Page 80 - Manual of Roman Everyday Writing Volume 2: Writing Equipment

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Sharpener for styli

Similar to the nib of a pen, the tip of a stylus would wear down
quickly depending on the material, the surface and how frequently
it was used. A small block of sandstone found together with three
Augustan bone styli in Basel (Switzerland) has been interpreted
as a sharpener (Fellmann 1955, 124). One of its edges features
indentations which seem to be marks from whetting. Metal styli too
could be sharpened with whetstones. Finds of very similar styli but
of different length may be the result of previous continuous use and
sharpening of the shorter examples (Schaltenbrand Obrecht 2012,
78–79). A small whetstone from Lincolnshire (United Kingdom)
with a groove on one side was interpreted by R. S. O. Tomlin as a

Fig. 56: Possible stylus sharpener from Quadring, Lincolnshire (UK),
with graffito [M?]andacus Mattavi (‘Mandacus(?), son of Mattavus’).
PAS-ID FASAM-F55282. © Lincolnshire County Council, CC-BY-2.0.
possible stylus sharpener (Moorhead 2016, PAS-ID: FASAM-F55282).
For bone styli, knives could have been used to this end.

Further reading:
Fellmann 1955, 124; Moorhead 2016; Schaltenbrand Obrecht 2012, 78–79

Selected ancient literary evidence:

(Left) Fig. 54: Sharpener from Basel (Switzerland), late 1st century Martianus Capella (1.65) describes how the Fates sharpen their styli when
BCE. Drawing by A. Willi after Fellmann 1955, 125 pl. 20.7. taking minutes at meetings on Olympus.
(Right) Fig. 55: Iron styli of similar type but different length. From
Schaltenbrand Obrecht 2012, 79 fig. 75. © Augusta Raurica.