DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14140#0043
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OBJECTS IN TABLE CASE D.
TESSERiE OF GLADIATORS.
These tesserce are usually carved out of a piece of ivory
or bone which, approximates to the figure of a parallelo-
pipedon, and terminates at one end in a knob pierced for
suspension. On each of the four sides of the tessera is
engraved an inscription running lengthways. The first
line of this inscription contains a name in the nominative
case, the second line a name in the genitive; the third
line begins with the letters SP, after which follows a day
of a Eoman month. In the fourth line are the names of
the consuls of a particular year. There are extant in
various museums upwards of sixty of these tesserce, ranging
in date from a.u.c. 669 (b.c. 85) to a.u.c. 827 (a.d. 74)
(Hiibner, infra), most of which are thought by the best
authorities to be genuine. Some have been found bearing
a date later than the reign of Vespasian. These tessera,
have been discovered at various periods from the sixteenth
century to recent years; most of them have been found in
Rome. Ever since they first attracted the notice of archajo-
logists, their purpose and the meaning of their inscriptions
have been matter of dispute. Most of the authorities on
the subject considered these tesserce as connected with
gladiators, till Mommsen, in the Corpus Inscriptionum
Latinarum, i. 'p. 195, disputed this theory. Since that
work appeared, two valuable memoirs on these tesserce have
been published; by Ritschl, in the Abhandlungen Bayer.
Akad. 1866 (vol. x. pt. ii. p. 293), and by Hiibner, in the
Monatsbericht, Berlin. Akad. 1867, p. 747. In the first of
these memoirs, Bitschl comes to the following conclu-
sions :—
(1) That the tesserce relate to gladiators. The evidence
which he brings forward to prove this has since been
confirmed by the discovery in Spain of a bronze tablet
on which the gift of a tessera, here called tessera muneris,
to a certain gladiator is recorded, the date being noted
by the name of the consul in whose year the tessera was
given.
(2) The name in the first line of these tesserce, which is
always in the nominative, is that of the gladiator; the
d 2
OBJECTS IN TABLE CASE D.
TESSERiE OF GLADIATORS.
These tesserce are usually carved out of a piece of ivory
or bone which, approximates to the figure of a parallelo-
pipedon, and terminates at one end in a knob pierced for
suspension. On each of the four sides of the tessera is
engraved an inscription running lengthways. The first
line of this inscription contains a name in the nominative
case, the second line a name in the genitive; the third
line begins with the letters SP, after which follows a day
of a Eoman month. In the fourth line are the names of
the consuls of a particular year. There are extant in
various museums upwards of sixty of these tesserce, ranging
in date from a.u.c. 669 (b.c. 85) to a.u.c. 827 (a.d. 74)
(Hiibner, infra), most of which are thought by the best
authorities to be genuine. Some have been found bearing
a date later than the reign of Vespasian. These tessera,
have been discovered at various periods from the sixteenth
century to recent years; most of them have been found in
Rome. Ever since they first attracted the notice of archajo-
logists, their purpose and the meaning of their inscriptions
have been matter of dispute. Most of the authorities on
the subject considered these tesserce as connected with
gladiators, till Mommsen, in the Corpus Inscriptionum
Latinarum, i. 'p. 195, disputed this theory. Since that
work appeared, two valuable memoirs on these tesserce have
been published; by Ritschl, in the Abhandlungen Bayer.
Akad. 1866 (vol. x. pt. ii. p. 293), and by Hiibner, in the
Monatsbericht, Berlin. Akad. 1867, p. 747. In the first of
these memoirs, Bitschl comes to the following conclu-
sions :—
(1) That the tesserce relate to gladiators. The evidence
which he brings forward to prove this has since been
confirmed by the discovery in Spain of a bronze tablet
on which the gift of a tessera, here called tessera muneris,
to a certain gladiator is recorded, the date being noted
by the name of the consul in whose year the tessera was
given.
(2) The name in the first line of these tesserce, which is
always in the nominative, is that of the gladiator; the
d 2