Symbolon
Symbola ( σύμβολα , singular: Symbolon ) were authorization, entry or identification tags as well as game and counting tags in the ancient Greeks . They thus corresponded to the Roman Tesserae .
In Athens they were used as attendance marks for popular assemblies and court hearings and as such were entitlement marks for financial compensation. Symbolon also referred to the residence permit for foreigners temporarily living in the country ( Xenoi , more precisely parepidēmúntes παρεπιδημοῦντες ).
It was a sign of hospitality among private individuals. A clay ring, which was broken in the middle, was used to recognize each other by fitting the halves together. Such a friendship mark was called tessera hospitalitatis by the Romans . The expression “everyone seeks his half” in Plato's symposium refers to this custom .
In a figurative sense, symbols were any form of identifying mark , slogan, etc. as well as sensual signs for a term, hence symbols .
literature
- Wilhelm Pape : Greek-German concise dictionary. 3rd ed. 1914, vol. 2, p. 979 f.
Individual evidence
- ^ Plato Symposium 191 d