in Roman antiquity, denoted in its primary sense a cube or dye; so called from the Greek word τεσσερα or τεσσερα, 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 tesserae, are spoken by Roman writers as two different games. The syllable TES occurs often in Roman inscriptions. The word tessera 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 tessera hospitalis 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 tessera hospitalis. 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 tesserae 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 tesserae hospitalium confringere, applied to persons who had violated their engagements.

The tessera 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 as stated seasons. The person who had the inspection of these was called tessararius. They were made of wood and of stone.

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

The tessera 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 tesserae, there are others which relate to religious affairs, and may be called sacred.