Roman double beeswax tablet

How to use your board?

To write

Use the pointed end of the stylus to scratch the letters into the wax with light pressure in “down” motions.

To clear

Writing can be erased with the flat side of the stylus. To do this, take the stylus as shown and place your index finger on the flattened part of the stylus. In this way you can make the wax smooth again with light pressure in a ‘pulling’ motion.

Fun fact

The term “tabula rasa” comes from Roman times and the use of the wax tablet. It means ‘scraped slate’ and is used as an idiom for ‘clearing the slate’.

Wax tablets – also double ones, so-called diptychs – and the associated writing instrument, the stylus, were considered standard business equipment in ancient times! In ancient times, the wax tablet has proven itself as an optimal writing surface for simple notes or school exercises. The eventful history of the Roman Empire would probably have been forgotten if wax tablets that have survived to this day were not a testimony to their culture. The use of the wax tablet dates back to the 5th century before the birth of Christ.