A spintria (plural, spintriae) is a small bronze or brass Roman Empire Token coin that typically has a sexual image on one side, and a numeral ranging from I to XVI on the other.[ and male-male sex acts.][Multiple sources:
]
Known spintriae were all produced at a single location.
Certainty about their use has eluded scholars, who have offered conjectures ranging from brothel passes, "locker room" tokens at the baths,
Name
According to Bette Talvacchia, the tokens were first called spintriae in the 1559 treatise Sopra le Medaglie Antiche ("Discourse Concerning Ancient Medals") by Sebastiano Errizo, published in Venice.[Talvacchia, 1999, p. 56.] In antiquity, Suetonius had used the word to refer to a young male prostitute offering anal sex,[Fishburn, page 10, note 2.] from Greek sphinktḗr (σφιγκτήρ), sphincter. In the 16th century, the name was transferred from the person to the act, and then to the tokens representing the act – or the place where outrageous acts occurred, such as Tiberius' gardens on the isle of Capri.
Use
Some 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 order 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
Another idea is that they were used as game pieces[Thomas A. McGinn, The Economy of Prostitution in the Roman World (University of Michigan Press, 2004), p. 115][ Duggan][
]
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.][ of the tokens. It is speculated that the sexual scenes and numerals on the tokens related][
]
Another idea is that they were possibly an attempt at increasing revenue.
Gallery
File:British Museum - BM (R.4471) - spintria - 3.jpg|Female-male sex on a bed, likely with a numeral on the corroded reverse
Thailener Spintria.png|Perforated token (2nd century CE), found in a Celto-Germanic region (Saarland)
File:Die Erotik der Antike in Kleinkunst und Keramik by Gaston Vorberg - Plate no. 111 - detail.jpg|Drawing of a phallic token found in Rome
Die Erotik der Antike in Kleinkunst und Keramik by Gaston Vorberg - Plate no. 109 - detail.jpg|Coins of Naxos from the 6th century BCE, similar to the 1st century spintriae
See also
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Erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum
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Homosexuality in ancient Greece
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Homosexuality in ancient Rome
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Pederasty in ancient Greece
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Prostitution in ancient Rome
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Roman currency
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Sexuality in ancient Rome
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Tessera
Sources
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Buttrey, T. V. (1973) 'The Spintriae as a Historical Source', The Numismatic Chronicle 13, pp. 52 – 63.
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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.
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Duggan, E. (2016) "Stranger Games: The Life and Times of the Spintriae".
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Jacobelli, L. (1995) Le pitture erotiche delle Terme Suburban di Pompeii. L'Erma di Bretschneider. Rome.
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Bette Talvacchia, 1999, Taking Positions: On the Erotic in Renaissance Culture, Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.
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Bette Talvacchia, 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
Images
