Tesserarius

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800 BC – AD 476

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A tesserarius (from the Latin noun tessera, which means a small tile or block of wood on which these watch words were written), was a soldier in the Roman army who was responsible for getting the watch words from the commander and seeing that it was kept safe. There was one tesserarius to each centuria Wilkes, 1972. They held a position similar to that of a non-commissioned officer in modern armies.

Tesserarius pay was one and a half times (sesquiplicarii) that of the standard legionary pay.

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