Getty Museum

Tessera (Game Counter?)

Date

1st century B.C.–1st century A.D.

Medium

Bone

Culture

Roman

Department

Implements

Institution

Getty Museum

Partially preserved reddish brown tessera (small token) with the profile of a bearded man on the obverse and three lines of inscription on the reverse. The top and bottom inscriptions, "XII" and "IB," are the number twelve in Latin and Greek respectively. The middle line, in Greek, is missing the first few letters and reads, "AKLES" a possible shorthand for "Herakles," which may identify the portrait on the obverse. This token can be grouped with similar examples of bone tesserae that feature portraits, architecture, and symbols, and inscribed on the reverse with Greek names and two numbers from 1 to 15 in Latin and Greek. Previously considered to be theater tokens or tickets (tesserae theatrales), the prevailing modern belief is that these tesserae were used as game counters, either for a Roman game or a counting game from Alexandria. Their original fuction continues to be debated, and current evidence is not yet conclusive.

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