Acquired by Roma Numismatics, London, in 2012. From a previous private collection of an English gentleman. The seller of this lot hereby guarantees that this object was obtained legally. 2.89 g, 24x22 mm. The stamp image is slightly weathered, otherwise, the tessera is in good condition. Reference for exactely the same type of tessera: Torben Schreiber, Siegelabdrücke aus dem Archiv von Doliche. Die Arbeiten des Jahres 2018, in: e-Forschungsberichte des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 2019, 235, #12. This very rare and important tessera depicts a Roman emperor offering a sacrifice to the god Jupiter Dolichenus. The emperor, wearing amor, stands on the left and is turned to the right towards Jupiter Dolichenus. In his right hand he holds a long scepter, in his left a bowl that he hands to the god. Jupiter Dolichenus, also wearing amor, stands on a bull on the right, as is customary in the ancient depiction, and is turned to the left towards the emperor. He holds his left arm backwards, a thunderbolt in his hand, and his right arm raised in greeting. There is a star between the two figures. After the conquest of the city of Doliche and its incorporation into the province of Syria in the 1st century AD by the Romans, the cult was transferred to Jupiter and spread throughout the Roman Empire as cult of the soldier god Jupiter Dolichenus. Roman culture made great bonds in Hellenism, which primarily affected its ideals of education. Thus in the 1st century BC also plays that made up an essential component of Greek literature became increasingly, and more popular in the Roman Rebublic and the Roman Empire. However, the first theater performances in Rome were found in 364 BC in public games (ludi publici) in honor of the gods. Due to the originally religious character, the theater plays were played in the immediate vicinity of a temple. The games should be an offering for the gods. This new form of entertainment was quickly popular with the Romans and was soon established, a period that stretches into the 3rd century AD, before the fall of the Roman Empire. A tessera was the ancient Roman equivalent of a theater ticket. Stamped into a clay shard was an entrance aisle for spectators attending an event at an amphitheater or arena.