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concerning an agricultural estate and consist of thick slabs of wood
measuring up to 26 cm in length and 10 cm in width (Courtois et al.
1952). The former include an agricultural account book made up of
eight thin (c. 3 mm) leaves cut from one block of wood, measuring
roughly 33 x 10 cm and tied together with string (Bagnall and
Hope 1997, mainly Greek and Coptic with some Latin). They also
include several tablets coated with a grounding of gesso (plaster)
(Whitehorne 1996).
Further reading:
Bowman and Thomas 1983; Božič and Feugère 2004, 33–34; Hartmann 2015;
Tomlin 1998; Manual of Roman everyday handwriting Volume 1
Selected ancient literary evidence:
Pliny the Elder (NH 13.30) mentions that the bifold shape of palm leaves first
inspired the shape of folded leaf tablets. Isidorus (Orig. 6.8.18) discusses
letter-writing on wooden tablets before the invention of papyrus and
parchment. Herodian describes Commodus composing a list of people he
wishes to be killed on what seems to be a leaf tablet (1.17.1) and Cassius Dio
(67.15.3) describes a similar situation featuring Domitian. Martial (14.5)
mentions ivory tablets written on with ink.
Stylus/wax tablet (tabula cerata/cera)
Wax tablets are rectangular wooden tablets. A rectangular recess
was carved out to a depth of c. 2–3 mm and filled with a layer of
beeswax. A stylus was used to write into the wax, its eraser end
Fig. 28: Agricultural account book from Kellis (Egypt), tablet 1 serving to flatten or scrape off wax to correct mistakes. Wax tablets
verso and tablet 2 recto, 4th century CE. © Prof. Colin A. Hope. were used long before the Roman period with their oldest attestation
dating to the 3rd millennium BCE (Sumerian statue of Gudea) and
the oldest known tablet found in the shipwreck of Uluburun dating
to the 14th century BCE (Schaltenbrand Obrecht 2012, 23).
