Tokens made of glass paste, unknown sites, Sadnikarjeva collection, 1.-4. century AD

Tokens were used in the Roman world for a variety of purposes, including to mark ownership, as tokens for games (e.g. for board games, games in casinos or other premises, for gambling), and for rituals and “recording” of information.

One of the uses of tokens was also in a military context. Roman soldiers were sometimes given metal or wooden tokens representing their personal information and the units in which they served. These tokens were used as a sort of identification badge and were useful in case a soldier was found dead or wounded on the battlefield.