A theory I saw recently suggested that they may have been used to hold candles, as night lights (could still have had some religious or ritual component too).
The holes all being different diameters would then relate to different sized candles being needed to last all night, for longer and shorter nights at different times of the year. The twelve faces presumably corresponding to 12 months on the Julian calendar, which was used from 45 BC - 1582 ("Some Roman dodecahedrons date to as early as the first century C.E")
The holes all being different diameters would then relate to different sized candles being needed to last all night, for longer and shorter nights at different times of the year. The twelve faces presumably corresponding to 12 months on the Julian calendar, which was used from 45 BC - 1582 ("Some Roman dodecahedrons date to as early as the first century C.E")