in Roman antiquity, denoted in its primary sense a cube or dye; so called from the Greek word τεσσαρα or τεσσαρι, four; respect being had to its number number of sides, distinct from the two horizontal planes above and below. And it was thus distinguished from the talus, which being round at each end, contained only four planes or faces on which it could stand; and therefore when thrown had no more than two side faces in view. Hence ludere talis et ludere telleris, are spoken of by Roman writers as two different games. The syllable tes occurs often in Roman inscriptions. The word tellera was applied to many other things, not so much from a similitude in the figure, as from the relation they bore to some other thing of which they were the sign or token; as the points on the upper plane of the dye denoted the good or ill success of the cast.

The tellera hospitale was either public or private. As to the former, we find among the inscriptions published by Gruter instances of two municipal towns which put themselves under the patronage of the Roman governor; and the reciprocal engagement between them, engraved on two copperplates, in the form of an oblong square, with a pediment at the top, is called in both tellera hospitales. The design of it was to cultivate or maintain a lasting friendship between private persons and their families; and gave a mutual claim to the contracting parties and their descendants of a reception and kind treatment at each other's houses, as occasion offered. For which end those tellera were so contrived as best to preserve the memory of that transaction to posterity. And one method of doing this was by dividing one of them lengthwise into two equal parts; upon each of which one of the parties wrote his name, and interchanged it with the other. From this custom came the prevailing expression telleram hospitalem confringere, applied to persons who violated their engagements.

The tellera frumentariae were small tallies given by the emperors to the populace at Rome, entitling them to the reception of a quantity of corn from the public at stated seasons. The person who had the inspection of these was called tellarius. They were made of wood and of stone.

There was another kind of tellera which intitled persons to a sight of the public games and other diversions, usually made in the form of an oblong square.

The tellera militaris was a signal given by the general or chief commander of an army, as a direction to the soldiers for executing any duty or service required of them. This, upon urgent occasions, was only vocal; but, in ordinary cases, it was written on a tablet, commonly made of wood. Beside these civil and military tellera, there are others which relate to religious affairs, and may be called sacred.