泰塞拉 - 美国大都会艺术博物馆展品查阅

品名（中）	泰塞拉
品名（英）	Tessera
入馆年号	1955年，55.109
策展部门	古代近东艺术（Ancient Near Eastern Art）
创作者
创作年份	公元 1 - 公元 2
创作地区
分类
尺寸	1 3/16 × 1 1/2 × 5/16 英寸 (3 × 3.8 × 0.8 厘米)
介绍（中）	在这个时代的第一个和第二个世纪，宗教祭祀之后举行的宴会和宴会是繁荣的商队城市帕尔米拉的重要仪式。出席这些活动的人仅限于持有盖章代币形式的入场券的人，今天称为泰塞拉（tessera），源自希腊语中的小正方形物体。帕尔米拉的大多数泰塞拉币都是由粘土制成的，粘土被成形并压制在一个矩阵中，在其两侧印上类似于硬币的图案。一些例子是由玻璃或金属制成的。镶嵌在印戒上的雕刻宝石也可能会给小泥块留下深刻印象，其设计可以识别出戒指的主人，他可能是随后的献祭和宴会的赞助商。从帕尔米拉收集了一千多件泰塞拉，揭示了用于这类物体的形状和设计的显著变化。Tesserae可以是简单或复杂的形状，可以带有精致或朴素的装饰图案，有时带有铭文，在罕见的情况下还刻有日期。这个泰塞拉的形状像一个有着平坦地面线的拱门。一面是一个穿着披着衣服的人和牧师莫迪乌斯，一个平顶圆柱形头饰，斜倚在一棵茂盛的葡萄藤下。另一边，左边是一个留着胡须的男性形象，右边是一个戴着头盔或软帽的形象，这可能是一艘大型船只；底部出现两个玫瑰花结。泰塞拉没有铭文，因此我们不知道这些人物的身份，也不知道他们的形象象征着什么，除了葡萄藤和器皿暗示的与节日饮酒的联系。
介绍（英）	Banquets and feasts that took place after religious sacrifices were important ritual events in the prosperous caravan city of Palmyra during the first and second centuries of this era. Attendance at these events was limited to those who held a ticket in the form of a stamped token, known today as a tessera after the Greek word for a small square object. Most tesserae from Palmyra are made of clay that was shaped and pressed in a matrix, imprinting it with a design on both sides similar to a coin. A few examples were made of glass or metal. Small clay lumps could also be impressed by carved gems set into signet rings, with the design that resulted identifying the owner of the ring who was perhaps the sponsor of the sacrifice and the banquet that followed. Over a thousand tesserae from Palmyra have been collected, revealing the remarkable variety in shapes and designs that were used for this type of object. Tesserae could be formed as simple or complex shapes, and could bear elaborate or plain decorative motifs, sometimes with inscribed text, and in rare instances an inscribed date. This tessera is shaped like an arch with a flat groundline. One side shows a figure in a draped garment and priest’s modius, a flat-topped cylindrical headdress, reclining under a luxuriant grapevine. On the other side, a bearded male figure at left and a figure wearing a helmet or floppy cap at right flank what may be a large vessel; two rosettes appear at the bottom. The tessera is not inscribed so we do not know the identities of these figures or what their images symbolized, beyond the connections to festive drinking implied by the grapevine and vessel.