Cera

A wax tablet, Latin tabula cerata, had a recessed surface filled with wax. Cera means “wax” and could also refer to the writing tablet. The backing was usually wooden; more expensive ivory examples are also known. Raised edges protected the writing when tablets were folded together.

Letters were incised with the pointed end of a stylus. Its flattened end could smooth out the writing so that the surface could be reused. Tablets served for notes, accounts, school exercises and drafts, as well as legal documents: erasable wax did not make every text temporary or unofficial.

The wax often fails to survive. A stylus that penetrated the coating could leave scratches in the wooden backing. These may preserve part of the document, but must be distinguished from damage and overlapping earlier writing.

Construction and documents

Tablets were joined with cords, straps or rings through holes near their edges. Two leaves formed a diptych, three a triptych and several a polyptych. The Greek word deltos meant a writing tablet; its resemblance to the name of the letter delta does not prove that all early tablets were triangular.

Herodotus (7.239) relates how Demaratus sent a warning about Xerxes' plans: he removed the wax, wrote on the wood and concealed the message beneath a fresh layer. This is a literary account of a concealed letter, not the normal format of a document.

In a legal triptych the text could be written on inner surfaces, which were tied shut and authenticated with witnesses' seals. An accessible outer record allowed the contents to be consulted without breaking those seals. The arrangement of text, cords and seals varied with the document; a single diagram cannot represent all ancient tablets.

Archaeological finds

The house of Lucius Caecilius Iucundus at Pompeii yielded an archive consisting mainly of first-century CE receipts. It shows how tablets supported payments and transactions. Another important group is the London tablets, whose wooden surfaces retain traces of Latin business records.

Vindolanda has produced both wax-coated stylus tablets and thin wooden leaves written in ink. These are different writing technologies. The whole assemblage should not be called “wax tablets” simply because its documents are made of wood.

Ceremonial diptychs

Elaborately carved Late Antique diptychs could be commemorative gifts connected with a consul's entry into office. Their images and inscriptions advertised the donor's status. Their purpose and decoration differ from those of modest boards used for everyday accounts.

Related topics

Bloomberg tablets from Londinium, Education in Ancient Greece and Rome, Ancient Greece

Literature and sources

• Herodotus. Histories, 7.239 — the account of Demaratus' letter.
• London tablets: form and epigraphy.
• The Vindolanda tablets — British Museum.
• V. G. Borukhovich. V mire antichnykh svitkov [In the World of Ancient Scrolls]. Saratov, 1976. In Russian.
• O. A. Dobiash-Rozhdestvenskaya. Istoriya pisma v Srednie veka [History of Writing in the Middle Ages]. Moscow–Leningrad, 1936. In Russian; on the later history of writing materials.