids.

Now, I like to show how these stranger than fiction posts can be useful in world-building when it comes to making up fantasy worlds.  First, it's good to remember that your people may not be as 'primitive' as you think.  Nor are modern ways of thinking necessarily the best way to deal with the past when it comes to how your people relate to the world around them.

Of course, the easiest way to use the Platonic Solids is to do what Peter V. Brett did in his Demon Cycle books, use them (ok, use D&D dice) as augury bones.

And in case you think that's the artist's interpretation, here's an illustration from his website of what the bones the priestesses cast look like:

While Plato had 4 elements in mind, others felt that 4 was one short.  The human hand has 5 fingers. From a mathematical standpoint, 5 is the hypotenuse of a triangle (when you take the first plane number (3) and the first solid number (4) as the lengths of 2 sides).  Five is the number of regular solids.  there were 5 visible planets (sun, moon, mercury, venus and mars - the Greek word 'planet' means 'wanderer') and the belief was that the macrocosm was analogous to the microcosm.  Therefore, shouldn't there be 5 elements?  Thus came the quest for quintessence, the 5th Element (a 12 sided shape - in the centre of the elements), the one meant to show the attributes of heaven, the spiritual, the perfect, the pure. (This information comes from another interesting read, Medieval Number Symbolism by Vincent Foster Hopper, pp 35-36.)

As a side note, since it kind of deals with the D&D dice up above and I think it's cool, Lou Anders pointed out this post about the oldest 20 sided die in the world.  Carved sometime during the 2nd to 4th centuries  A.D., this die from the Ptolemaic era of Egypt has both Greek and Coptic letters on it.  It's currently housed at the Met.