A Smaller Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities

by William Smith

TĔRUNCĬUS. [[As].]

TESSĔRA (κύβος), a square or cube; a die; a token. The dice used in games of chance were tesserae, small squares or cubes, and were commonly made of ivory, bone, or wood. They were numbered on all the six sides, like the dice still in use; and in this respect as well as in their form they differed from the tali. [[Talus].] Whilst four tali were used in playing, only three tesserae were anciently employed. Objects of the same materials with dice, and either formed like them, or of an oblong shape, were used as tokens for different purposes. The tessera hospitalis was the token of mutual hospitality, and is spoken of under [Hospitium]. This token was probably in many cases of earthenware, having the head of Jupiter Hospitalis stamped upon it. Tesserae frumentariae and nummariae were tokens given at certain times by the Roman magistrates to the poor, in exchange for which they received a fixed amount of corn or money. From the application of this term to tokens of various kinds, it was transferred to the word used as a token among soldiers. This was the tessera militaris, the σύνθημα of the Greeks. Before joining battle it was given out and passed through the ranks, as a method by which the soldiers might be able to distinguish friends from foes.

TESTĀMENTUM, a will. In order to be able to make a valid Roman will, the Testator must have the Testamentifactio, which term expresses the legal capacity to make a valid will. The testamentifactio was the privilege only of Roman citizens who were patresfamilias. The following persons consequently had not the testamentifactio: those who were in the Potestas or Manus of another, or in Mancipii causa, as sons and daughters, wives In manu and slaves: Latini Juniani, Dediticii: Peregrini could not dispose of their property according to the form of a Roman will: an Impubes could not dispose of his property by will even with the consent of his Tutor; when a male was fourteen years of age, he obtained the testamentifactio, and a female obtained the power, subject to certain restraints, on the completion of her twelfth year: muti, surdi, furiosi, and prodigi “quibus lege bonis interdictum est” had not the testamentifactio. In order to constitute a valid will, it was necessary that a heres should be instituted, which might be done in such terms as follow:—Titius heres esto, Titium heredem esse jubeo. [[Heres] (Roman.)] Originally there were two modes of making wills; either at Calata Comitia, which were appointed twice a year for that purpose; or in procinctu, that is, when a man was going to battle. A third mode of making wills was introduced, which was effected per aes et libram, whence the name of Testamentum per aes et libram. If a man had neither made his will at Calata Comitia nor In procinctu, and was in imminent danger of death, he would mancipate (mancipio dabat) his Familia, that is, his Patrimonium to a friend and would tell him what he wished to be given to each after his death. There seems to have been no rule of law that a testament must be written. The heres might either be made by oral declaration (nuncupatio) or by writing. Written wills however were the common form among the Romans at least in the later republican and in the imperial periods. They were written on tablets of wood or wax, whence the word “cera” is often used as equivalent to “tabella;” and the expressions prima, secunda cera are equivalent to prima, secunda pagina. The will must have been in some way so marked as to be recognized, and the practice of the witnesses (testes) sealing and signing the will at last became common. It was necessary for the witnesses both to seal (signare), that is, to make a mark with a ring (annulus) or something else on the wax and to add their names (adscribere). Wills were to be tied with a triple thread (linum) on the upper part of the margin which was to be perforated at the middle part, and the wax was to be put over the thread and sealed. Tabulae which were produced in any other way had no validity. A man might make several copies of his will, which was often done for the sake of caution. When sealed, it was deposited with some friend, or in a temple, or with the Vestal Virgins; and after the testator’s death it was opened (resignare) in due form. The witnesses or the major part were present, and after they had acknowledged their seals, the thread (linum) was broken and the will was opened and read, and a copy was made; the original was then sealed with the public seal and placed in the archium, whence a fresh copy might be got, if the first copy should ever be lost.

TESTIS, a witness.—(1) Greek. [[Martyria].]—(2) Roman. [[Jusjurandum].]

TESTŪDO (χελώνη), a tortoise, was the name given to several other objects.—(1) To the Lyra, because it was sometimes made of a tortoise-shell.—(2) To an arched or vaulted roof.—(3) To a military machine moving upon wheels and roofed over, used in besieging cities, under which the soldiers worked in undermining the walls or otherwise destroying them. It was usually covered with raw hides, or other materials which could not easily be set on fire. The battering-ram [[Aries]] was frequently placed under a testudo of this kind, which was then called Testudo Arietaria.—(4) The name of testudo was also applied to the covering made by a close body of soldiers who placed their shields over their heads to secure themselves against the darts of the enemy. The shields fitted so closely together as to present one unbroken surface without any interstices between them, and were also so firm that men could walk upon them, and even horses and chariots be driven over them. A testudo was formed (testudinem facere) either in battle to ward off the arrows and other missiles of the enemy, or, which was more frequently the case, to form a protection to the soldiers when they advanced to the walls or gates of a town for the purpose of attacking them. Sometimes the shields were disposed in such a way as to make the testudo slope. The soldiers in the first line stood upright, those in the second stooped a little, and each line successively was a little lower than the preceding down to the last, where the soldiers rested on one knee. Such a disposition of the shields was called fastigata testudo, on account of their sloping like the roof of a building. The advantages of this plan were obvious: the stones and missiles thrown upon the shields rolled off them like water from a roof; besides which, other soldiers frequently advanced upon them to attack the enemy upon the walls. The Romans were accustomed to form this kind of testudo, as an exercise, in the games of the circus.

Testudo. (From the Antonine Column.)

TĔTRARCHĒS or TĔTRARCHA (τετράρχης). This word was originally used, according to its etymological meaning, to signify the governor of the fourth part of a country (τετραρχία or τετραδαρχία). We have an example in the ancient division of Thessaly into four tetrarchies, which was revived by Philip. Each of the three Gallic tribes which settled in Galatia was divided into four tetrarchies, each ruled by a tetrarch. Some of the tribes of Syria were ruled by tetrarchs, and several of the princes of the house of Herod ruled in Palestine with this title. In the later period of the republic and under the empire, the Romans seem to have used the title (as also those of ethnarch and phylarch) to designate those tributary princes who were not of sufficient importance to be called kings.

TETTĂRĂKONTA, HOI (οἱ τετταράκοντα), the Forty, were certain officers chosen by lot, who made regular circuits through the demi of Attica, whence they are called δικασταὶ κατὰ δήμους, to decide all cases of αἰκία and τὰ περὶ τῶν βιαίων, and also all other private causes, where the matter in dispute was not above the value of ten drachmae. Their number was originally thirty, but was increased to forty after the expulsion of the thirty tyrants, and the restoration of the democracy by Thrasybulus, in consequence, it is said, of the hatred of the Athenians to the number of thirty.

THARGĒLĬA (θαργήλια), a festival celebrated at Athens on the 6th and 7th of Thargelion, in honour of Apollo and Artemis. The real festival, or the Thargelia in a narrower sense of the word, appears to have taken place on the 7th; and on the preceding day, the city of Athens or rather its inhabitants were purified. The manner in which this purification was effected is very extraordinary, and is certainly a remnant of very ancient rites, for two persons were put to death on that day, and the one died on behalf of the men and the other on behalf of the women of Athens. The name by which these victims were designated was pharmaci (φαρμακοί). It appears probable, however, that this sacrifice did not take place annually, but only in case of a heavy calamity having befallen the city, such as the plague, a famine, &c. The victims appear to have been criminals sentenced to death. The second day of the thargelia was solemnized with a procession and an agon, which consisted of a cyclic chorus, performed by men at the expense of a choragus. The prize of the victor in this agon was a tripod, which he had to dedicate in the temple of Apollo which had been built by Pisistratus. On this day it was customary for persons who were adopted into a family to be solemnly registered, and received into the genos and the phratria of the adoptive parents. This solemnity was the same as that of registering one’s own children at the Apaturia.