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Spintria. Buttrey "Type 1". AVG reverse. C1st AD. Source: Incitatus Coins and Antiquities. Source: https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/incitatus_coins/79/product/roman_ spintria_erotic_tessera_time_of_tiberius_heterosexual_scene_with_ male_on_top_reverse_scene_with_avg_in_wreath__only_known_from_1_ example_unique_lasciva_nomismata/166123/Default.aspx
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In 2010 a Roman token was discovered in the mud of the Thames near Putney Bridge in London. When the token was discovered to have an erotic image on one side and a Roman numeral on the other, and was identified in a Museum of London press release as a rare Roman “brothel token”, the press reported on the story in the expected manner, for example: “...
Citations
... Basically, the token as a numismatic object, functioning as means of purchasing certain services, is not something new, as it has been encountered since antiquity. In ancient Rome, a spintria (or spintria tessera) was a (minted in bronze or brass) obscene metal token associated with the payment of (homosexual) services in brothels (Duggan, 2017). In the Middle Ages, meanwhile, there was so-called Abbot's money, tokens that English monasteries issued to pay for services offered by outsiders and which functioned as local currency in the abbey (Mackay, 1973). ...
Attempts to valuate personality and personal brand in the digital economy face significant problems when it comes to the tools of such an activity. The main aim of this paper is to consider a personal token as the new means of personality valuation and to propose tools of its financial and network valuation. We applied financial analysis, content analysis, and statistical analysis, using data from the platform dedicated to personal token issuers. Financial valuation of personal tokens was performed using a modified Network Value to Transaction ratio (NVT). The personality types of the tokenised persons were determined based on Bartle’s Four Player Types model and the Big Five Personality Traits model. The issuers of personal tokens were grouped with a use of clustering analysis and the differences in score on personality traits were tested accordingly. Our results uncovered the novel means of personality and personal brand valuation which is a personal token and allowed us to differentiate two groups of personal token issuers based on their personality traits and activity profile.
Este artículo tiene como objetivo presentar una serie de tesserae imperiales hasta el momento nunca publicadas, procedentes de diversas instituciones y enclaves españoles, aunque una parte importante ha sido hallada en la actual Andalucía. Se documentan tesserae no solo de tipo erótico, conocidas popularmente como ‘spintriae’, sino también las que presentan bustos imperiales y escenas lúdicas. Todas estas fichas pueden ponerse en relación con la incipiente municipalización de la Bética y, por tanto, su conexión directa con Italia. Por otra parte, sabemos que a lo largo de los siglos I-II d.C. existieron diversos ludi en Hispania. A excepción del caso de Pollentia (Mallorca), el origen de las tesserae apunta a la ciudad Roma, pero su importación a la Península Ibérica corrió a cargo de legionarios y nuevos ciudadanos, estableciéndose en zonas ya romanizadas como la Bética.
El objetivo de este trabajo es tratar de dilucidar un problema que se nos presenta en torno a las afamadas spintriae. Tan problemático es su propio concepto, cronología, función y significado simbólico, como su nulo contexto arqueológico en lupanares, aunque se conoce un ejemplar -en ámbito funerario- que ha arrojado bastante luz al respecto. En definitiva, planteamos un nuevo estado de la cuestión. Y es que las spintriae suponen un punto de inflexión que viene marcado, además, por las fuentes clásicas, las cuales no nos hablan de la existencia de éstas, sino todo lo contrario: dicho término se ha utilizado en los textos para describir a prostitutas o prostitutos y, muy probablemente, practicar sexo.
