Tessera lusoria

The term tessera lusoria (plural: tesserae lusoriae), is a modern archaeological name coined by Christian Hülsen in 1896, to denote a collection of game tokens made of flattened bone and characterised by a parallelepiped shape. Tesserae lusoriae date to the Republican period. The production process involved shaping, filing, and engraving bone from a bovine limb, resulting in moldings at the ends of the tokens. With a few exceptions, tesserae typically feature a numeral on one side and, on the opposite face, a word or expression that tends to carry a derogatory or obscene connotation, particularly with lower numerals. The inscriptions on these tokens often reference vulgar words. Despite ongoing scholarly debates, the purpose and rules of the game remain unclear. Suggestions link low-numbered tokens to derogatory expressions and high-numbered ones to somewhat milder words. It has been suggested that the epigraphic inscriptions indicate their use in a tombola or lottery system.