Spintriae

A spintria (plural, spintriae) is a small bronze or brass Roman token and sometimes called tesserae. The tokens frequently depict the image of a sexual act on the obverse and a Roman numeral on the reverse.  Spintriae do not bear signs of long term use that id founbd on coins that have been in circulation and there are relatively few exist compared with the number of official coins from the era they were produced. They appear to have been minted at a single location in Rome between 22 and 37 CE.
There have been a number of suggestions as to the purpose of the Spintriae but none have been generally accepted.  Probably the earliest suggestion, dating from the late 19th century, is that they were used in brothels to pay prostitutes.  Unfortunately, there is no evidence to support this idea.  Another suggestion, that also lacks evidence to support it, is that they were gaming tokens.  
What may be the most plausible explanation is that they were used as locker tokens in bath houses.  In Pompeii, archaeologists have found frescos depicting sexual scenes similar to the ones on the coins that are associated with numerals that appear on the reverse of the coins. The spintria may have been given token for a locker where clothes could be stored while bathing. 

Subject ID: 157208

More

A spintria (plural, spintriae) is a small bronze or brass Roman token and sometimes called tesserae. The tokens frequently depict the image of a sexual act on the obverse and a Roman numeral on the reverse.  Spintriae do not bear signs of long term use that id founbd on coins that have been in circulation and there are relatively few exist compared with the number of official coins from the era they were produced. They appear to have been minted at a single location in Rome between 22 and 37 CE.
There have been a number of suggestions as to the purpose of the Spintriae but none have been generally accepted.  Probably the earliest suggestion, dating from the late 19th century, is that they were used in brothels to pay prostitutes.  Unfortunately, there is no evidence to support this idea.  Another suggestion, that also lacks evidence to support it, is that they were gaming tokens.  
What may be the most plausible explanation is that they were used as locker tokens in bath houses.  In Pompeii, archaeologists have found frescos depicting sexual scenes similar to the ones on the coins that are associated with numerals that appear on the reverse of the coins. The spintria may have been given token for a locker where clothes could be stored while bathing. 

Subject ID: 157208

Less