Tesserarius (from lat. Tessera - clay tablet) - the military rank of the guard commander in the Roman legion . The Tesserarium belonged to the principals - junior officers. He obeyed the centurion .
The Tesserarius was responsible for the messages and reports of the guards of his unit, which were transmitted to senior officers. He was responsible for organizing the duty, as well as for the transfer and preservation of passwords that were recorded on clay tablets. He received one and a half times more pay than a simple legionnaire. For each centurium, there was one tesserarium.
Literature
- Alfred von Domaszewski : Die Rangordnung des römischen Heeres. 3. Auflage. Böhlau Verlag, Bonn 1981, ISBN 3-412-05280-9 .
- Michael A. Speidel: Sold und Wirtschaftslage der römischen Soldaten. In: Géza Alföldy, Brian Dobson, Werner Eck (Hrsg.): Kaiser, Heer und Gesellschaft in der römischen Kaiserzeit. Gedenkschrift für Eric Birley. Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-515-07654-9 , S. 65-96 (Beiträge in dt., Engl. Französ. Und ital. Sprache).
- Gabriele Wesch-Klein: Soziale Aspekte des römischen Heerwesens in der Kaiserzeit. Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-515-07300-0 (zugl. Habilitationsschrift, Universität Heidelberg 1995).