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{{Short description|Ancient Roman tokens depicting erotic scenes}}(File:Die Erotik der Antike in Kleinkunst und Keramik by Gaston Vorberg - Plate no. 112 - Detail 10.jpg|thumb|300px|Spintria tokens. On one side of the tokens is an image of a sexual scene and on the other side is a numeral. Found in Rome. Dates of production are around 22 to 37 CE. A second set is from 30 to 79 CE.)File:BLW Saucy Roman Tokens!.jpg|thumb|280px|right|Spintria tokens, showing an erotic scene on one side. On the reverse is a number. Hunterian Museum and Art GalleryHunterian Museum and Art GalleryA spintria (plural, spintriae) is a small bronze or brass Roman token. The tokens usually depict on the obverse an image of sexual acts or symbols and a numeral in the range I - XVI on the reverse.BOOK, John R Clarke, 1998, Looking at Lovemaking, 244,www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520229044/looking-at-lovemaking, University of California Press, 9780520229044, One idea is that it was possibly used in brothels, although none of the literature on the spintriae contains any evidence to support this assertion. Another idea is that they were used as locker tokens in suburban baths.“MEMBERWIDE">TITLE= IS THAT A SPINTRIA IN YOUR POCKET, OR ARE YOU JUST PLEASED TO SEE ME?FIRST1=GEOFFREYPUBLISHER=UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND PRINTERY PAGES=225–236 CONFERENCE=20TH CONFERENCE OF THE HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA ARCHIVE-URL=HTTPS://WEB.ARCHIVE.ORG/WEB/20220417140817/HTTP://WWW.HETERODOXNEWS.COM/HTNF/HTN58/HETSA2007%20COMPLETE.PDF, 17 April 2022,

Name

File:Roman coin celebrating pederasty.jpg|thumb|upright=1|right|Spintria token showing fellatio.]]They were all produced at a single location with the first set of dates putting their production at around 22 to 37 CE and a second set of dates puts their production as 30 - 79 CE.(wiktionary:spintria|Spintria) was used by Suetonius to refer to young male prostitutes,Fishburn, page 10, note 2. from Greek σφιγκτήρ (sphinktḗr, [anal] sphincter). In the 16th century, the name passed from the ancient sense of the persons committing outrageous acts – in other words, sexual and/or sensual acts outside what was considered the norm – (or the place where outrageous acts occurred, such as Tiberius’ gardens on the isle of Capri) to the tokens themselves.DUGGAN>FIRST=EDDIETITLE=STRANGER GAMES: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE SPINTRIAE JOURNAL= BOARD GAME STUDIES JOURNALISSUE= 1DOI=10.1515/BGS-2017-0005 ACCESS-DATE=18 APRIL 2022ARCHIVE-DATE=18 APRIL 2022, free, Bette Talvacchia identifies the first usage of the term spintriae to refer to the tokens as occurring in Sebastiano Errizo’s 1559 treatise, Discourse Concerning Ancient Medals (Sopra le Medaglie Antiche, Venice, 1559).Talvacchia, 1999, p. 56.{{multiple image| align = right| total_width = 300| image_style = border:none;| image1 = British Museum - Museum number R4483 - spintria.jpg| alt1 = | caption = | image2 = Spintria - B111 b.jpg| alt2 = | footer = Spintria token with sex between two males on a bed. }}

Use

File:Terme Suburbane (Pompei) WLM 003.JPG|thumb|right|upright=1.3|The dressing room in the suburban baths at PompeiiPompeiiSome scholars, following Friedlander’s (1886) suggestion that the tokens were used to obtain entry to brothels (”auf die man in Bordelle Einlass erhielt“), have argued that spintriae were used to pay prostitutes, although none offer any supporting evidence. Buttrey is dismissive of the brothel token idea, asserting “there is no evidence for any of this”.Buttrey 1973, p. 53 Currently, only Simonetta and Riva are supporters of the brothel token hypothesis,Simonetta, B. and Riva, R., 1981, Le Tessere erotiche romane (spintriae): Quando ed a che scopo sono state coniate Gaggini-Bizzozero. Lugano) which is also popular with the media;see Duggan 2016 other scholars pursue alternate lines of enquiry (Buttrey; Campana; Duggan; Fishburn; etc.). Under Caracalla, an equestrian was sentenced to death for bringing a coin with the emperor’s likeness into a brothel; he was spared only by the emperor’s own death.Cassius Dio 78.16.5. There is no direct ancient evidence, however, to support the theory that spintriae were created as tokens for exchange in place of official coinage.Spintriae also do not have wearing that is on coins that have been in mass circulation and there are also relatively few compared with the amount of official coins that exist. The spintriae were also all produced at a single location from around 22-37 CE or 30 - 79 CE and this is a short period of time.Another idea is that they were used as game piecesThomas A. McGinn, The Economy of Prostitution in the Roman World (University of Michigan Press, 2004), p. 115JOURNAL, Luciana Jacobelli, 1989, “Le pitture e gli stucchi delle terme suburbane di Pompei” Inhalt 4. Internationales Kolloquium zur Römischen Wandmalerei Köln,www.antikmakler.de/bv4790, 24, 1991, 72 - 74, German, Kölner Jahrbuch für Vor- und Frühgeschichte, 15 March 2024, 3786116822, for playing a board gameBOOK, John R Clarke, 1998, Looking at Lovemaking, 245,www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520229044/looking-at-lovemaking, University of California Press, 0520229045, and the idea was that the number that appears on the token was relevant to playing the board game. Duggansee Duggan 2016 notes there are no archaeological finds to confirm the spintriae were gaming pieces.Another idea is that they were used as locker tokens in the dressing room of the suburban baths. On the walls of the suburban baths in Pompeii there are frescos that have been painted with sexual scenes that are the same or similar to the ones on the tokens. On these sexual scenes painted on the frescos there were also “...accompanying numerals, as appear on the reverses” of the tokens. It is speculated that the sexual scenes and numerals on the tokens related to the wall paintings of sexual scenes and numerals. When the token was given to a person it then gave them access to a place to put their clothing.NEWS,shungagallery.com/roman-spintriae-coins-erotic/, “Anal Tokens”: The Story of the Roman Spintriae Coins, Darya, 24 May 2021, Shunga Gallery, 17 April 2022,web.archive.org/web/20210528030320/https://shungagallery.com/roman-spintriae-coins-erotic/, 28 May 2021, Possibly they may have put their clothing inside the box that was sitting on the wooden shelf in the dressing room. Another idea is that they were possibly an attempt at increasing revenue. This attempt may have been related to the prohibition of carrying coins into brothels that had an image of the emperor on them. After a short amount of time they may have been able to see that if it were to continue it could have adverse effects for brothels or bring them to a standstill and they ceased being used.

Appearance

They were usually struck from brass or bronze, and were little smaller than a 50 euro cent coin (€0.50).They show images of sexual scenes involving female and male figures and five spintriae have been given the description of “Male lovers on bed”.Multiple sources:

• WEB,www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_R-4474, British Museum, spintria, British Museum, 18 April 2022,
• WEB,www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_R-4476, British Museum, spintria, British Museum, 18 April 2022,
• WEB,www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_R-4481, British Museum, spintria, British Museum, 18 April 2022,
• WEB,www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_R-4483, British Museum, spintria, British Museum, 18 April 2022,

Gallery

Spintriae 003.jpg|A spintria token.British Museum - Museum number R4473 - spintria.jpg|A spintria token showing sex between two males on a bed. On the other side is a numeral.File:British Museum - BM (R.4471) - spintria - 3.jpg|A spintria token showing sex between a female and a male on a bed or kilne. On the other side of this token it is thought that there was a number that is no longer visible.File:Die Erotik der Antike in Kleinkunst und Keramik by Gaston Vorberg - Plate no. 113 -- Detail 3.jpg|Possible spintria tokens. Found in RomeFile:Die Erotik der Antike in Kleinkunst und Keramik by Gaston Vorberg - Plate no. 111 - detail.jpg|Possible spintria token. Found in Rome.Die Erotik der Antike in Kleinkunst und Keramik by Gaston Vorberg - Plate no. 109 - detail.jpg|Tokens with similarities to spintria tokens. The tokens in this image were created in the 6th century CE. Spintria tokens are thought to have been created between 22 to 79 CE.Thailener Spintria.png|Spintriae, 2nd century

See also

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• Erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum
• Homosexuality in ancient Greece
• Homosexuality in ancient Rome
• Pederasty in ancient Greece
• Prostitution in ancient Rome
• Roman currency
• Sexuality in ancient Rome
• Tessera

{{div col end}}

Notes

{{Reflist}}

References

• Buttrey, T. V. (1973) ‘The Spintriae as a Historical Source’, The Numismatic Chronicle 13, pp. 52 – 63.
• Campana, A. (2009) ‘Le spintriae: tessere Romane con raffigurazione erotiche’, La Donna Romana: Immagini E Vita Quotidiana Atti de Convegno. Astina, 7 Marzo 2009. pp. 43 – 96.
• Duggan, E. (2016) “Stranger Games: The Life and Times of the Spintriae”.
• Jacobelli, L. (1995) Le pitture erotiche delle Terme Suburban di Pompeii. L’Erma di Bretschneider. Rome.
• JOURNAL, “Brass Checks” Return: An Excursus in Erotic Numismatics, or The Spintriae Roll Again, Bartholomew, Lee, 10.1111/j.0022-3840.1983.1702_142.x, The Journal of Popular Culture, 17, 2, 142–145, Fall 1983,
• JOURNAL, Sexo y erotismo en las llamadas spintriae, las supuestas y problemáticas tesserae de lupanar de la Antigua Roma, D., Martínez Chico, Athenaeum. Studi di Letteratura e Storia dell’Antichità, 106, 2, 533–557, 2018, NEWS,www.academia.edu/1829914, PDF, Spanish,
• Talvacchia, Bette, 1999, Taking Positions: On the Erotic in Renaissance Culture, Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.
• Talvacchia, Bette, 1997, ‘Classical Paradigms and Renaissance Antequarianism in Giulio Romano’s “I Modi“’, I Tatti Studies in the Italian Renaissance 7 (1999) pp. 81–188.

External links

Prime sources

• www.uq.edu.au/economics/hetsa/Fishburn%20final.pdf" title="web.archive.org/web/20100331061853www.uq.edu.au/economics/hetsa/Fishburn%20final.pdf">“Is that a spintria in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me?” (PDF), Geoffrey Fishburn, University of Queensland, Australia.
• Straight Dope on spintria. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080430090243www.straightdope.com/columns/080118.html |date=2008-04-30 }}.
• The Collaborative Numismatics Project — dated
• JOURNAL, Duggan, Eddie, Eddie Duggan, 2017, Stranger Games: The life and times of the spintriae, Board Game Studies, 11, 101–121, 10.1515/bgs-2017-0005, free,

Images

• (:File:BLW Saucy Roman Tokens!.jpg|Selection from the extensive holdings of the Hunterian Collection, Glasgow)
• WEB,www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_R-4473, British Museum, spintria, British Museum, 18 April 2022,