Page 55 - Manual of Roman Everyday Writing Volume 2: Writing Equipment

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Further reading and images:
Božič and Feugère 2004, 22–25; Camodeca 1999, 2017; Hartmann 2015;
Marichal 1992b; Speidel 1996; Tomlin 2016; Weirauch and Cammarosano
2021; Manual of Roman everyday writing Volume 1.
Also see: fig. 2 (Pompeii still lifes); fig. 6 (butcher’s wife); fig. 13 (Manius
Servius Primigenius); fig. 14 (baker and wife).

Selected ancient literary evidence:

In Plautus’ Bacchides (4.4.74–112), Chrysalus dictates a letter to be written
by Mnesilochus to his father, with a stylus on wax tablets. Another letter is
written with a stylus on wax by Byblis in Ovid’s Metamorphoses (9.522–525).
Quintilian (Inst. or. 10.3.31) says that writing on wax is better than parchment
because it is easier to erase and has the advantage of not having to interrupt
the writing process because of a lack of ink. He also says (Quint. Inst. or.
10.3.32) that if the tablet is too wide it may lead to unnecessarily long
texts. Martial mentions thin tablets (14.3), five-leaved wax tablets (14.4)
and three-leaved tablets (14.6) as gifts. Seneca (De br. vit. 13.4) explains
the origin of the word codex used for ‘public tablets’ from several joined
tablets. Herodas (Mimes 3.14–18) mentions repeated coating with wax for
frequently used tablets. Ovid (Ars 1.437–438) recommends sending a love-
letter on wax tablets and in his Amores (1.12.11–12) curses the tabellae he
had sent to his love, but which had been unsuccessful and says that, while
they were reddish as if coloured with minium, this must really have come
from blood. Pliny the Younger (Ep. 3.5.15) says that Pliny the Elder left
Rome only with a servant carrying a book and tablets for notes. Suetonius
(Iul. 83) says that Caesar adopted Octavius on the last tablet of his will.
Fig. 32: Tablet from Vindonissa (Switzerland) with space for seals
and writing on rim, 90 CE. Drawing from Speidel 1996, 98–9 no. 3. ©
Kantonsarchäologie Aargau, CH - 5200 Brugg, photo by Béla A. Polyvás.