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Tesserae gladiatoriae sive nummulariae

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2012

Extract

What was the purpose of the small bone tags, mostly found near Rome, with legends usually containing the following elements: (i) a name in the nominative; (ii) a name in the genitive; (iii) ‘sp.,’ ‘spectavit’ or ‘spectat. num.’; (iv) a date specifying the day, month and year?

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © M. Cary 1923. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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References

page 110 note 1 E.g. ‘Philargurus Epilli sp. k. Ian. M. Tul. C. Ant.’ For a list of these tesserae, see C.I.L. i,2 fasc. 2, nos. 889–951, and Herzog's book (n. 2).

page 110 note 2 ‘Aus der Geschichte des Bankwesens.’ (Abhandlungen der Giessener Hochschulgesellschaft, vol. i, 1919Google Scholar).

According to Herzog, ‘sp.’ or ‘spectavit’ should be expanded into ‘spectavit nummos.’ ‘spectat. num,’ which is found on one tessera, probably stands for ‘spectator nummorum.’

page 110 note 3 Att. 9, 15, 5.

page 111 note 1 Epodes ii, 67.

page 111 note 2 We must assume that Atticus during business hours was a Caecilius, not a Pomponius.

page 112 note 1 These tesserae are undated. As Herzog points out, they are probably anterior to 84 B.C. in which year Marius Gratidianus regularised the procedure of the spectatio nummorum.

page 112 note 2 This is how I read the name, judging by the photograph of the inscription: Έϕημερὶς Άρχαιολογική, 1912, p. 67. Hatzfeld reads ‘Attaleius.’

page 112 note 3 E.g. no less than 16 different Paconii have been identified at Delos.

page 113 note 1 If the unit was a sestertium or 1,000 sestertii, this would explain why 1,000 sestertii came to be used as a unit of reckoning.

page 113 note 2 Herzog acutely conjectures that similar tags may be sorted out among the Kleinfunde at Delos.