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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Ardatirion, post: 2159355, member: 9204&quot;]I can probably speak to the erotic tesserae better than any of our other members. I&#039;ve been collecting and studying tesserae, primarily the lead, but to a lesser extent the bronze, for some time now. The idea that they were used as entrance tokens for whatever was depicted on them simply does not hold up, especially for the erotic bronze types. The numbers on the reverses do not correspond to the acts on the obverse, and the find spots do not correspond to brothel sites. Their true purpose remains unknown, but I speculate that were simply a parody of the more common bronze tesserae bearing an imperial image on the obverse and a numeral on the reverse. </p><p><br /></p><p>With regards to the erotic types in bronze - mostly simple phaluses - I think that Thornton makes a convincing argument that, as Mercury is frequently depicted as herm, a statuary type consisting of a bust set on a square pedestal adorned with only genitalia, the phallus is in fact an emblem of the god in his guise as a fertility deity. This fits much better with the pattern presented by other tesserae of mostly matching diety/symbol types. </p><p><br /></p><p>Here are the two phallic types in my collection:</p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/albums/userpics/18271/normal_phallus1.JPG" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> </p> <p style="text-align: center"><b>ROME</b></p> <p style="text-align: center">PB Tessera (16mm, 2.92 g, 12 h)</p> <p style="text-align: center">Horse standing right; C above </p> <p style="text-align: center">Erect phallus; A V flanking</p> <p style="text-align: center">Rostovtsev -</p> <p style="text-align: center"><br /></p> <p style="text-align: center">Rostovtsev1 gathers into one group all tesserae depicting the phallus, various iterations of the word Amor, and the extremely rare pieces depicting sexual acts. He assumes that these pieces were entrance tickets to the Lupanaria, ancient brothels. This association has caused many scholars to refuse to accept tesserae as currency, as they feel that such crude themes would never have been depicted on currency. Thornton2, however, convincingly argues that, as Mercury is sometimes depicted as a <i>herm</i>, a statuary type consisting of a bust set on a square pedestal adorned with only genitalia, the phallus is in fact an emblem of the god in his guise as a fertility deity.</p> <p style="text-align: center"><br /></p> <p style="text-align: center"><img src="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/albums/userpics/18271/normal_00062x00.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> </p> <p style="text-align: center"><b>ROME</b></p> <p style="text-align: center">PB Tessera (14mm, 3.31 g)</p> <p style="text-align: center">Phallus</p> <p style="text-align: center">Two-pronged pitchfork</p> <p style="text-align: center">Rostovstev 919 corr. (rev. description); Minturnae 49</p><p>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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