Some interest attaches to the series of ivory tickets (_tesserae_), which are inscribed with the names of gladiators, and are valuable as being dated by the names of the consuls in office (No. =174=). They range from the beginning of the first century B.C. to the time of Domitian (81-96 A.D.); those shown in the Case extend from 85 B.C. to 32 A.D. The usual formula of the inscription gives (1) the gladiator's name, (2) the name of his master, (3) the letters +SP+ and the date of the day and month, (4) the consuls of the year. The meaning of the letters +SP+ is disputed, but the most likely explanation is that they stand for _spectavit_, "became a spectator," with reference to the honourable discharge of the recipient. Several examples are known in which the word is thus written in full. The ticket of which an illustration is given in fig. 60 bears the inscription, "Cocero the gladiator of Fafinius became a spectator on the 5th of October in the Consulship of Lucius Cinna and Gnaeus Papirius" (85 B.C.). [Illustration: FIG. 60.--GLADIATOR'S DISCHARGE TICKET (NO. 174). L. 1-3/4 in.] [Illustration: FIG. 61.--MAN AND BEAR (NO. 177).] The contests in the arena were not limited to those between gladiators. Combats of animals, and of men with animals enjoyed equal popularity. In the latter case the men might be hunters (_venatores_), lightly armed, and able to escape by agility and skill. They might also be criminals or martyrs (who were counted as criminals) exposed to wild beasts without hope of resistance or escape. Two terracotta reliefs (Nos. =175=, =175*=) are shown in this Case, of about the time of Augustus, which, though fragmentary, evidently relate to exhibitions of this kind. A better and more complete example is the sculptured relief from Ephesus (No. =176=) with four panels, in each of which is a man in combat with a lion, probably successive stages in a single event. A lamp (No. =177=; fig. 61) shows a man and a bear, separated by a kind of turnstile, called a _cochlea_. See also Daremberg and Saglio, s.v. _Gladiator_, and _Venatio_. (165) _Cat. of Lamps_, 663; (166) _Gréau Cat._, 264; (167) _Cat. of Lamps_, 976; (168) _Cat. of Sculpture_, II., 1117; (173) _ibid._, II., 1285; (174) for a recent theory that the tesserae are records of an _incubatio_ at a medicinal sanctuary (cf. p. 185) see Daremberg and Saglio, s.v. _Tessera_ p. 136; (175) _Cat. of Terracottas_, D 624; (175*) _ibid._, D 655; (176) _Cat. of Sculpture_, II., 1286; (177) _Cat. of Lamps_, 1068. [Footnote 34: _Mus. Borb._, XV., pl. 30.] [Footnote 35: Cf. Tac., _Ann._ xv. 32; Suet., _Dom._ 4.] [Footnote 36: Dio Cass., lxxv. 16.] VIII.--CHARIOT-RACING AND THE CIRCUS. (Wall-Case 110.)